Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-04-08
FEW WILD PIGEONS
Bird Once Abundant In Michigan
Now Almost Exterminated.
Trappers In That State Caught Then,
In Large Numbers BY Use OF
Nets and a System Of
pecoys.

South Haven, Wholesome thirty
five or forty years ago some of the
locality around South Haven was
great numbering country and to-day in
uncleared brush land there are to be
seen (reminding one of those early
days. firmly imbedded in the ground
immense pine stumps, relics of those
one-time monarchs of the forest.
These stumps will measure In circum-
ference ten or fifteen feet. Old-timers
and settlers recall the fact that those
pine forests were once the breeding
and nesting place of myriads of wild
pigeons. that roasted, bred and went
unmolested; that they increased in
such quantities that when they made
a flight they would darken the sky
like black cloud. The younger gen.
Grafton Of sportsmen, however, has
probably never seen living specimen
Of that bird, his acquaintance with
pigeons being entirely confined to the
plucked specimens of tame pigeons
on the stands of the dealers in the
market places.
One of the old-timers of the early
days who followed the flight of 1878
and was much interestd in the pigeon
business Of that time said that the
disappearance of the wild pigeon from
its former haunts has established the
fact that 1t Is now entirely confined to
the wilds of British North America.
He followed the roosts and routes of
the fights and the last one seen by
him in Michigan was in the spring
of 1876. The main body of birds dis
appeared across the Straits of Mack
mac, much to the distress Of METERS.
At Petoskey and its immediate
neighborhood in 1878 flock of pig
cons appeared in considerable num-
Der, but not more than few thou
sands were seen In one body. The
nests in Michigan extended usually
for about twenty-eight miles. averag-
ing about two miles wide. The birds
usually arrived in two separate bod
les; one came directly from the south
by land the other following the coast
Of Wisconsin. The latter body came
in from the lake at about o'clock In
the afternoon. 1t was compact mass
of pigeons, at least five miles long by
one mile wide. In 1873 some Chicago
men came over to Michigan and en-
ployed 200 men and boys in netting
the pigeons. This slaughter, together
with advent of the woodmen in the
pineries. contributed more than any
thing else to the humiliation of the
wild pigeon in Michigan.
The old-timer, in describing the Ia
king of pigeons in nets. speaks of them
as seines, which were so rugged that
upon being sprung they fell upon the
birds which at the moment were on
the ground. There were two methods by
which the pigeons were decoyed, one
by batting, whereby single pigeon,
attracted by the food scattered about,
called great number of his fellows.
upon whom, when collected in sufff-
cient numbers, the net was sprung.
It was not an an uncommon thing
to trap from 300 to 500 pigeons at
every cast and, as the casts were nu-
merous, the number taken throughout
the day was. large. Another method
consisted of trapping the pigeons as
they few over the net That required
the use of decoy birds, whose eyes
were sewed up and light weight at
tached to their legs to prevent them
from flying away. These decoys were
thrown into the air when a flock was
passing by to attract their attention,
while trained decoyS-that is, pigeons
trained to act as if alighting-were
worked indtstriously at the same
time. If they brought down the flight
the net was sprung at four corners.
The captives were taken out and dis
posed of according to the purpose OF
the METERS. Some were kept alive In
coops. while the balance were killed
and packed Immediately for market.
This account applies to the period
when fiocks Of pigeons were large and
numerous. The last occasion when
nets were prOfitably used was in 1877.