MILWAUKEE — While Wisconsin's early goose hunting season began Friday and continues in various zones— off and on— into this winter, many hunters statewide aren't waiting around.

"A third of our harvest happens in the first two weeks of September," said Taylor Finger, a game bird ecologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. "We then see migration coming in throughout the state to the point that 90% of the Canada geese harvested in the state of Wisconsin happen before that first week of December."

Finger added that over the past few decades, the state's goose population has surged, with the DNR estimating there are nearly 170,000 Wisconsin-breeding Canada geese, which is almost 60% higher than the long-term average.

"We have our own resident Canada goose population," Finger said. "Historically, we'd have all these geese that would migrate in from Canada, and since the mid- or early-'80s, our giant Canada goose population has absolutely skyrocketed to the point that it's making up 60% of the harvest we see on an annual basis."

Watch the full interview above.