The Life of Wild Goose Jack

If you’ve spent any amount of time in Kingsville, you’ve likely heard the name Jack Miner. You’ve probably travelled past or even visited the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Sanctuary on Road 3 West. But how much do you actually know about Jack Miner?

Here we take a look at the man who is credited with introducing the concept of conservation to the world.

Early Life

Jack was born in Ohio in 1865, the 5th of ten children. He rarely attended school, feeling more comfortable in nature than he did at school or around other children. His mother recognized his immense love of nature and encouraged him to spend his time outdoors, instead of pushing him to attend school. In fact, it is estimated that Jack only attended school for a total of three months. In 1878 when Jack was 13, his family moved to Kingsville where his mother’s family had settled.

Hunting

When Jack was a teenager, he and his brother Ted began earning money through hunting and trapping to help support their family. They became market hunters - killing birds and animals they would then sell - and they also led hunts for prominent businessmen.

In 1884, clay was discovered on the Miner family farm at a time when Kingsville was experiencing an economic boom. Brick and tile were needed to build the new stores, homes and schools and the Miners prospered in producing those materials. Despite their new success, Jack and Ted continued on their hunting trips each autumn and, at one time, Jack was considered to be the best hunter in Canada.

Family

In 1888, Jack married Laona Wigle, daughter of the well known Kingsville family. They had five children: Carl, Pearl, Manly, Ted and Jasper. Sadly, Pearl died at age three from a severe fever and Carl died at age 13 after suffering an appendicitis.

Jack Miner at his pond feeding the water fowl.

Tragedy

In addition to losing two children at a young age, Jack also suffered the loss of his brother Ted, who was shot and killed by a fellow hunter during a hunting accident in1898.

Faith

Following his brother Ted’s death, Jack began to take an active role in the church. He had previously not shown much interest in religion, likely due to the fact that he had never learned to read and therefore he couldn’t read the Bible. However, once he began leading the Sunday school classes, he was able to learn how to read with the help of the boys he was teaching. Jack’s faith started to play a prominent role in his life and it is believed that his conservation efforts were prompted by a verse in the Bible stating the importance of man sheltering wildlife.

Early Efforts

Jack started by securing wild duck eggs and raising three ducks. He put water in one of the clay pits on his property to make a home for the ducks. The ducks left in the fall but the following spring a number of ducks came back. Jack believed some of the ducks were the same ones that had been there the previous fall. His neighbours were skeptical though, which gave Jack the idea to attach a band to prove the same ducks were returning.

Banding

Jack found aluminum in his workshop, put his name and address on it, caught one of the ducks and put the metal around his leg. He banded four ducks that summer and in the fall they left. The following spring, three of the four ducks came back, confirming Jack’s beliefs.

Wild Geese

The success with the ducks prompted Jack to turn his focus to wild geese. He bought decoys in an attempt to attract the geese to his property, but a few years went by and no geese had come. Many people in town found his attempts to attract wild geese humorous and they would often make honking sounds at Jack, mocking him.

After four years of trying, the geese finally arrived. Curious visitors came to see the geese, turning Jack from a local laughing stock into a international celebrity. He eventually attracted so many geese that he said the vibration from their wings shook the windows of his house.

Jack ended up combining his love of nature with his faith by stamping verses from the Bible on the bands that were being placed on the geese, making them, as he called it, “missionaries of the air”. The bands were often returned to Jack by hunters who had shot the birds, allowing him to understand their migratory patterns and making him the first person to trace the migratory patterns of water fowl.

In The Media

Media coverage of Jack’s accomplishments began to spread around the continent and the Miner family home became an international landmark. Many visitors to the sanctuary had never seen geese in person before and during the height of migration, there were often thousands of people visiting each day.

Lectures

As Jack’s fame increased, requests were coming in for him to do speaking engagements. Through his paid lectures, he was able to make money to cover the costs of operating the sanctuary, primarily the cost to feed the geese. He spent 30 years travelling the world giving lectures, speaking on the importance of conservation.

Famous Friends

Jack’s famous friends included Henry Ford, who visited the sanctuary after reading about it in a Detroit newspaper. It became a place that Henry would visit often, reportedly to escape from his responsibilities as an industrialist. Henry paid to have the brick and iron fence built around the main property and he also arranged for a film crew to record Jack and the geese, providing footage for Jack to use in his lectures.

Another famous friend of Jack’s was baseball great Ty Cobb. To honour his friend, Jack established a baseball field on the property and named it Ty Cobb Field.

His Legacy

Jack died in 1944 at age 79. It is estimated that in his lifetime, Jack banded more than 90,000 ducks and geese. He is credited not only with introducing conservation to many individuals but also prompting many nations to introduce conservation measures. In honour of Jack’s birthday of April 10, National Wildlife Week is held annually during the week in which his birthday falls.

A man may be known by the company he keeps, but a town is known for the man it produces. Almost the world over, Kingsville has become known as “the home of Jack Miner,” and, it is predictable, will remain so long after this eminent naturalist, conservationist and humanitarian has passed to the Great Beyond. London Free Press - January 12, 1935