Passenger Pigeons.....

[MarketHunter]

I'm currently in discussion and sharing information with a gentleman who's writing a book about Passenger Pigeons. I was just thinking that there are certainly Parker guns still extant that have definitely shot wild pigeons before they were extinct. The last live bird matches that used real passengers would have been in the VERY early 1880's. After that the birds were too scarce to be a reliable source so pen raised and feral pigeons came into use. Be fun to positively identify a famous trap shooters gun that was old enough to have seen use on the real thing.


Destry

[Fishtail]

Well...probably not the proudest accomplishment that Parkers might be able to claim.

[Duckman]

Originally Posted by greg conomos

Well...probably not the proudest accomplishment that Parkers might be able to claim.

Sort of like the dubious honor of owning a Sharps that was used on buffalo.

[MarketHunter]

The shooting and trapping of passenger pigeons really had very little to do with their demise. They were the most numerous bird in North America and possibly the world. A study was done several years ago, wish I'd have kept a copy. The results were that there hadn't been enough lead shot manufactured in the US up to that time to have killed all the birds. The reason they became extinct was because they couldn't adapt to the cutting of the huge tracks of hardwood timber in the Eastern and Midwestern parts of the country. They nested and fed in flocks of millions, once the stands of trees that could support that activity were gone so were the wild pigeons. I'm not saying shooting and trapping didn't play a part, but even if that hadn't have been done there still wouldn't be any passenger pigeons today.


Destry

[Duckman]

Originally Posted by Destry L. Hoffard

The shooting and trapping of passenger pigeons really had very little to do with their demise. They were the most numerous bird in North America and possibly the world. A study was done several years ago, wish I'd have kept a copy. The results were that there hadn't been enough lead shot manufactured in the US up to that time to have killed all the birds. The reason they became extinct was because they couldn't adapt to the cutting of the huge tracks of hardwood timber in the Eastern and Midwestern parts of the country. They nested and fed in flocks of millions, once the stands of trees that could support that activity were gone so were the wild pigeons. I'm not saying shooting and trapping didn't play a part, but even if that hadn't have been done there still wouldn't be any passenger pigeons today.


Destry

There are also also some thoughts that avian disease may have played a role in pigeon decline. Not unlike the decline of band tail pigeons, a bird I grew up hunting. Also, I read today that shooting off the buffalo would have been nearly impossible and there is evidence that disease played a part in their demise as well. I have a friend who raises bison commercially and he is deathly afraid of having them around sheep or goats as those animals carry Malignant Catarrhal Fever, which is fatal to bison while sheep and goats are uneffected. Perhaps wild sheep carry it as well? In any case, p. pigeons and buffalo would struggle in todays world. Sad but true. Both species lived in very close quarters since there were only about two main flocks of pigeons and two main herds of bison making them highly susceptible to contagions.
-plc-

[charlie cleveland]

hope you find a ole parker that links to the time of carryer piegons..i too think this is an interesting topic...what do you think maybe a few 10 ga used in this sport... charlie

[Fishtail]

The thing about buffalo is there are still some alive. Extinct, well, that's forever.

I wish someone would develop a sport of such popularity that it resulted in the extinction of mosquitoes.

[George Lander]

Excuses always seem to abound when it comes to justification of man's destruction of the environment for his own pleasure or financial gains. Passenger pigeons were shot, not only for sport, by the thousands but also for the market by the tens of thousands. Buffalo were shot by the thousands for their skins as well as for sport. The newly constructed transcontinental railroads played a major role in both of these travestys. My Dad told me of waterfowl hunting at Mattemuskeet, North Carolina in the early 1920's when the sky would go quickly from bright sunshine to dusk when the flocks would fly over. No more! Native Americans would take only the game necessary for their survival and would honor the spirit of the beast for providing such.

JMHO, George

[Dennis]

George, I pretty much agree with you except for the Indians driving buffalo over buffalo jumps by the thousands. Now I know they could not use all of that meat or preserve it for very long. Other than that I agree they were pretty good stewards of the land.

[George Lander]

Dennis: Archeologists have found that the Indians used the same cliffs over several centuries confirmed by the remains found using radio carbon dating. At least that is my understanding.

Best Regards, George