Picking geese was an interesting job we did. We would run the geese into a small pen. Then the mothers and big sisters would come with rawhide chairs (that is, where one sit was made of rawhide, the rest was made oftree locust). Each would have a feather sack and a safety pin to pin the sack on their apron after they sat down. A goose was caught for each picker. 
They would get hold of the goose's legs and wings, turn them on their back and start picking with the free hand. There was quite a knack to the way you pulled on the feathers. Starting down by the tail of the goose, you would give a quick pull toward the head. The feathers came out real easy.
Sometimes a wing got loose or a child knocked against the sack of feathers. The feathers would fly ever which way, If a breeze was blowing, it was fun chasing the feathers and trying to catch them. We tried to pick the geese when the wind was not blowing.
The feathers are nice for pillows. Mother had a feather bed and I think mother's boys and girls received a pair of goose feather pillows when they were married.
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