This may be a totally daft idea, but I'd like to hunt Canada geese by capturing them by hand, and then slaughtering them. Any experienced hunters have any thoughts on the practical possibility of this? Certainly, the geese around the city parks are eminently catchable, but their behavior in hunting areas may be different, and I'd like to avoid the risk of being shot myself, of course :-).
Any thoughts?
This is illegal.
The rules and regulations of hunting in Illinois are available in digest on the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website. The digest is a PDF, accessible from the dropdown Hunt/Trap menu that lists the types of animal for hunting (in the case of geese, they are Waterfowl). PDF of regulations here.
These rules state that (emphasis mine):
You cannot legally:
• hunt or trap any protected species except with a gun, bow and arrow, or trap that is authorized for a specific species and season. See the specific species sections for additional information.
From page 6, under the section heading "Hunting Devices and Ammunition Restrictions".
The section on wildfowl, starting on page 30 of the guide, additionally states, on page 36 under the "Prohibited devices and methods" section (emphasis mine):
You cannot legally:
• use a trap, snare, net, rifle, pistol, swivel gun, shotgun larger than 10 gauge, punt gun, battery gun, machine gun, fishhook, poison, drug, explosive or stupefying substance to harvest waterfowl.
• hunt by driving, rallying or chasing waterfowl with any motorized conveyance or any sailboat to put them in the range of the hunters.
• hunt with a shotgun capable of holding more than three shells, UNLESS it is plugged with a one-piece filler which limits total shell capacity to three and which is incapable of removal without disassembling the gun. This does not apply during Light Goose Conservation Order seasons (snow and Ross’ geese).
In this case, trap would also mean catching in any manner that is not authorized, including catching by hand.
Not protected in all jurisdictions.
And generally hunting laws are hard to enforce. If I were homeless in Vancouver, BC I'd be going after geese.
Note however: the reason that Canadians generally are such nice people, is that we transfer all our meanness into our geese and send them south for hte winter.
Anyway, a blow from the wing of an annoyed goose can break your arm, and they can be quite agreessive with their beaks.
In most jurisdictions you cannot hunt birds that are on the ground. I suspect that this is mostly a safety rule. Birds are small targets, usually hunted in relatively flat, fairly open ground. A bullet that misses the bird can hit something (or someone) else. If the bird is on water (A sitting duck) bullets ricochet very nicely off of water. Overall it's a sensible rule.
If you wanted to try this:
If I wanted to try to have fresh poached goose for supper, and for winter Sunday dinners, I would practice with a bolo, or with a trebuchet launched net. Or by finding a favoured glide path and put up one of those nearly invisible deer fences, but run it as high as you could.
If in a park where they are used to people, a noose on the end of a stick, like dog catchers use, might work.
It may be possible to bait and snare them.
How did First Nations people's get them before they got firearms.
I'm not saying this is a good idea, but I know of a way to catch waterfowl by hand.
Disclaimer: This was something that we did as kids, though with ducks, and not geese. The ducks were wild but near regular recreational areas, so quite used to humans. Also, geese are a wholly different thing than ducks. I take no responsibility if you get messed up by angry waterfowl.
Method:
Bait the bird with bread. Throw it little bits and lure it nearer and nearer in some water, why you stand/sit on land. Once the bird got as close as you can lure them, throw pieces of bread that you compacted together so they sink in the water. When this happens the bird will dip their head into the water to dive after the piece of bread. During this short moment they won't be able to see you move. If you time it correctly you can jump on the bird in that split second and surprise them before they get their head out of the water again. Then just grab whatever you can get a hold on.
FWIW, we never harmed the birds - well, not deliberately at least (although we probably scared the living daylights out of them). We always let them go afterwards, it was rather a challenge just to pull this off.
