Hunters, suburbanites take on unflappable bird (Canada Goose)

Detroit News ^ | 9-8-03 | Francis X Donnelly

[Dan from Michigan]

SOUTHFIELD -- Everyone knows that Canadians are a polite, honest people who wouldn't dream of imposing on their neighbors to the south.

But have you met their geese?

The Canada goose, or, as some locals call them, flying rats, swarm Michigan's fields and streams with no intention of leaving. Ever.

[Michael Barnes]

Believe me, I know exactly what your talking about..

[IM4TRUTH]

I have a pond at home and began the season with a pair of Candian Geese, the female of which was sitting on her eggs. This is my first season with them, and I began to feed them corn. I thought it was kinda neat.

Well, about a month after those two guys arrived, they were joined by three more. Now I had five. I continued to feed them, but was quickly becoming annoyed with the goose crap all over my lawn.

Then, about two months ago, these five geese were joined by another group of six, making it 11 in total. But the two groups did NOT get along. When they came too close to each other, a fight would break out and geese would go honking and flying everywhere. I now had a turf war going on on my front lawn. And the invading geese were winning over my original geese.

But the last straw was when a couple weeks ago, the group of five geese came flying in, and that group was quickly followed by another group of 13 geese, for a total of 18 geese. I had had it. I grabbed my shotgun and stormed outside, blasting a couple shells off over their heads. That scattered them.

I don't have the heart to go around killing them, but when I see a goose on my land, it's gonna hear my shotgun.

[singletrack]

We had some in my neighborhood. AWFUL animals.Crap everywhere, aggresive, the whole works. The most fun we had was chasing them down with a large remote control truck. They could not believe the truck wouldn't back dowm from thier attacks.

[vin-one]

Here in Northern VA. they are a pain
We can't even swim in our lake anymore
(what we here call a lake you would probably call a small pond)
they have tried to tamper with the eggs, to limit the growth,
but that hasn't worked to well.
I say open season on these fowl POS's.
I hate Canadian Geese.......

I also heard they are not very good eating,, to much fat.

[singletrack]

Border collie should solve that pretty fast.

[Manic_Episode]

I cook em in the crock pot in cream of mushroom soup for about 8 hours then pour it over smashed potatos.
Mmmmmm

[ArrogantBustard]

Goose = Cow With Feathers.

Roasted, fried, broiled ... It's all good.

[vin-one]

meat it's what's for breakfast,

and lunch and dinner as well.

[ArrogantBustard]

When you cook a goose, you have to make sure there's somewhere for all the greast to run off. Same with a duck. Elsewise, it can be nasty.

Did I mention grilled? Braised? Sausage?

[babble-on]

i'd always had the impression that these yardbirds weren't great eating. am I wrong about that? seems like a pretty obvious solution if they are good to eat to kill 'em and feed to the poor or whomever.

[b-cubed]

Here in Bellevue Washington they've become more than just a bother. Sometimes they get downright dangerous. About 2 years ago an elderly lady was walking down the sidewalk when she came across 2 big old goofy geese. They wouldn't get out of her way and when she tried to walk through them they beat the heck out of her. Broke her leg (probably from falling down) and gave her some bruises. Mean poopers.

[katnip]

Like it or not, the birds are going to be here a long time they say. So people need to learn to tolerate them better.

But WHY must we learn to tolerate dirty "rats with wings" that are making our lives miserable?

Since when does "tolerance" extend to vermin?

Puleeeeze!

[Dan from Michigan]

Ping

[Aracelis]

"Take a gander"...lol!

[redhead]

Seems to me that their eggs could be taken from them as soon as they are laid (or thereabouts).

They have a very short season to maturity, so a couple of egg-swipes should put them into a time frame where they wouldn't have sufficient days left to rear a new clutch.

Repeat next year, etc.

[ArrogantBustard]

i'd always had the impression that these yardbirds weren't great eating

I'm particularly fond of roast goose.

[longshadow]

"Take a gander"...lol!

You honked?

[Question_Assumptions]

Who isn't moved, they ask, by the graceful flight of the gaggle as it glides through the sky in a V-formation?

They fly? Here in New Jersey, they seem to walk everywhere. Slowly. Even down the middle of the road. I'm willing to drive my car right up to them. That usually encourages them to speed up a little. But they never fly.

[Question_Assumptions]

FYI, Dow Jones tried a little "cannon" that would make a loud bang every hour to keep the geese away. Didn't work after a while. They get used to the noise if no geese are dying. They switched to border collies but animal lovers complained that they were too close to the highway. Not sure what they use these days.

What they really need is a general depredation order -- treat them as vermin -- during the parts of the year when the migratory geese are not around.

[PatrickHenry]

"I wish we could extinct them," said Andy Thoresen, golf course superintendent at the Northville Hills Golf Club.

Ah, Canada ...