What ARE we coming to???

[Happytrails]

A bit of a stretch to put this in crop production but it needs to be seen.

Yesterday my neighbor went out to a swathed wheat field to scare off a flock of Canada geese which were feeding there. He'd done it a few times before and they were getting used to the truck so he took his shotgun, drove out in the field, and let off a couple of blasts. They flew off but he had winged one so he finished it off and threw it in the truck. Then he headed over to his swather to cut some more. At the swather an unmarked pickup drove up and this guy gets out flashing a badge. He claims to be a federal wildlife agent (not a game warden) and witnessed my buddy hunting illegally. Presently a second unmarked pickup shows up with another federal agent. This is taking place on private property.

To make a long story short after some animated discussion and phone calls my farmer friend was issued several tickets related to shooting the goose, using lead shot, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, etc. By then all he could say was happy thanksgiving to you too.

This was 6 miles from where I live. I didn't know those agents were out there in unmarked vehicles engaged in surveillance. Can you legally protect your crops from wildlife? Can you discharge a firearm from a vehicle on your property? Do they have the right to trespass on private property? We are in the boonies, 50 km from the closest hamlet, and not used to much enforcement presence. And what contact we've had has usually been friendly. Having federal agents in the community incognito makes me wonder if we're going back to the USSR. Your thoughts please. HT

[parsley]

What province?

[Happytrails]

This is Alberta.

[dalek]

Canada geese are federally regulated. You have to get a permit from the Canadian Wildlife Service to remove them outside of whatever the seasonal regulations are there Not hard to get, most guys I know find they just send out the applications automatically each year once you've had them for a couple of years.

[checking]

What do the rules of physics and mathematics, that you respect, tell you about the spread pattern of lead shot aimed at a flock of migratory geese?

It would tell me that the likelihood of killing, or injuring a protected bird, your neighbour had no right to shoot without first obtaining a licence, should have been foreseen. Those nasty people rules just naturally seem to keep getting in the way of boonie denizens who poach.

Back it up a step. What do you think would have been the outcome if the scare tactic had used a blank load, and everything, but a bird death, had been the same?

My guess would be "nothing".

[DogPatch]

Tell then you winged it with your swather

[burnt]

A lot of those boys with the badges seem to think that they are God's little brother. They have been given way too much clout and need to be taken down a few notches.

It's beyond ridiculous if a farmer can't protect his crop.

Too bad the guy picked the goose up.

[checking]

As Burbert would point out, we are backwards in Saskabush. Here crops are covered 100% for wildlife damage, and you do not have to be in crop insurance to receive what the Queen owes you for those losses. Under such a system, why would a farmer be out harassing wildlife? If this isn't being offered in Alberta, get your people rule changed.

I suspect you missed the recent interview on the news with the BC cop. He was hiding behind a powerpole with his radar gun pointed at approaching cars. Tickets were being issued to speeders. Asked by the interviewer if that was a fair practice, he said, "if we were in the open for the public to see us, we wouldn't caught anyone". His point, and mine, is that some people (like three, so far fom comments) change their behaviour to people rules only when they know they are being watched. That can't be a good way to live your life.

[cottonpicken]

"the more corrupt the state,the more numerous the
laws"

-tacitus

[checking]

"civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos"

- Will Durant

[ColevilleH2S]

As far as I am concerned you neighbour is a poacher. Crop damage or not hunting without a licence can only be done legally by people of a particular ancestral heritage.

[wilagro]

Happytrails: Obey the laws or get ticketed. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Private land has nothing to do with the whole episode.

Where have you been all these years that you don't know about migratory birds and the regulations concerning them?

You are squawking about an injustice that doesn't exist except in your own mind.

[burnt]

The good news on Canada geese here in the east is that we had two heavy rain episodes that coincided with their first and second nesting attempts and wiped out a huge number of their nests due to unusually high water.

So I guess things even out in the end, but the intervals can be extremely taxing.

[burnt]

Wilagro, have you ever driven over the speed limit? Deliberately or otherwise?

It sounds like you are so conscientious that you would never be guilty of such a dastardly offense.

[parsley]

"civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos"

Then you musst consider Ghandi a failure. He led his vision....by law breaking and being arrested, thousands at a time, chaos indeed, because the law was wrong.

Wrong.

Order has to be based upon a sound principle, checking.

The British arrested and jailed the Indians for gathering salt from the ocean without paying a tariff...something they had done for centuries before the British lande and bullied.

Too much legislation today is not based upon sound principles.

And it is legitimate to break today's laws for the singular reason to change them. I somehow think you will agree, checking. Parsley