Sunday, May 1, 2016

2016 Texas Midwinter Index - Annual Waterfowl Survey - Texas Goose Counts

Texas is no longer the snow goose capital of the world. It has been this way for at least the last decade. It remains a shadow of it’s former self due to a host of reasons including loss of habitat, decline in rice production, water shortages, hunting pressure, and warmer winters. Snow geese have shifted their main migration to places like Arkansas and Missouri which now winter millions of snow geese each year.

Coastal Mid-Winter Index

The Mid-winter index is an aerial survey conducted around December 13th or 14th in Texas every year in order to count waterfowl species and observe population trends over time.  Pilots and trained observers have been flying the same predetermined transects in key wintering areas of the Texas Coast since at least the early 1980’s. Details of the 2016 survey and past surveys can be found on the TPWD website or by following this link:  http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/game_management/waterfowl/

The survey consists of the following 4 zones in SE Texas.
Zone 1 is the upper coast southeast of Houston
Zone 2 is the mid-coast north of 59
Zone 3 is the mid-coast south of 59
Zone 4 is the lower coast south of Guadalupe River.
























The Numbers (1982-2016) - Light Geese

 













Light Geese
Year          MWI Count
1982807,000
1983821,000
1984921,000
1985672,000
1986795,000
1987621,000
1988548,000
1989602,000
1990674,000
1991831,000
1992693,000
1993903,000
1994986,000
1995721,000
19961,093,000
1997826,000
19981,010,000
1999NR
2000964,000
2001652,000
2002535,000
2003363,000
2004469,000
2005404,000
2006399,000
2007558,000
2008299,000
2009362,000
2010431,000
2011631,000
2012253,000
2013395,000
2014196,000
2015442,000
2016254,000




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