Live pigeon shoot criticized

[Ben Rawls]

I think pigeon shooting got it's start in the days when the Passenger Pigeon was a pest. It was a wild bird that numbered in the billions and could descend on a farmers field and consume his years crop in minutes. They were killed by the millions by farmers and market hunters. They had a fatal flaw in their reproductive cycle:they mated in the air in huge swirling masses. It was a hit or miss proposition and very inefficient. As the numbers declined their reproductive rate fell and before anyone knew they were extinct.
They were sold as market birds and were reportedly very tasty.
I feel the same way about city pigeons as previously stated about rats. A Dr. Fox did a PhD study on the ecology of dogs,rats and pigeons in Baltimore in the early '70's. He found that pigeons many times lived on a diet of dog feces. Dogs ran cats off trying to kill rats. Interesting study. As I remember it was published as "The Ecology of the Feral dog" or some such.
A friend once told me a story of a pigeon shoot he went to and thought he was going to be shot himself after starting to miss shots late in the day.

[George Lander]

Originally Posted by Ben Rawls

I think pigeon shooting got it's start in the days when the Passenger Pigeon was a pest. It was a wild bird that numbered in the billions and could descend on a farmers field and consume his years crop in minutes. They were killed by the millions by farmers and market hunters. They had a fatal flaw in their reproductive cycle:they mated in the air in huge swirling masses. It was a hit or miss proposition and very inefficient. As the numbers declined their reproductive rate fell and before anyone knew they were extinct.
They were sold as market birds and were reportedly very tasty.
I feel the same way about city pigeons as previously stated about rats. A Dr. Fox did a PhD study on the ecology of dogs,rats and pigeons in Baltimore in the early '70's. He found that pigeons many times lived on a diet of dog feces. Dogs ran cats off trying to kill rats. Interesting study. As I remember it was published as "The Ecology of the Feral dog" or some such.
A friend once told me a story of a pigeon shoot he went to and thought he was going to be shot himself after starting to miss shots late in the day.

Ben: I understand the rational behind the eradication of what some segments of our ancestors percieved to be pests. Even now there are efforts to eliminate Canada Geese from high end subdivisions. But wouldn't it be a sight to see a swirling mass of thousands of Passenger Pigeons flying as one and mating in the air? I have been to dove shoots here in South Carolina where I was a likely to get shot as were the doves. Some of the idiots there would not even bother to pick up their birds. I do have a problem with folks that use God's creatures only as targets of opportunity.

Best Regards, George

[MarketHunter]

Ben,

If I was you, I'd buy that book my friend wrote before making statements about passenger pigeons. They ate mast and berries mostly, they weren't a farm pest in hardly any way. They didn't mate while flying in the air either. Their only real mating problem was that they laid a single egg and didn't usually nest every year.


DLH

[QUOTE=Ben Rawls;148048]I think pigeon shooting got it's start in the days when the Passenger Pigeon was a pest. It was a wild bird that numbered in the billions and could descend on a farmers field and consume his years crop in minutes. They were killed by the millions by farmers and market hunters. They had a fatal flaw in their reproductive cycle:they mated in the air in huge swirling masses. It was a hit or miss proposition and very inefficient. As the numbers declined their reproductive rate fell and before anyone knew they were extinct.
They were sold as market birds and were reportedly very tasty.

[John Davis]

And I think the real problem was the deforestation of their nesting grounds. Millions of acres turned to farm land.

[MarketHunter]

Exactly right John.

You can trace their disappearance by the cutting of the large virgin hardwood tracts in the Midwestern US.


DLH

[Double Lab]

Habitat destruction such as deforestation has doomed many species but has been a plus for others such as whitetails, black bears and turkeys. Elk once inhabited the mountains of western Maryland but are now gone, mostly due to the encroachment of civilization. There is a plan to reintroduce them to Maryland. We'll see how that goes.