The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-03-21
HERDING WILD GEESE
AN IMPORTANT OCCUPATION IN CAL.
iFoRNlA'S GRAIN DISTRICT.
Ranchers Pay Gooseberds Forty Dollars
Month and Their Board and Furnish
Them with Rifles and Mounts - How
the Herdcr Does His Work.

the Herdcr Does His Work.
During early winter and spring wild
geese are so numerous in the grain
producing sections of California that
| they must be driven from the grow
ing wheat. Consequently, goose-herd-
| ing has there become an occupation as
distinct and important as hunting or
trapping.
The wild goose seems always insati-
| ably hungry; or IL it ever has enough
| to eat, 1t Is not at such times seen by
man. Settling down in hordes, the big
| birds will utterly ruin hundreds of
| acres of young wheat in single night,
| pulling some of the grain up by the
| roots and destroying the rest by nib
| bling. A goose's mouth is rough. with
ridges like file: whatever 1t bites it
| bruises and mashes; and goosebitten
wheat invariably dies
! California has frequent fogs during
the winter, and while they last the
| geese are most troublesome. Being
themselves unable to see very far
through the fog, they take it for grant
ed that all others are equally blind,
and they become very bold.
| Settling down in fiocks fllat look, in
the dimness of the fog like vast gray
blankets, they go to work voraciously.
| While feeding they are not quite so
noisy as in fight, but still they main
tain conversational gable that be-
trays them to seekers.
Mounted on a sure-footed horse that
1 IL T..
ground. and armed with a repeating
rifle, the gooseherd gallops swiftly
through the fog In the direction of the
gabbling geese. His mission is to
| frighten. Should he do no more than
| kill few of the flock, the remaining
thousands would be as greedy as ever
for the grain; but If he frlghtens off
the flock entirely, he frees the field
from the pest for the rest of that sea-
son.
Geese invariably move southwark
| when disturbed, not TO return till
spring, and then they fly high and in
too much haste to stop and rob the
fields.
As soon as the herder spies the great
blanket-like spot of geese on the
wheat, he spurs his horse and gallops
flock has risen into the air that he be-
gins to fire; then he KEEPS upa fusillade
as long as they are in sight.
10 fire Mt them while they are ON
the ground would be dangerous as the
rifles used are of such calibre and
range that the bullet might ricochet.
or "skip-pack," along the earth. and
wound or kill human beings or domes-
tic animals a mile away.
Tho antics of the wild geese when
they hear the bullets whistlng among
them are remarkable They dodge and
| squawk and "back water with their
wings and tread air" with their feet,
and do all sorts of aerial gymnastics.
But they never get too badly scared to
follow the old gander who "honks" TO
them. and leads them off southward to
rob some other grain-field.
Goose-herding is exciting-you go at
n gallop to set the geese moving: it is
dangerous-the horse may stumble
and fall with you; and in the fog that
lies over those vast, fenceleSs fields
You can't tell where YOU are going
and YOU may get lost and chilled to
death: or you may accidentally shoot
somebody, or be shot yourself by some
other gooseherd.
! When last | was in California. grain
ranchers paid gooscherds forty dollars
a month and their board. furnished
them with rifles. cartridges and
mounts, and thought the work was
well worth the price.
On clear days goose-herding is not
such hard work The "Honk! honkl
honk.' Of the old gander in the lead
tells of the approach of Il flock from
the north. AS they pass overhead, one
sooseherd after another sautes them,
+ until, thoroughly ratified" they not
ny keep off the grain, but rising high
| above the fuslllade of ritleballs. Hap
their swift way al least n hundred
miles farther south.
When the wind is strong and steady
from the northwest and the day is
fair. IL Is comparatively easy to stir
up the geese" and move them off
| down the wind, but inrainy weather
they stubbornly keep on flying up and
settling on the wheat until literary
, forced off. Perhaps this is because the
tender young wheat, fresh and damp
with fog or raln may taste better to
the geese than at other times.
/ The geese concerned in the mischief
are OF several kinds, big Cana
dian goose The brant and the arctic
goose, but the herders refer TO them
as of two kinds only, big gray honk-
ers' and nasty little white geese"
In California there are some big
grain ranches. One in Colusa County
is about twelve square miles in area
and embraces about seventy-fyc thou
! sand acres. On that ranch during
some winters from zen TO twelve
thousand dollars have been spent for
! herdng wild geese Off the grain 1t
was the usual thing there to lay in n
supply Of n quarter of million rifle |
cartridges for the gooseherds. and the |
owner, an emlnently practical ana sue
cessful man. said that he saved money |
by the outlay.
Sometimes black bank of clouds, |
with high wind and heavy rain. comes |
rolling in from the north The whole |
armament seems full OF flutterng bits |
OF paper blown before The storm. |
They are wild reese fiepinr Southvar1 |