canada geese

[Paul223]

The terms of the general licence is that only after other methods of scaring are tried should shooting be used. Geese are very easy to scare believe me. On one of my farms I can have upwards of 6,000 geese on it every winter. I flight the geese in season on the marsh , but have never found it necessary to shoot them on the farm. If they are causing problems on a crop a couple of firework rockets scare the hell out of them, . The farmer moans like hell at time about them , but I simple move them onto fields where they will cause no harm. They soon learn that if they go on the wheat or barley fields they get rocketed and stick to grass , stubbles and harvested beet fields.

 

The worst problem we had was with Canada’s fouling fishing stages on a small lake , but even here a couple of shots over their heads and a couple of rockets did the trick , though it did need a couple of attempts for success they took the hint and now flee as soon as a shot is fired.

 

In exceptional cases it may be necessary to cull the odd bird , but geese are very intelligent birds and will quickly get the message. Pheasants do a lot of damage too at this time of year . I have seen bad damage to the fringes around sprouting corn fields . Perhaps we should think about shooting them too in the breeding season. There is a time and place for everything and spring is not the time to shoot geese. Just think what a hayday the anti bregade will have with shooting geese in the spring time.

General licence double standards, that's what the anti's will be thinking

 

>> Just think what a hayday the anti bregade will have with shooting geese in the spring time.<< What? the same applies for every animal or bird, talk about being biased towards canada geese just to try to prove a point

[TJ91]

Kill the canadas! Kill them all! By any means possible. They are evil.

 

And when they are all gone we will all have lost a valuable sporting quarry.

 

Such a pity that some of you blokes don`t know the difference between sporting shooting, legitimate pest control and just killing things because you can.

 

 

shocking isnt it!

i am lucky that i know the difference!

 

on the list for a reason, i would rather go shoot them in a sporting way and stop them damaging the crop for the farmer than leave them and have him get someone else do the shooting.

 

sure they will be pairing up breeding etc but thats the same as rabbits pigeons etc, maybe ther should be no general license, lets lock up our guns and not get them out till september 1st!

 

yes **** that is just what i would say if someone suggested that to me!

 

thought i would let you know that i have had 3 outings and got 14.

 

who said that they dont come back after been shot at...!?

[gunhills]

Thats exactly what i think mate,too many willing to shoot for the sake of shooting,i understand if they are causing a nuisance or crop damage,then fine shoot them,however i dont agree with shooting them just for the sake of shooting

A couple of shots over their heads & they will be gone. Enjoy them when their in season, the more you shoot now the less there will be in Sept!!

[poontang]

I perceive your comment comes from a Wildfowler rather than a Pest Controller.

 

 

 

The crass response is simple, if Wildfowlers had been good enough at their "Sport" then Pest Controllers would not have to be working 12 months of the year clearing up these Geese Inland

 

ATB!!

 

 

 

[CharlieT]

I always find it an interesting observation that when the subject of shooting Canada's crops up it is the rifle shooters who welcome the chance to shoot them as "vermin" under the terms of the general license. Often makes me think that every poor old Canada on every little pond is viewed as a target to be shot whether it does any damage or not.

 

I am fully aware that Canada's in large numbers can do an awful lot of damage and it is for this reason they were put on the list. In fact where numbers are great DEFRA recommend catching them up during their flightless period enabling large numbers to be culled in one foul swoop. However I have this horrid suspicion that because they are now on the general license some rifle shooters view every Canada as little better than a target to be shot at on sight.

 

We have a couple of lakes here on the farm and every year 4 or 5 pairs of Canada's nest and eat off about 100 square yards of corn, a small price to pay for the joy they give me. It would be a mean farmer who begrudged them that.