Even up here in Canada, there are people the government hires to keep the population of our national animal down, which apparently involves going up to them and pulling their heads off (very easy because of their thin necks). Because the alternative is, yes, you can't use any grass area for 5 months out of the year.

This sounds like the plot of the book Wringer, but I never imagined it was a thing in real life. Really?

After looking at the book, yes, it's the exact same. They can be grounded in groups by shotgun first, like in the book, although I've heard they're stupid enough to be approached and killed barehanded. In other seasons they spray the eggs with oil while the parents are gone, and then replace them in the nest, to starve the eggs of oxygen and prevent the chicks from developing. If you take the eggs outright the geese will just lay more.

It would be nice if we could open hunting season on them and let them all get killed in a sporting way, but they're said to be repulsive and inedible.

Here's a government publication on it dealing with my area specifically (southern BC).

https://www.ec.gc.ca/mbc-com/6D2B893B-C671-41AF-8439-713305D...

I ride by a flock and can't help but think "dang thats a lot of meat walking around". I have no idea how good or bad they would be to eat.

Geese is great cooking if you know how! There actually a lot less meat there than you might think, and it does take some cooking skill to get right, but that is often the case with game-meat, for example where I'm from elk, which can be super gamey, but also super tasty if prepared correctly.

Growing up, my mom always prepared a roast goose for Christmas dinner. Super tasty.