Goose patrol

Those Damn darn Canadians! 

The Canada Geese have arrived in force. They are all setting in one spot in our new annual ryegrass field. I get their point, it has historically been a duck pond and it has been in corn for the past five years.

This year we reclaimed it. The corn was supposed to be a rotation but the rotation never happened. It has always been to wet to plant in the fall and it stays wet in the spring. This year it was dry enough to plant and so we took advantage.

I have been occupied with plumbing since the rain started and have not been paying attention to that field once it really started growing. The annual needs to be three inches or so before the flooding starts and this year has been so warm that it is really growing.

Tuesday I made three trips to town and noticed the geese had moved into the center of the field and were turning it into a mud hole. I have to be a little careful as we rent from hunters and so it is considered poor form to be scaring the geese on one side of the farm when they are hunting on the other.

Traditionally, our goose control is to stand at the top of the hill and take a shot or two morning and evening to get the geese moving. But, ammunition has gotten rather expensive in the last few years.

Last year I bought a powerful little green laser and so I was able to scare the geese a little earlier and later. It doesn't work well in sunlight so I try to get them early. The geese apparently see the beam of light as a solid object and it really distresses them as they supposedly think little green objects are after them. 

Now they know how I feel...

This year the geese just don't care. First I tried the usual Russian surplus 7.62 by 39 but almost no response. I was over 300 yards away and the drop off after 300 yards is pretty extreme so it was hard to get close. I got the four wheeler and drove within range. They just sat there. (You are really not supposed to shoot them dead. Just scare them)

I figured that now Canada has gone Communist that maybe their geese just don't react to communist ammunition so I found a trusty American caliber. No response to .22-250 either.

However, when I was walking to the ditch crossing to get a better aim with my laser, an angry Nutria hissed at me from the leftover corn stalks. Not even the Nutria has any fear this year. I tried to get him to chase the laser dot. He was not impressed. Probably rabid... Maybe it was a "she" Nutria and I misgendered "them."  Who knows.

Next I tried a left over mortar from the last fourth of July. I got the elevation as low as I could and lit the fuse. It exploded with an impressive shower of sparks and a loud bang. This got 3/4 of the winged rats to take flight. 

I actually slogged out to a group of the recalcitrant rascals and they just stood there and honked at me. I think I need to bring Rosco and the laser this morning and use the laser to get Rosco out to the goose patch. Hopefully they will not turn on him en masse...

I did dispatch the younger element to put up stakes and bird tape. Its a nasty job. I think the geese are just hunkered down for the storm blowing through. Or there is going to be an earthquake or tidal wave, or the earth's magnetic poles are shifting and they don't know which way to fly or maybe its those darn Trump tariffs? I wish ICE had a Canada Goose division.

This used to be a common sight in the US and Canada. Before the stupid people took over... Now you don't see 1964 Ford F150's so much any more... Also .22-250 is not very popular now that everyone has to have an AR... In fact ammo is very hard to find. A buck a shot for cheap steel cased varmint loads from BiMart and that was a one day sale. I see the better stuff is back.