The first step of a goose management program is to identify all of the goose attractions in the immediate area and to eliminate or limit those attractions.
Your pond Water is an attraction in itself. Limiting goose access to the pond through the installation of overhead grid wires has proven effective in many areas. If your pond has an aerator, turn it off in the winter and allow your pond to freeze. Open water is extremely attractive in the winter when many ponds are frozen over.
Vegetation Geese are grazers. They love the tender new growth on well manicured grass. You can replant heavily goose-grazed areas with ground covers, native grasses, or a variety of landscaping choices other than turf grass.
Other food attractions If you have been feeding the geese, this must stop if you want the geese to leave. If you plant crops attractive to geese (corn, soybeans, etc.) adjacent to your pond, you can try switching to another crop type, or plant several rows of a less attractive crop as a perimeter barrier.
Nesting structures If you have installed goose nest platforms in the past, remove those platforms. You may also remove any old goose nests. You do not need a permit or license to remove any old, abandoned goose nests. You would need a permit to tamper with an active nest with eggs or young in it.
Harassment
Successful harassment is based on punishment/reward. The geese are harassed (punished) when they attempt to land on the pond, but harassment stops (reward) when the geese fly away. This means you need to monitor your geese to find out the time of day they arrive at your pond. Your goal is to NEVER LET THEM LAND ON THE POND. If the geese permanently reside on your pond and do not leave, you must harass them into flight and then prevent them from landing again. You can best control this type of harassment by using hand-held pyrotechnic equipment.
Automatic harassment systems such as propane cannons can be effective if the system is moved and the automatic timer interval changed regularly. Birds acclimate quickly to repetitive stimuli, so changing the location and the interval between booms extends the effectiveness of this tool. These systems work better in agricultural rather than urban situations.
Visual harassment Plastic owls, snakes, etc. have been completely ineffective in harassing geese. Metallic balloons tethered in the area have produced limited results.
Repellents Chemical repellents for geese are based on TASTE aversion. Methyl anthranilate is a registered chemical that has shown some effectiveness in preventing geese from grazing on turf grass. It does not prevent geese from walking through an area or from defecating in an area. This product has also demonstrated some repellency in small puddles of water, but not on larger ponds or lakes.
The most successful goose management programs incorporate multiple methods. The combined effects of two or more of the techniques listed above will provide a much more satisfactory result than relying on one method alone.