Sometimes you read something so odd, so off the wall, that you can’t help but laugh. I admit it: that’s exactly what I did when I read this story.
What happened? Well, it all started when 84-year old Furman Clark Price of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, decided that he wanted to shoot some geese. From his living room chair.
Yes, really.
Nick Doria gives us the details:
A North Myrtle Beach man was arrested over the weekend for allegedly shooting at geese outside his home.
On Saturday, police responded to a residence in the 400 block of 36th Avenue North and found the suspect, 84-year-old Furman Clark Price, sitting in his living room, according to a police report.
Police say they cleared the residence and found a .22 caliber rifle in the kitchen. A witness said she heard several gun shots and saw Price shooting at geese in a public parking lot across from his home, the report states.
According to police, a goose was found dead in the parking lot from an apparent gunshot wound to the chest.
Price reportedly told police he was tired of the geese coming on his property and defecating. The suspect also stated he wanted to “get rid of them or scare them off,” and admitted to shooting at the geese while sitting in his living room chair, according to the report.
Price was charged with discharging a firearm within the city and two charges filed under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. He was released Sunday from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on $1,090 bond.
I’ll admit that that is one of the more unusual uses of a firearm that I’ve heard of. And (since no one was hurt) one of the funniest. And, hey, Joe Biden would be proud.
So, next time that you’re having a hard day, take a moment to think about Mr. Price and the absurdity of shooting geese from your living room chair.
I think that we can all agree that he could have found better places to go hunting.
I see nothing funny about this at all
Michael, I do not see anything funny about this shooting either. All too often people do not know the range of a .22 cal. bullet. What this person did was not smart. But that does not mean I am in favor of gun control. Why can’t we learn that we have a people issue and not a weapons issue? Guns do not kill people. People kill people.
This is just the kind of thing that gives the anti-gunner ammo. All because somebody did something totally stupid.
Poor Goose, he never did anything to anyone, Crazy old man
I UNDERSTAND HOW THE OLD MAN FELT. I WENT CAMPING ON A NICE FISHING LAKE, BUT THE GEESE WERE SO MANY THAT YOU COULD NOT FISH OR EVEN WALK AROUND THE LAKE WITHOUT THE GEESE CRAP GETTING ALL OVER YOUR BOOTS, NOT TO MENTION THE SMELL
I know exactly how he felt. I live on a small private lake and the geese take it over in the summer. Very loud at 5 am every morning when they fly in to land in the lake. They come in my yard and make piles of stuff all over.
They are worse then dogs at making messes in the yard. Yes, I have wished that I could shoot them but due to anti-gun ordinances in my city, I can’t without getting arrested.
Personally this is not funny. First: South Carolina violated this man’s right to protect his property and himself. They did so under color of law in two ways: A) The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is a Treaty between the United States and Great Britain done in 1918. See https://legcounsel.house.gov/Comps/Migratory%20Bird%20Treaty%20Act.pdf This man does not live in the either the United States or Great Britain, and has no implication upon his person. He has NEVER given his consent prior to his “case” when he was illegally subjected to it. Second the Treaty itself has no force and effect as there is no such entity as “Congress of the United States of America” see enacting clause in the Treaty and Article 1, section 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America. See last sentence of the Preamble of the Constitution. (Wasn’t until 1948 when Congress “passed” a Bill using this as their enacting clause, which is another Unconstitutional Act in of itself.)
B) Any so called “ordinance which violates the rights, liberties, pursuits of happiness and property of ANY individual is/are unconstitutional and is/are unenforceable. So, he was completely within HIS RIGHTS and HE WAS VIOLATED UNDER COLOR OF LAW!! Please get these points …. as these points usually exist in every “government” intrusion of YOUR RIGHTS.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is part of the UNITED STATES. BUT HE WENT WAY TOO FAR!!!!!!
Goverment (St. LOCAL & what ever) has more arms than a octopus
I’m not finding this funny. It’s a story about stupidity and carelessness with a firearm in a populated area. Hope they confiscate his gun(s) and put him on a restricted list. People like this idiot give a bad name to those of us who are responsible.
Not funny. This was a clear case of “public endangerment”. Not to mention the geese.
He should have waited until the geese were in his yard and called Animal Control.
“No one got hurt”??? What about the poor goose? I am well aware that there is an overpopulation of geese, and they are running out of food in Canada and in the United States. However, this was not funny. There’s nothing funny about harvesting an animal. When I used to hunt, I always prayed over the deer or the elk or the boar, and sent their souls to heaven.
Labeling this as humorous is what gives responsible hunters a bad name.
The man should have been charged. I recently had a similar problem with buzzards, at least a couple hundred of them. They were drawn to an odor given off from a fertilizer plant down the road from my property. My property is the only piece around that has trees so they congregated here. But I didn’t shoot the things. Instead I went out in the morning when they began to arrive and used firecrackers to drive them away. After a couple days they got the message. But what this man did was totally irresponsible and dangerous. However maybe the guy has become a little senile in his thinking.
Everyone has some good points, but considering his age, not knowing his neighborhood, perhaps there are no houses across his street for miles. And if you have never been plagued by what I assume are Canadian geese, they make a mess all over any grassy area. We have them here in W. Montana and I can tell you they make a mess and if you walk around in a park, or ball field you have got their green crap all over the soles of your shoes. I guess what we need are more hunters! It must be even worse in E. MT because there is NO LIMIT on how many snow geese you can shoot! Actually the wild life are kind of taking over in general. The deer in our town walk right down the street in daylight, on their way to munch on your pretty flowers! They love tulips! We’ve even had cougars spotted near the high school and in a nearby neighborhood that aren’t close to any forested area. Anyway I really wouldn’t like it if the geese were right in my yard. And quite possibly he’s not in good enough shape to chase them off. He’s old enough that he may not know of any laws that say you can’t “discharge a firearm”, which even includes BB guns, of all things, in city limits. Fire crackers may very well be illegal. Cut the guy some slack, and the $1000 fine is more than enough, could be his entire SS check for the month. We should probably start a “go fund me account” for the guy!
1- his age is NO EXCUSE. If anything, it’s a reason to be even more alarmed, as he may have bad eyesight.
2- maybe there are no houses within miles, but he was shooting into a PUBLIC parking lot. Doesn’t that suggest to you that people may be around?!?
3- if you feel the need to send him money, go for it. But that tells me you are as crazy as he is.
4- yes, geese are a nuisance. So are mosquitoes, gophers, mice, jehovahs witnesses… but that doesn’t mean you can start shooting at them with total disregard for common sense and safety.
Julie, LOVE your point #4—after jeh. witnesses, you might as well have added political campaign operatives going door to door. I would suggest that a solution might be to set up some form of a “humane” trap of some kind for the geese. “Hunting” on your own land is, I believe, legal in most states. From personal experience I can say that all geese are highly edible. You might encounter some difficulties cleaning the goose feathers off the bird but it can be done, consult a pro. You will find the goose a very “oily” bird to roast but I can remember my Mom roasting one for Thanksgiving once, excellent !
I get where the guy is coming from. We have an over abundance of the geese here too (assuming they’re Canadian geese). They are all over the trails and parks, so much so, that if they have goslings and you’re within 20-30 feet they will rush and try to attack you.
What he should’ve done is waited for them to be in his yard, throw out a fishing line with a treble hook and bread on it. He could’ve caught himself a nice dinner!
But, again, totally off the wall firing a .22 cal in a “residential” area.
Absolutely nothing “funny” about the illegal use of firearms. Things like this give responsible firearms owners a bad name. Is this old man senile, or just stupid? BTW, I’m 81 and I know better than to do something like this. The old Chief
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