Orange County Almanac : Home to the Wild Goose Chase
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In the early 1900s, Costa Mesa, then called Harper, offered one of the county’s most spectacular hunting grounds for those in pursuit of wild geese.
At any given time, the birds dominated five to 10 acres of the city.
The birds so ravatged barley crops that Irvine Co. offered a horse and ammunition to anybody with a shotgun who would ride the fields and keep the geese away.
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