Wild Goose Jack

Wildlife Officer Darin Abbott serves Ohio as a wildlife officer in the southern portion of the state… but his time isn't all chasing poachers and promoting wildlife conservation. Sometimes he's able to spend a little time having some fun while freezing his fingers and toes numb. Now, I've never been much of a duck hunter. Something about driving to the local – or not so local – hotspot and setting decoys before the sun even thinks about peaking over the horizon just never seemed to excite me like a wade in a trout stream. Toss in that ducks, and therefore duck hunters, like cold, overcast, wind-driven rainy or snow squalling predawn mornings – and you soon understand that there's an amount of peculiar dedication required. Darin happens to be one of those people. One January, Darin and a black Labrador named Gunner were huddled in hiding near the Ohio River, hoping to decoy some south-bound ducks. A few ventured in their direction and he was able to take a fat mallard drake. Not really an atypical situation, at least until the bird was in his hands. That's when he noticed the leg band. This mallard was something special, a Miner bird. The big drake was carrying a chronicle of conservation on its leg. It had been banded at the Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary in 2007 – making the duck at least 12 years old when it crossed paths with Abbot and Gunner. Miner tagged birds are very special and to understand why, we have to do a little time-traveling. Born in Dover Center (Westlake), Ohio, Jack Miner's family moved to Kingsville, Ontario, Canada in 1878. Making a living was tough so he helped to supplement his family's income through trapping and hunting. He didn't receive a formal education and was illiterate until he was 33 years old. As is true of many sportsmen, he developed an interest; even a love affair, with the wildlife that helped him through those early years. Miner's Christian up-bringing was instrumental in how he viewed wildlife, deeming that humans were charged with playing an active and protective role in conservation and ecological preservation. He believed in an active stewardship born of belief, understanding and love. He began experimenting with brush shelters for upland species, furnishing spare grain to quail and raising pheasants. The Canada geese he saw during their migration soon caught his interest; enough so that he built a pond in the hope that some may call it home. It took nearly four years but a few settled in and reared their young. Some folks labeled Miner "Wild Goose Jack" for his seemingly eccentric ideas. It was 1904, and Miner wasn't discouraged with those that questioned his actions. He was a man with an idea; an idea that would impact the future of all waterfowl conservation. By 1911, both geese and ducks were arriving in large numbers and he continued to experiment by adding ponds of various sizes, depths and accompanying vegetation. He began to see what helped waterfowl flourish. It wasn't just the ponds or his work, it was his ability to view the land as a duck or a goose…to see it as a home; to understand. Ontario's governmental representatives saw the significant improvements Miner's effort were producing and began to help fund his handiwork. This allowed him to add evergreen and nut-bearing trees, shrubs, and to dig more ponds and surround them with wind-sheltering groves and food sources. Miner designed the first reliable methods of harmlessly trapping waterfowl for examination, allowing him to begin his studies of the routes ducks and geese use to journey across the hemisphere. He made his own hand-stamped aluminum bands that could be attached to his catch's leg before release. Feeling blessed to be able to help conserve what he saw as the future of waterfowl, he found a way to express his beliefs. Miner added a simple Biblical quote to each of the bands that were attached to the legs of these avian travelers. Ducks and geese wore a different verse and he changed the scriptural passages annually. In 1909, he got his first band return. Recovered in Anderson, South Carolina, it marked the first complete record of banding a migratory bird. His inscription, "With God all things are possible—Mark 10-27," now seems even more proverbial. A Jack Minor goose band from 1999. Wild Goose Jack was nobody's joke. His banding helped decipher the pathways used during waterfowl's migratory travels and his work was instrumental in the development and signing of the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918; an agreement between six nations which made it illegal to capture, sell, or kill certain migratory birds. Miner spent his life as an outspoken proponent of waterfowl conservation and for the establishment of sanctuaries and wildlife refuges. He lectured about his banding, research, and habitat preservation methods while promoting birding, building bird boxes and expressing his concerns of the declining ecological condition of the Great Lakes. He wasn't without controversy. Some of his views relating to predation often took on a moral dimension of 'good versus evil', causing a bit of an uproar in the conservation community. Even so, his work was invaluable and many took a stand that those views were "just Jack's." While not the first person to band waterfowl (that distinction goes to American Leon J. Cole), Miner must be considered the earliest success story in documenting waterfowl travel patterns and flyways. Wild Goose Jack died in 1944 but his legacy lives at The Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary located near Kingsville in Essex County, Ontario. Resting on a peninsula between Lake Erie to the south and Lake Saint Clair to the north, the sanctuary is ten miles away from Point Pelee National Park, which Miner helped to get designated in 1918. During his life, Miner banded over 50,000 ducks and 40,000 Canada geese and banding continues today within the sanctuary. His tradition of including a Bible verse on the bands has also been followed. Hunters, birders and biologists continue to share a special place in their heart for the birds, the bands and for the love that Jack Minor so fervently shared for waterfowl. Today, the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Sanctuary is still operating in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. During the spring and the fall, the grounds will be filled with birds passing through the area, using the wetland habitat as a safe resting place for food, water, and shelter. The sanctuary was once rated the second greatest tourist attraction in Canada, with Niagara Falls being the first. You can learn about Jack Miner and his beloved birds by visiting www.jackminer.ca. "As long as there is such a thing as a wild goose, I leave them the meaning of freedom." – Gene Hill Along the Way Terry Cosby, a former chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, has been appointed to the Ohio Wildlife Council by Governor Mike DeWine. Cosby has more than four decades of experience helping landowners with conservation activities. Cosby has an extensive background in agriculture and conservation. He grew up on a cotton farm in Mississippi and earned his bachelor's degree from Alcorn State University, a land grant college. Cosby began his 46-year career with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) as an intern in Iowa. Among other positions, his career included a 16-year stint as the agency's state conservationist in Ohio as well as serving as the agency's chief from 2021 to 2025. He resides in Canal Winchester and enjoys hunting and fishing. Other members include: Mike Rex (Chairman), Athens County; Paul P. Mechling II, DVM (Vice Chair), Ashtabula County; Karen Stewart-Linkhart (Secretary), Greene County; Solomon Judah 'Bass' Curtis, Muskingum County; Heather Robinson, Franklin County; Jim Samuel, Frankline County; and Tom Vorisek, Franklin County. The Ohio Wildlife Council is an eight-member board that reviews and votes on all Division of Wildlife proposed rules and regulations. Council meetings are open to the public. Individuals interested in providing comments are asked to call 614-265-6304 at least two days prior to a meeting to register. All comments are required to be three minutes or less. Step Outside • Today: 3-D Archery Match, Whitetail Warm Up with Field and Stream Bowhunters. This is the last regular archery match of the year, preparing you for the upcoming deer seasons. Along with it comes a favorite of the archery crowd – The Iron Buck Shoot. Made of steel with a 6-inch hole cut out, that deer target will manage to eat a few arrows that miss their mark. Field and Stream Bowhunters; 11400 Allen Township 109, Findlay. Registration opens at 8 a.m. Contact: John Fenimore at 419-957-8764. • Thursday: Trap Shooting, open to the public. 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. UCOA, 6943 Marion Township 243, Findlay. Contact: Karl Charron, 419-701-8698 or karl.charron@poet.com. • Sept. 27: Statewide Deer Archery Season Opener. You will have till Feb. 1 to fill the freezer. • Oct. 4-5: Youth and Veterans' early waterfowl season. Abrams is a retired wildlife officer supervisor for the state Division of Wildlife in Findlay. He can be reached at P.O. Box 413, Mount Blanchard, OH 45867-0413 or via e-mail at jimsfieldnotes@aol.com.