Canada Geese: Local and Tasty

My opinions regarding the value and practicality of whitetail deer as food are well-known. But there is also another creature of reasonable size to be found in the eastern states that is worth pursuing and eating. The Canada goose.

Here in central Virginia, the Canada goose does not belong. Sure it is a species native to North America but it properly belongs along the mid-Atlantic flyway, way over along the coast. The birds were inadvertently introduced to the area when the use of live decoys by goose hunters was banned in the early 20th century. Many people had been keeping captive Canada geese in central Virginia (and in other states) in order to take the birds east during goose season. Once the ban took effect, the captive geese were released.

Having gone several generations in captivity, those geese had no migratory traditions. They had an inkling that it was well and good to form up into a 'v' formation and go somewhere, but that somewhere might as easily be 2 miles away as it might be 200.

This is where 'resident' Canada goose populations come from. Once upon a time it was necessary for the geese to travel many hundreds of miles in order to find a dependable source of food during the winter. No more. Resident geese do very well year round without traveling much at all. Humans have planted so many fields with grain crops and lawns with ornamental grasses that these grazing birds don't have to go far to eat.

It is a myth that the geese are always flying South in the fall and winter. Unless you are along a traditional flyway, look at a compass the next time you see geese on the move. The odds of them going even remotely South are only about 1 in 4.

The numbers of Canada geese are enormous. They are now easily the most common species of waterfowl in North America. I have personally observed them as far east as Munich, Germany. They have been foolishly introduced into New Zealand, where they thrive to the point of pestilence. The Canada goose, in any informed opinion, could well stand to be knocked down somewhat in numbers in order to have a more sustainable relationship with the rest of the world's fauna and flora.

These animals, which weigh between 5 and 14 pounds, represent a tremendous amount of under-utilized food flapping its way around in circles across the United States. For the love of all that is holy, please eat them.

Hunting them isn't very hard, until you get to the shooting. And the shooting is a very small part of the overall hunting experience. You don't even need to be close to water. Find a nice big field and sit yourself down comfortably at the edge of that field with a shotgun and perhaps a goose call. When you get the geese coming in low right over you, pick one and shoot it.

The store-bought goose call is helpful but most geese are basically suckers. Many is the time that I have called in a distant flock of geese with nothing more than my own voice and hand. There is a knack to it which is not especially difficult. I put my hand to my mouth, with a fist opened into a slight cone shape, and a gap in the curl of my forefinger to let my voice through. I blow a deep tone for the first part of the call. Then comes the quick break for the honk. Think of the sound of a honking Canada goose. It has two parts, low and high. The trick is a quick break between the two tones, which is not unlike the sound of an especially awkward 13 year old boy's voice breaking. When you break into the higher part of the honk, fan your fingers out quickly as if you were throwing the sound out with your fingers.

Having 2 or 3 people honking all at once, even with indifferent skill, is better than only one really expert caller. My children, ages 6 and 3, are not particularly good at producing goose-like sounds. Yet with the two of them helping make as much of a fuss as possible my success rate in calling in even the most distant of flocks is literally 100%. If we can hear them, then they can hear us and we can make them fly in right above our heads, so close that one might hit a goose with a stone.

You will be able to call them in no closer than about 40 yards above you. Maybe 30 yards on a really fortunate day. This alone is tremendously exciting in practice. But hitting a moving target 30-40 yards away with a shotgun is quite difficult. The technique is called 'pass shooting.' Pass shooting geese requires that you lead the birds by a ridiculous amount. Anything less than a 12 gauge is just not likely to do the job. Dense, tight patterns are the order of the day. You will miss by an embarrassing margin on the first few attempts.

There are two mental obstacles to be wary of. The first is the tendency to aim at the whole flock. Yes, it looks very dense when it is right over you and it seems as though you must certainly hit a goose if only you fire right into the flock. But an examination of any photograph of a flock of geese will demonstrate that there is far more empty space in the volume of the flock than there is mass of goose flesh. Aiming into the flock will probably result in a miss. You have to pick one goose and lead that one goose while ignoring all of the others.

Aiming for the whole goose is still not enough. A goose is a big bird. Even number 2 steel shot has lost a lot of velocity past 35 yards. You can not depend on those spheres of metal penetrating a goose's body and hitting vital organs. I have heard (from Robert Ruark, among others) that at such ranges the shot can sheer off of the feather like water, although I have never seen a scientific study testing this theory. What you've got to do is look at the head of the goose and think of that as the whole show. Think of it as a quail going really fast and really high. The head is small and the brain is only millimeters from the surface of the feathers. A head shot is what you want.

Once its down, there are any number of Christmas goose type recipes that you can find and follow. But don't feel like you absolutely must cook this thing in one intact piece like a Thanksgiving turkey. You can carve it up and do whatever strikes you with the pieces. Bread it and fry it like chicken. Goose enchiladas. Goose pot pie. Goose stir fry. You get the idea.

I am a great believer in looking around at what is already here in plenty and pursuing that species as food, rather than seeking out the rare or distant prey for food. Throughout much of North America, Canada geese fit the bill very nicely. Assuming that you can find a field to sit in, you don't need more than $200 worth of equipment, including a used pump action shotgun and a few boxes of shells. This is ideal for the aspiring locavore hunter and once you have the shotgun around I promise that you will find all manner of interesting things to shoot and eat with it.

February 'Deer Hunting for Locavores' Class Scheduled

My first effort at cramming the whole course into 2 days went very well last weekend, with the exception of the fact that the deer provided by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was road kill. Anatomically it was fine for teaching field dressing and quartering techniques, but the thing stank to high heaven and I'm never doing that again. Consequently, I decided that the most reliable means of supplying the class with a fresh deer to work on would be to obtain one from the only deer farm in Virginia.

I realize that this isn't entirely in the spirit of the hunt, but please understand that the value of what I'm teaching would be seriously compromised without a 'live' field dressing. This component of the class is one of the things that makes it truly unique and your confidence as a new hunter will be far greater when you know for certain that you can handle the messy part.

The dates are set for the weekend of February 20th & 21st. The class will be held in Charlottesville, Virginia with field trips to points nearby.

On Saturday morning we will start out in the classroom covering natural history, anatomy, deer evolution and gun safety. That afternoon I'll have a shuttle van to take everyone out to a shooting range. At the range you'll all have the opportunity to try out a variety of deer rifles and cartridges in order to make an educated decision about what you'd want to hunt with. Another experienced hunter and marksman will assist me in teaching basic riflery skills to those with zero to minimal experience and our goal will be to help everyone find out what is the longest shot that they can safely manage on a target the size of a deer's vitals.

Sunday will be a similar mixture of classroom time and field trips. I've secured a deer for us at a farm about 2 hours away and hired someone to drive there to shoot it, load it into a truck on ice, and bring it to our field dressing location about 15 minutes outside of Charlottesville (a shuttle is provided). Everyone will have the opportunity to try their hand at helping with gutting, skinning and quartering. Lunch will be provided before the field dressing (your appetite being somewhat in doubt afterward) .

Final butchering and some cooking will take place at a commercial kitchen that I've rented only a few blocks from our classroom. You'll learn how to turn the deer that we dressed that day into meal-sized packages like something that would come from a grocery store. We'll be cooking as we go, making dinner and drinking wines that pair well with venison. The remaining meat will be donated to a local homeless shelter.

Enrollment is limited to 10 students, although I'll also have a wait list since a spot may open up. The fee for the complete course is $380. I regret that I've had to raise the price since the first course, but obtaining a fresh deer and transporting it immediately to our site has added significant cost and logistical complexity.

A 25% deposit is required in order to reserve a spot ($95). This can be made via Paypal, or if you give me your word that you have put a check in the mail then I'll hold the space for you. That deposit is fully refundable for cancellations up to a week before the course starts. After Feb. 13th I will refund the deposit if the vacant spot is filled by someone else. Payment of the balance is due by the start of class on February 20th and can be made through Paypal or mailing a check, or you are welcome to bring the payment with you to the class in person.

There is a possibility that a film crew for a major German news network may be covering some part of our course. If anyone has any objections to this, please let me know in advance because this will influence the decision as to whether to allow them to come.

As of this writing, 4 spots in this class have already been filled. Interested parties may email me at jack.landers@gmail.com

1st Weekend Course a Success

My first weekend intensive course was a success. Field biologist Mike Dye of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries went above and beyond the call of duty to get us a deer for the field dressing demonstration. His hunt on Saturday morning was unsuccessful so he went cruising for recent road kill and brought us the best one that he could find.

It looked ok from the outside, but man did that thing ever reek when we got it open. I suppose that this deer was adequate for teaching anatomy and basic field dressing techniques but I am never ever ever doing that again. All of the meat had to be discarded. Fortunately I had some whole quarters from a previous deer that I'd kept in the freezer to use for the final butchering demonstration in case of this exact situation.

Lots of people have been emailing me asking to sign up for another weekend class. What I have to tell you is that I'm willing to do another one soon but first I have to find a guaranteed way of having a fresh deer for the class to work on. Probably I'm going to have to look for the closest source of farmed deer and see how fast one can be transported to the students. Otherwise I'm at risk of taking people's money without providing them with the experience that they need. This will certainly add to the cost of the class, but seriously I am never doing this with last night's road kill again.

Meanwhile, we had a film crew from Cabin Creek Productions come down for 3 days to get material for an HBO documentary. They covered the class over the weekend and then came out with me on a squirrel hunt on Monday afternoon. They saw quite a lot of wildlife given how brief the hunt was, got some great footage of a herd of 8 deer that came frustratingly close (the season is over here in Albemarle County), and I potted a squirrel to skin and gut for the camera. Unfortunately I also managed to stab myself in the leg while skinning it, due to being a complete idiot. The knife was not as sharp as it should have been (how many times have I warned my students about this?) and I had to use too much force to cut. The camera was rolling and we were losing the light so I continued along as if nothing had happened. If it makes the final cut in the movie this summer then look for a small dark stain appearing just below my left knee that eventually extends down my leg and soaks into my sock. I will be curious to see whether my expression betrays the situation.

I'm heading off to my doctor's office in about an hour to get a tetanus booster and maybe some stitches. Important lessons have been learned all around and I'll be limping for at least the next week.

[Photo courtesy of David Iliff and used under Creative Commons license]

The Massachusetts Special Election: A Historical View

I've been blogging about politics less often lately than I used to. This is the natural result of being very focused on teaching my classes on deer hunting, working on my book and generally being focused on bringing my message about locavore hunting to a broad national audience. Instead of waging campaigns for political candidates (as I did in the past), I'm now waging one for an idea about our relationship with meat. But I can't resist saying my bit about the special election for Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat in Massachusetts.

When I look back on people who have been elected to the Senate from Massachusetts during the last 75 years or so, I see a tendency towards success by people with especially compelling stories or an air of rakish celebrity. There are states in the Union where you can get to the Senate by paying your dues, punching your ticket in the House and lining up the right donors and endorsements. Massachusetts is not one of those states.

Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. was not just the grandson of the other famous Massachusetts Senator by the same name. He was also an Army reserve officer who was activated to fight in North Africa during the second World War. He rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel while also serving as a Republican Senator. He won re-election, but resigned from the Senate a year later in order to return to active duty after Roosevelt ordered that members of Congress choose between military service or service in Congress. A very remarkable man, Lodge was. In 1946 he won the other MA Senate seat, holding it until John F. Kennedy wrested it from him in 1952.

John F. Kennedy's personal story of heroism during the war, his youth and his charisma obviously fit into the pattern of having a compelling story.

Then came Ted Kennedy. Being a Kennedy during the early days of 'Camelot,' being young and having an extraordinary talent for connecting with voters in retail politics, he too was a compelling story and an instant celebrity.

In the other seat we see people like Edward Brooke, a Republican who in 1968 became the first black man to be elected to the US Senate in a popular vote. Obvious a compelling story right there.

Brooke was defeated in '78 by Paul Tsongas. At the age of 37, Tsongas was still relatively young for the Senate. He was something of an upstart, a former Peace Corp volunteer and director of their operations in the West Indies. Tsongas had a well-earned reputation as a reformer and someone willing and able to challenge systems of political patronage or corruption. A compelling guy.

Tsongas was succeeded by John Kerry, a man who came to the race in 1984 with a long history of celebrity for his personal heroism in the Vietnam war followed by his leadership within the anti-war movement during the Nixon Administration.

The only elected Senator from Massachusetts (I'm excluding appointments to fill vacancies) without this kind of celebrity or charisma that I can think of since the late 1930's is Leverett Saltonstall, whom you have never heard of because he wasn't very interesting.

Applying this view of successful MA Senate candidates to this special election which is about to take place, I have to conclude that Martha Coakley is probably doomed. Scott Brown has a compelling story and the relative youth and charisma that Massachusetts voters have long favored for open seats. Coakley is simply a candidate who has punched her ticket, built a resume and lined up early fundraising and endorsements. That would be enough to win a Senate seat in a lot of states. Not in Massachusetts.

Before anyone goes and posts a bunch of comments about how Scott Brown is a tea party nutcase or Martha Coakley is a communist, please understand that I am not addressing their policy positions in this analysis and I am not endorsing a preferred candidate. This is simply what I see as a useful historical view of the horse race.