EDMONTON- Alberta Fish & Wildlife officers are investigating after at a goose was shot and killed at an Edmonton area golf course last week.
Lindsay Bailer and a group of friends were golfing at Hunters Green Golf Course in Sturgeon County on Wednesday when it happened.
“We had been golfing kind of amongst all these Canada geese that were wandering around the fairway.”
Bailer says they were finishing up the 15th hole when a friend of hers sliced his ball onto another fairway.
“He had gone over there and hit his ball and came back and he was like ‘you guys, guess what just happened? There was a guy over there who just shot a Canada goose with a compound bow, right in front of me,'” she explained. “He said he was speaking distance away from the guy and it happened right in front of him.”
Bailer says she couldn’t believe it.
“It was very disturbing. We tried to finish up our hole, but it was quite appalling that this happened in the middle of the day in a public place,” she said. “It’s not something I really want to see or expect to see in the middle of a golf game.”
Wayne McGuire, the owner of the golf club, says he gave the employee permission to come and hunt geese on the property on Tuesday night, but the employee said there were no geese. So on Wednesday, McGuire says the employee came back during the day without telling him.
“He thought he was far enough away from everybody that it wouldn’t matter, but that doesn’t matter here on the golf course. You don’t shoot anything during the day when people are out here golfing,” McGuire explained. “It was totally inappropriate to do that when there’s people around.”
McGuire says this is the first time an incident like this has occurred at Hunters Green. The employee- a maintenance worker at the golf course- has been spoken to, but not terminated.
“It will not happen again and if it does, that person is gone, totally,” McGuire said.
The matter is currently under investigation by Alberta Fish & Wildlife. Officers say they can’t speak too much about this particular case, however, “at that golf course, at that location, it would be lawful to shoot a goose relative to making sure that you’re doing it within the confines of the law,” said Fish & Wildlife officer Adrian Marr.
In Alberta, in order to hunt migratory birds like geese and ducks, hunters are required to have an Alberta game bird licence and a Federal migratory licence. When it comes to hunting on private property, the owner of the property must give permission and in any case hunters are not allowed to shoot an animal within 200 yards of an occupied building.
“The person did receive permission from the owner. But there was some guidelines to that permission as well,” Marr said adding, “It’s my understanding that where the bird was shot was beyond the 200-yard limit.”
Marr says the case is being taken very seriously and officers will be speaking with the employee on Monday. If the law was not followed, Marr says consequences could include a fine, loss of licence or a prison term.
As for Bailer, she says Wednesday was the first time she golfed at Hunters Green and likely the last.
“I feel like I would be supporting something that I don’t agree with.”
With files from Shannon Greer, Global News.
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