The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-25
FOOLISH TRAITS
OF THE WILD GOOSE
Born Foolish 1t Gets Worse
Yearly Says Hunter
JED DARLING'S EXPERIENCE
Wild Beasts Take Advantage of Its
Ways and So Do the Boys of Cold
stream Lake-Refuses
to Learn Sense.
JED DARLING'S EXPERIENCE

Enfield Me.-"Iebbe," said old Jed
Darling, "mebbe. a wise Creator may
have made some kind of bird or animal
that is a bigger fool than a wild goose,
but II so He never made enough to
cause people to worry any.
mot only is a wild goose a blamed fool
from birth, but it grows fooler and fooler
as it gets older. 1t is the only critter
that refuses to learn sense from age and
experience.
TT is scared half to death by bleating
calf tied out to a crowbar in an open field,
but a whole flock of geese will sit out in
the middle Of Coldstream lake and let an
otter swim up under water and drag the
members down one after another, and not
goose in the bunch will have sense
enough to get scared and fly away.
| 81 have seen a flock of geese get scared
and fly clear out of the state because
playful fox terrier ran along the edge of
the lake, but when a flock of geese is
feeding on the roots of new clover fox
or a raccoon can roll over and over and
pitch somersaults right into the middle
| of the group and pick out the latest one
and not a goose will show signs of fright
until the one which has been captured
let's out squawk when it is bitten to
| death.
Many Killed.
"The way the boys have been killing
wild geese along the shores of Coldstream
lake this fall is something scandalous.
| The old hunters and fishermen hereabouts
have a saying that when the bull frogs
go into the mud for the winter they never
dig deeper than the length OF a goose
from the tip of it's bill to its breast bone,
which is Just 81 We inches for every goose
that lives.
mo matter what kind of soil 1t is, and
no matter how hard or how easy the
diggings is, every frog in New England
makes It a rule to burrow We inches
and then turn around head to the out
side and settle down for its winter nap.
No matter how hungry goose may be
or how soft the mud is, no goose was
ever known to dig an inch with It's shovel
bill for the sake of getting frog to
eat. though all geese will peck their way
into half frozen ground when they want
a mess Of raw turnips for breakfast.
Because they know to the fraction of
an inch how deep the frogs burrow in
winter, and because they know the
length OF a goose's. neck the boys have
made continuance for catching wild
geese that works every time.
Frogs for Bait.
"Frst off the boys spear number of
| fat bullfrogs from their winter apart
| ments, taking pains to drag the bodies of
| the frogs across the surface of the mead
| ows where the geese feed Later they
| make round holes in the mud that are
| about two feet in depth, after which
they bait strong hook with a live frog
and attach 1t to a stake, the top of
| III. 10 1r-fx 1nt q
inches below the surface of the ground.
''The rest is easy. The geese smell the
frog odor about the field and follow it up
until they come to one of the holes.
when they come to one of the holes
when they reach down the regulation dis
lance, find the frog with hook in 1t,
! swallow the whole outfit and are an
| chored until the boys come along and
kill them and set the trap again.
1.-THE strangest thing about it is that
no goose will ever negotiate frog bait that
| is set less than the regulation depth I'M
| der ground. If a baited hook were left
| on top of the ground, or ten inches be-
| low the surface or even 20 inches down,
! it might stay there all winter and not
goose would look at it.
"In fact, the length of a goose's neck
when stretched out straight has become
| standard of measurement In several of
the up river towns. When a fisherman
goes to blacksmith to order a new eel
| spear or frog spear he specifies that the
| total length Of the iron from tip of spear
| to the beginning of the wooden handle
| shall be 2lIa inches, no more and no
! less. Again, when the length OF a boys
| leg reaches gooseneck altitude. measur-
/ ing 81 We inches from hip to heel, he has
4 passed from the period Of boyhood and
puts on trousers