The Max Prairie Wings World Championship Snow Goose Conservation Hunt harvested 1, 396 birds total with 35 teams participating February 7.
The competition raised over $35,000 in donations. 1,261 birds were donated to Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry. All the proceeds will be donated to Ducks Unlimited, Delta Water-fowl, and Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry. Each organization received $11,666.67. Ducks Unlimited will use this for their Green Tree Reservoir Restoration project on 16 public WMAs across Arkansas.
The winning team was Wild Goose Chase who harvested a total of 473 birds. Chase Milligan led the team of 10 men from Arkansas and out of state. Rick Helton acted as the team judge for the group to verify the total number of birds.
Team Sky Carp received second place with 195 birds. The remaining teams in the top five in 3rd place Rare Breed with 150 birds; 4th place Bent Barrel with 96 birds and 5th place Last Call with 63 birds.
The competition took place throughout the State of Arkansas with all the geese turned in at Mack's Prairie Wings in Stuttgart. Each team consisted of 10 members with an entry fee of $1,250 entry fee per team.
The competition helps to decrease the light geese population that can be a nuisance to Arkansas farmers. They have become so abundant that in some places they are damaging ecosystems and other wildlife found there. Major actions were undertaken in 1999 to reduce most populations of snow geese and their impacts on the ecosystems.
These actions were to enable hunters to contribute to increasing the goose harvest in hopes of reducing the population by implementing special conservation orders outside regular hunting seasons. Managers could conduct direct control efforts in an attempt to reduce populations, but the cost and public concern over these tools make legal hunting the preferred option. Increased hunting opportunity is the first wildlife management tool biologists turn to because it costs very little to implement, and is much more socially accepted - especially when a valuable protein source will be put to good use - than other population control measures.
Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry will process and distribute the geese to those in need. Organizations, businesses, and churches of many denominations have joined hunters to transform an abundant light geese population into a renewable food source for the hungry.
