Hunters as a Goose Crap Solution

Well, I never thought I’d see the Boston Globe advocate hunting. And, I really never thought I’d see them advocate hunting and goose “abortion” in the same article.

You see, the Boston area has a big problem with Canada Geese. Geese produce about a pound of poop per day and they leave it all over playing fields, lawns, and open areas. You walk on grassy areas at your peril; or rather you put your shoes at risk. Forget about playing soccer or football and don’t even think of putting down a blanket for a picnic once geese have fertilized a lawn.

The Boston Globe talks about controlling geese population. The writer mentions addling goose eggs, coating them with corn oil thus ending an embryo’s life. Addling helps control populations, but nests are hard to find. It discusses dogs trained to not harm birds, only scare them off. Still, the birds only go so far and it shifts the problem to another playing field.

Recently, state officials have discussed capturing birds and sending them off to Central and Western Massachusetts. People living outside Boston are not too happy about that idea as evidenced by this Letter to the Editor . As the writer points out, Central and Western Massachusetts has its own geese problems.

Believe it or not, the Boston Globe even admits that hunting is a viable way to control geese populations. Be still my heart, one of the country’s most liberal newspapers admits that hunting is valid.

Such as admission gets to me. I hunt because I enjoy it and because I think it’s the right thing to do. Modern society, at least for most of my lifetime, has condemned hunters. Many journalists, academicians, the beautiful people see us as pea-brained morons blasting Bambi into scraps. We’re seen as drunken louts who kill each other as often as we kill legitimate prey. Despite a few who fit the stereotype, hunters have an abiding respect of nature and its gifts. We don’t blast each other into oblivion. Hunting is one of the safest sports there is.

So, whenever there is recognition that animal populations are out of control as in this article, journalists talk about hunting’s benefits. Most of the time, journalists tend to criticize us and seem to wonder why we aren’t all vegans or at least vegetarians.

There is an answer to the vegan calumny. We are as much a part of nature as any goose, deer, coyote, or bear. Hunters take their rightful place in nature and we need more of them. Without them we would be up to our knees in goose crap.