Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Nature
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-26-2009, 09:44 PM
 
Location: Cody, WY
10,420 posts, read 14,597,926 times
Reputation: 22025

Advertisements

Why not move to a place with no wildlife, say an apartment?

I've been listening to them for several days now. It's haunting and beautiful.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-28-2009, 09:14 PM
 
Location: vagabond
2,631 posts, read 5,454,823 times
Reputation: 1314
this has been an entertaining read.

i chased a goose once; the stupid thing kept leading all of the other geese into the perimeter of our military base and setting off all of our alarms. when yelling and throwing pebbles at them didn't do anything, i charged out there in full body armor, rifle in hand, screaming like a mad man.

those birds can run fast! i had no idea. i thought that they'd just fly off. nope. just ran.

back to op: running after geese and hollering doesn't permanently remove the problem, but it does provide amusement for bored marines.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-28-2009, 09:36 PM
 
1,501 posts, read 5,680,417 times
Reputation: 1164
for every response in this thread! (And not one "call US airways up" joke!)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-02-2009, 12:15 PM
 
Location: Ocean Shores, WA
5,092 posts, read 14,829,069 times
Reputation: 10865
Flocks of wild geese are a problem in the city parks here so the park rangers got some plastic coyotes that were supposes to scare them off.

But as soon as they put them out somebody stole them.

Next time they put out plastic coyotes to scare off the geese, they better put out some plastic rangers to scare off the crooks.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-02-2009, 12:58 PM
 
Location: Deep in the Heart of Texas
1,477 posts, read 7,909,222 times
Reputation: 1941
Default A True Goose Story

At the company I used to work for, there was a problem with flocks of geese congregating on the fire pond, the lawn and the parking lots, making messes and harassing employees and visitors. The company installed plastic coyotes on the lawn and around the pond. The geese stayed away from them for a couple of days but soon figured out that the coyotes weren't going to chase them. The day that several geese were observed resting in the shade beneath a couple of plastic coyotes, the maintenance department decided that further deterrents were needed.

Next, the company purchased plastic dead geese. That's right. These were replicas of dead geese, made to lay on their backs with their necks stretched out. Supposedly the real geese would be scared of landing in a place where dead geese had taken up residence. The live geese stayed away for a few days, circling, honking, but not landing. Then a few brave geese landed on the lawn and soon more followed. They'd step warily around the plastic dead geese, but after a few days when the live geese noticed that the "carcasses" weren't decomposing, they largely ignored them and went on about their usual business of pooping everywhere and charging employees walking in or out of the building.

Business went on as usual for employess. Visitors were somewhat taken aback though, as they got out of their cars and walked up the main walkway to the building. We'd watch them as they looked from side to side in horror at the piles of apparently dead geese littering the lawn. It took a bit of explaining.

A consultant was consulted. The consultant said that it was important to move the plastic coyotes and the plastic dead geese around the property several times a day.

The cafeteria had a wide expanse of windows overlooking the pond and lawns, and watching a small army of uniformed maintenance people dragging around plastic coyotes and playing catch with plastic dead geese was happily anticipated lunchtime entertainment for employees.

Even more entertaining was watching the geese charge the maintenance people as they tried to pose the coyotes and plastic goose carcasses in new locations. One day a frustrated maintenance man grabbed a portable airhorn and blasted a group of attacking geese.

Success!! The geese panicked and flew off in a cloud of feathers! The plastic dead geese and coyotes were retired to storage racks in the warehouse where they became points of interest for tour groups. A maintenance person was assigned permanent airhorn duty.

Several times a day conversations would be interrupted by blasts of an airhorn from various parts of the property, followed by the flapping of hundreds of wings. A rowboat was used to ferry the maintenance person out to the middle of the firepond to blast the airhorn at the poor geese trying to huddle there in safety away from the obnoxious noise. (This was almost as much fun to watch during lunchtime as the dead goose lobbing was.)

Eventually the airhorn became less effective, and forays into the masses of geese had to be stepped up.

The consultant was reconsulted. The water was apparently the problem. Without the water the geese would stay away. Installing a grid of monofilament line across the firepond to prevent the geese from landing was one suggestion. Another was to install a low fence around the perimeter of the pond. Geese apparently don't like to land on water that has a fence around it.

Of course, the consultant said, the best deterrent was a sheep dog specially trained to herd the geese away.

All of the new options were discussed at the highest levels of management. Cost analyses were prepared. Meetings were held. Meanwhile, company sales dropped precipitously and the management decided to focus on running the business for a while. The company said they needed to cut back on payroll and control expenses.

I left the company about that time.

Last I heard business was still bad, they still had lots of geese and they were still using the airhorn.

This is an absolutely true story!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-02-2009, 01:06 PM
 
Location: Ladysmith,Wisconsin
1,587 posts, read 7,525,396 times
Reputation: 767
Roast goose comes to mind.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-07-2009, 06:04 AM
 
Location: Stuck in NE GA right now
4,585 posts, read 12,363,482 times
Reputation: 6678
Herding dog solves the problem and yes they can become a menace.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-11-2009, 02:45 PM
 
Location: Del Rio, TN
39,868 posts, read 26,495,821 times
Reputation: 25766
Wait till fall, 12 ga and #2 steel shot.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-11-2009, 08:39 PM
 
Location: Back in New York
1,104 posts, read 3,701,989 times
Reputation: 863
Go buy a hose somewhere else! Problem solved. Unbelievable how ppl cant live with nature. Hearing ppl complain about deer, geese, snakes....they have just as much right to be there as anything else.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2009, 08:06 AM
 
517 posts, read 1,963,954 times
Reputation: 581
We have had some geese visitors during the last few days and we don't live near a lake. They were "honking" so loud it sounded like they were in the house! They left some "presents" on the lawn and continued on their merry way. I hope they find another home soon because my kids like to play outside without stepping in all the "presents".

I have seen companies that deal with geese. Once I saw a truck with the best company name. It was called "Get the Flock Out".
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Nature

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top