SELLING WILD GEESE ??

[Grandalf]

I shoot for the pot - Not the local butcher.

Wild geese should never go back on the market in my opinion.

[islandgun]

I agree with you Kent. However I think there is a compromise which would be, there are no geese on the general licence. Special licences are issued with the amount that can be culled and the amount that can be sold. The flaw in this would be that NA may start charging extra for administering the specials, but even that I guess could be an advantage.

to me this is the right balance no GL and meat available locally to those want it, I know of "people" who seem to think its acceptable to shoot greylags and leave them were they fall

[kent]

The irony of banning the sale of wild geese was to stop the market gunning . Now there seems to be to many geese and some species now need to go onto the general licence .

I had a look around the farms today and counted 183 grey lags on one of the irrigation ditches . Time for a couple for the pot . Not exactly wild fowling but mrs harnser and myself are partial to roost goose .

I wouldn't want to see the ban on selling wild geese lifted . The meadow next to the the irrigation ditch has been well tramped down and is covered with goose droppings . I can see the concern .

 

Harnser

 

No I disagree with your words used they do not "NEED TO GO ON GL" and so far we only have Canada on GL lets not feed the foolish with such statements (the fight is not over). I wish people could understand the difference in goose re-population dynamics and that of pigeons that can raise multiple broods a season and reproduce the very next season to that which they themselves were hatched in! GL is a stupid move as far as geese go as the annual counts mean nothing till three years later, the factors are all to pot until its too late

Edited September 5, 2014 by kent

[islandgun]

 

No I disagree with your words used they do not "NEED TO GO ON GL" and so far we only have Canada on GL lets not feed the foolish with such statements (the fight is not over). I wish people could understand the difference in goose re-population dynamics and that of pigeons that can raise multiple broods a season and reproduce the very next season to that which they themselves were hatched in! GL is a stupid move as far as geese go as the annual counts mean nothing till three years later, the factors are all to pot until its too late

 

 

indiscriminate shooting coupled with the general licence and unrestricted sale of goose flesh will kill off greylag geese

[kent]

indiscriminate shooting coupled with the general licence and unrestricted sale of goose flesh will kill off greylag geese

5 years I recon once the murder death kill guys get into them for cold hard cash

[RossEM]

If all special licences allowed them to be sold as apparently in the Orkneys then it wouldn't be so bad, but like you I have my doubts as well. I have heard horror stories of hundreds of geese being left to rot in the Orkneys. But I have no personal experience of the fact so can only be hearsay. Let's hope the stories are wrong.

 

Unfortunately the stories are true - I know personally a lad in Orkney who (year before the cull started) shot 172 greylag in one session and those were buried. My personal opinion is that if it were not open to abuse, selling shot geese would be fine, but there would almost certainly be a revival of market gunning. I think they've got it right in Orkney selling culled geese only, as it's completely controllable.

[DOLLSEYES]

While I don't agree with the sale of dead wild geese lets be careful lads with some of the comments on here, shooting for profit and burying dead geese is all fuel for anti's.

[RossEM]

While I don't agree with the sale of dead wild geese lets be careful lads with some of the comments on here, shooting for profit and burying dead geese is all fuel for anti's.

 

My friend is an arable farmer, and as you may or may or not know the greylags cause untold damage in Orkney - as such they were shot as pests (not for sport, and certainly not what anyone would call wildfowling) and without an outlet for the meat, what could he do? My personal opinion is that I find those sorts of numbers abhorrent, I'm the sort of shooter that is happy with two geese per flight. But I don't have to put up with the damage they do. No easy answer to the problem - people suggest flagging fields off and scaring but it just moves the geese, doesn't cure the problem.

[anser2]

We have just won a battle with NE to keep feral greylag off the General Licence and keep them on the wildfowl quarry list. There is no way getting away from the fact that if those feral greylag populations are not kept in check then in the future pressure will be on again to get them onto the GL and then they will be open to abuse during the breeding season.

One answer would be to allow them to be sold BUT, I think it would be very difficult to keep the sale restricted to feral populations in deed it would be hard to even restrict sold geese to be just greylag as once plucked oven ready most members of the public would find it hard to tell the difference between species. I cannot think of any mainland system where selling feral geese could be restricted to greylag alone and for that reason alone I would be against allowing the sale of wild geese. Having said that I do think it is important that we allow ourselves to shot a few more than was the norm a few years ago because if we dont there can be little doubt that feral greylag will end up on the GL and them with a few years the populations will plumit.

Edited September 28, 2014 by anser2

[RossEM]

Could sales be restricted as is the case with hares, which can only be sold during the open season? Prepared game cannot be sold without a basic hygiene licence, therefore it would be pretty easy for buyers to identify the species of the geese as they'd be in the feather.

 

It seems to work in Orkney as the meat is sold outside the closed season, so it becomes obvious that the meat originates from feral/resident greylags.

 

I'm still not convinced it would be a good idea however, as it would be an incentive for some to shoot more geese whether or not they're a current agricultural problem.

[Blackpowder]

Personally I don't see any point in going shooting unless you are going to use what you get.

 

I could sell the pigeons I shoot, but I keep them all. Why sell them onto someone for pittence when you can use them all year yourself.

Ducks don't go anywhere, we eat through the season until we are sick of them and save the rest for the summer.

 

Why sell on the meat and then go to the supermarket to buy more? If you don't like goose, mince it, put some spices, and pork fat and egg into it and make burgers. Stew it with veg for a few hours, so much you can do with it.

 

Get yourself a chest freezer or don't shoot as much.

 

Spot on advice. I find that with pigeon breasts chilled or partly thawed the mince from those |I have used as I would beef mince. That is spag bol and plain old mince and tatties I do confess to adding about a quarter by volume of minced pork belly to give some succulence to the finished product.

 

Blackpowder

[nic]

I dont agree with the idea of selling wild geese. there are too many people who would use this as a means to payment and the market gunner would be reborn.

the Goose cannot sustain that type of pressure and we would lose the species in this country. It would also give the antis more ammunition as it would then be endangered and the shooter held to be the reason.

 

if you look in my freezer at any time of year you will find duck and goose... you dont have to eat it there and then, it will keep and goose kebab tastes lovely on the barbeque next to goose burger

Edited September 29, 2014 by nic

[loriusgarrulus]

The other possible problem with being allowed to sell wild geese is the cost of going shooting them might increase. I don't go wildfowling so don't really know what costs are involved, I get the impression from my reading here that apart from your equipment there is not a huge cost in being allowed to go wildfowling. Correct me if I am wrong.

[Penelope]

An inland goose flight over decoys, in Scotland (It's where the majority of paid for guided goose shooting occurs in the UK) will be £60 - £120 per flight per person with a team of 4-8 guns.

 

The other possible problem with being allowed to sell wild geese is the cost of going shooting them might increase. I don't go wildfowling so don't really know what costs are involved, I get the impression from my reading here that apart from your equipment there is not a huge cost in being allowed to go wildfowling. Correct me if I am wrong.

[loriusgarrulus]

Had a look around on the web at wildfowling club fees. They seem very reasonable for the amount of area some have rights to.

[Mentalmac]

Perhaps a quota per shooter for selling on with specially registered game dealers?

 

And a low enough price as Marsh Man suggests.

 

If it was audited efficiently and studied closely and shooters could only sell on just a dozen or so a year then surely the population wouldn't be massacred and also the shooters wouldn't be dumping as many?

 

Personally, I am lucky that the land I shoot over only allows me to shoot for the pot and the land owner is happy with that. I know others aren't in the same situation and have to shoot when the farmer tells them too. I do also understand the need for ultimate pest control (as an ex full time pest controller) I am accustomed with eradicating pests as entirely as possible but I absolutely hate the idea of any edible animal going to waste - especially Geese.

[kent]

Allow geese to be sold and loose them, its really that simple. The answer is simple " once you have shot enough in the session / season" stop shooting them!

Pest control over crop (for which I don't include stubble personally) take one out of a skein not three or six and actively do some scaring. If two guns had 10 skeins come in and took one from each that's ten geese and as effective at deterring the geese as shooting 50 or 60 in all but population decrease. Shooting them on the ground with rifles they really do not like and tend to give the place a wide berth far quicker and longer (remember sport or pest destruction are different) Rockets etc, all these things can be used

Let us not forget we did persecute the Greylag to English extinction only 100 years ago! 3 yrs old before breeding maturity, big hunks of good meat and the human mind gets all messed up when we talk cold hard cash!

[anser2]

Had a look around on the web at wildfowling club fees. They seem very reasonable for the amount of area some have rights to.

That might be true but wildfowling ground is rather different to most rented shooting. For most wildfowlers experiance blank after blank until the weather conditions are right and the birds arrive in good numbers and then if he is lucky to be in the right place at the right time he be may get a good bag. That is unlike most inland game shooting were there is a given head of birds on the site and you expect to shoot a few every time you go. So the shooting rents for wildfowling are usually a lot less than rough shooting rights indeed many of my friends wildfowling is almost free with the cost of a bottle of the hard stuff for the farmer at christmas the only charge. Alas the days of this are numbered because one or two clubs go all out to buy what they can , offer huge sums of money and do not think what effect they are having on the other wldfowlers or the opinion of the people living in the community..

Edited September 29, 2014 by anser2