selling Wildfowl

[marsh man]

Yes, you cannot sell any game, (unless you are 1st Nations, in which case you can do what the f u like). FARMED salmon, elk etc are OK but game harvested under the framework of hunting regulations cannot be sold. In fact, you cannot even pick up roadkilled game!

And Yes, if you were lucky enough to get a load of Snows (and they are not easy to decoy, some birds have made the trip 20 times and know all the tricks and a flock of 2000 sets of eyes are difficult to trick), you have to eat them, give them away or get them into the food chain somehow. The "outfitters", guides who run hunting trips on a commercial basis, with over 1000 decoys, electronic calls etc, have the facility for successful hunters to pay to make them into sausage for the food bank. It should be noted that many of the hunters are Yanks and it is difficult to take dead birds back over the border, especially by plane!

Interesting reply ........... THANKS

[Mice!]

Yes a very good reply, like the first nation bit 😊

[Penelope]

I have recently been watch Claudio Ongaro's 'HIred to HUnt' on youtube and their clients (Yanks) appear to take their breasted out birds home, frozen in cool bags.

 

Yes, you cannot sell any game, (unless you are 1st Nations, in which case you can do what the f u like). FARMED salmon, elk etc are OK but game harvested under the framework of hunting regulations cannot be sold. In fact, you cannot even pick up roadkilled game!

And Yes, if you were lucky enough to get a load of Snows (and they are not easy to decoy, some birds have made the trip 20 times and know all the tricks and a flock of 2000 sets of eyes are difficult to trick), you have to eat them, give them away or get them into the food chain somehow. The "outfitters", guides who run hunting trips on a commercial basis, with over 1000 decoys, electronic calls etc, have the facility for successful hunters to pay to make them into sausage for the food bank. It should be noted that many of the hunters are Yanks and it is difficult to take dead birds back over the border, especially by plane!

[anser2]

While a ban on selling dead wild geese was a very good law I am not so sure today. Already canadas are on the pest list and sooner or later greylag look like following them unless we control their numbers which at the moment wildfowling is not doing. Some form of licenced sale of geese may be the answer though I am very wary of such a change in the law. Perhaps it could be allowed in areas where they are a pest and the sale limited by numbers or time say perhaps for a few months each season as is done in parts of Scotland. Population would need to be monitored and a ban on the sale if the numbers fell below a set level. To do nothing is not an answer as feral goose populations will still keep rising, increasing arable damage and pressure to place all geese on the pest list. The worst public relations shooting could ever have is the sight of dead birds beng dumped and that case selling them is a viable option. At the moment I am strongly against comerical selling wild geese from migratory populations, but again numbers are going through the roof for some species, we had over 1\2 a million pink footed geese last year and as yet there is no sign of the population stablising. We do not want to get into the American position where the snow goose population is in run away mode and even spring shooting is having little effect. For now perhaps the best answer for pinks is keep the status quo , but encourage wildfowlers to shoot a brace or two more than they usually would. If the shooting community does not take the problem in hand then govenment will do so and we may see a situation as in Holland where thousands of geese have been gassed to reduce crop damage.

Edited October 25, 2017 by anser2

[kitchrat]

I have recently been watch Claudio Ongaro's 'HIred to HUnt' on youtube and their clients (Yanks) appear to take their breasted out birds home, frozen in cool bags.

 

I don't know how you would take game back into the US, but to move wildfowl inside Canada you have to leave one wing attached to whatever you carry, to allow identification of the bird if stopped by Conservation Officers. That makes de-breasting tricky and takes up a huge amount of space in your freezer - so you now need a large freezer (and therefore a truck to transport it) as it is a 2-day drive for me. However, motels do have external power points you can use overnight to keep things cold, usually used for engine block heaters in the -40C temperatures encountered mid winter.

It all gets very tricky. The Hutterites used to take whole birds from you for free, they ate the meat and collected the down to make goose down pillows, which they could sell for $100. Now, they have wised up and charge you $10/bird on top.

[kitchrat]

While a ban on selling dead wild geese was a very good law I am not so sure today. Already canadas are on the pest list and sooner or later greylag look like following them unless we control their numbers which at the moment wildfowling is not doing. Some form of licenced sale of geese may be the answer though I am very wary of such a change in the law. Perhaps it could be allowed in areas where they are a pest and the sale limited by numbers or time say perhaps for a few months each season as is done in parts of Scotland. Population would need to be monitored and a ban on the sale if the numbers fell below a set level. To do nothing is not an answer as feral goose populations will still keep rising, increasing arable damage and pressure to place all geese on the pest list. The worst public relations shooting could ever have is the sight of dead birds beng dumped and that case selling them is a viable option. At the moment I am strongly against comerical selling wild geese from migratory populations, but again numbers are going through the roof for some species, we had over 1\2 a million pink footed geese last year and as yet there is no sign of the population stablising. We do not want to get into the American position where the snow goose population is in run away mode and even spring shooting is having little effect. For now perhaps the best answer for pinks is keep the status quo , but encourage wildfowlers to shoot a brace or two more than they usually would. If the shooting community does not take the problem in hand then govenment will do so and we may see a situation as in Holland where thousands of geese have been gassed to reduce crop damage.

We are not getting on top of the snow geese, even with a spring season, for a number of reasons:

The percentage of hunters who live in the migration routes where they could do some good is tiny, so most hunters have to use an "Outfitter", which is expensive, $2000 up for a 3-day excursion, (plus "cleaning", plus tips, plus licences, plus ammo, plus travel costs). Without an outfitter, an "outsider" has very little chance of finding where the birds are feeding and getting permission to hunt. Then, you need 1000+ Silly Socks and full-bodied decoys, lay-out blinds, electronic calls and a trailer to transport that lot in.

Then, they are very hard to decoy, you see 1000's fly over, they take a look but do not commit, some birds have done the trip 20 times and know the score, in any case, they can probably see another field 3 miles away with 10,000 real birds on it, why would they go to you?

Finally, when you are successful, you can't eat/get rid of all the birds you kill. People "say" they are not that good to eat, which of course is rubbish, you just have to cook them right.

The spring hunt is seen as second best, you cannot shoot other geese or ducks, it is regarded as very hit and miss as timing etc is less predictable, so very few people do it.

[Scotty1980]

Very interesting thread.

[motty]

From what I have seen, you don't need 1000 decoys to hunt snow geese.

[Mice!]

Imagine it being -40c, we come to a standstill at -10.

 

I would think your right anser2 a small enough limit to sell to put off people (company's) shooting pheasant shoot numbers but to encourage wild fowlers to shoot a few more knowing the birds wouldn't be wasted, it could probably pay towards your shooting as well if your using guides etc meaning you might get out more.

[Richie10]

I have no problem getting rid of all the geese I shoot.....nom nom...

 

Very versatile bird and great tasting, can be a great substitute of all kinds of things.

[kitchrat]

I have no problem getting rid of all the geese I shoot.....nom nom...

 

Very versatile bird and great tasting, can be a great substitute of all kinds of things.

I've just had a great day, see my report just posted, had to buy a bigger freezer....