Everyone wins with controlled goose hunt
Re: “43 Canada geese killed in region cull at $725 each,” Oct. 22.
On the opening morning of the early 2015 nine-day Canada goose season, 47 Canada geese were harvested in a one-anda-half hour period before breakfast on a dairy farm crop field in the Cedar area. The number harvested in three separate morning shoots of the season totalled 120. All the geese harvested were destined for human consumption.
It is often said that if you want a grossly expensive contract carried out, leave it to the “bureaucrats” to arrange the planning and subsequent spending of unbelievable amounts of money carrying out a misguided vision of success.
However, free enterprise trumps the bureaucratic methods every time. A local hunt club, of which I am a long-serving member, pays farmers in the area a negotiated set lease figure for goose-shooting opportunities in their fields.
The arrangement allows outdoors-oriented club members to receive a highquality recreational experience and, subsequently, some delicious roast-goose dinners, jerky and sausage.
The agriculture community doesn’t value geese in the pure sense, whereas the sporting community puts a high dollar value on the geese as a recreational activity and a coveted source of wild-game table fare. All of our club’s goose shoots are tightly controlled to meet the farmers’ approval under the management of a knowledgeable, experienced and seasoned goose hunt master.
Hunting carried out by individuals or groups in a managed, safe and responsible manner is a proven method of reducing burgeoning game-species populations. Weston Cox Nanaimo