Understanding the past as Ken Barnes has learned, may help us avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Growing up near Pigeon Creek, I often wondered how the creek got this name. I never saw any pigeons near it. As I got older, I discovered that it was because of the enormous flocks of passenger pigeons that once gathered along its banks. Unfortunately, I was born a hundred years too late to see one of the greatest spectacles of nature—millions of pigeons migrating south.

The pigeon migration of the past

It was said the sky would be dark for hours as they passed overhead. One shot into the sky with a shotgun would bring down a dozen or more birds. When the pigeons came to roost, huge limbs of mighty oak trees would often break under the weight of so many birds. After they left their roosting site, it would look as if a tornado had come through. The ground would be white from their droppings and littered with downed limbs, toppled trees and dead birds.

Native Americans had hunted the passenger pigeon for centuries and never put a dent in their population. It is said that no other bird on Earth has ever been so numerous, and no one in those days thought they could possibly disappear.

The passenger pigeon was a beautiful bird. The males had a bluish-grey back with a pink breast. The females closely resembled a mourning dove except slightly larger. The pigeons were a favorite gamebird and were common fare at the supper table. The average hunter took only a few birds a year if they happened to migrate near them. The passenger pigeon would have never disappeared if some people hadn’t been greedy and killed millions of them for money. That is why, today, it is illegal to sell game birds, game fish, or game animals.

Pigeons started many sports

Some of today’s sportsmen have sports that came about mainly because of the passenger pigeon. In the days when passenger pigeons were plentiful, many were caught and put in small cages. By using a foot release or having someone turn the bird loose, a shooter would try to hit the escaping bird. Thus, the name shooting “trap” came about. Instead of having clay “pigeons,” they had the real thing. The word “stool pigeon” also came from the passenger pigeon, as they were often placed on a stool in an open field to act as a decoy.

A hard-fought win

It has been modern sportsmen in the last one hundred years that have paid for and worked hard to restore birds and animals to places they once called home. Birds and animals such as the peregrine falcon, the osprey and our national symbol, the bald eagle. Plus, game birds like the wild turkey and the masked bobwhite quail have been saved. In addition, we have brought back the beaver, river otter, bison and whitetail deer. There are several other bird and animal species that have been saved from extinction because of the work and dedication of wildlife officials and concerned citizens.

Some places are now seeing black bears and cougars coming into territories they have been absent from for over 150 years. Elk are now thriving in some eastern states where they once lived in the early 1800s. In Indiana, the bobcat is again thriving. I had seen a bobcat in 1963, when I was twelve years old. I wouldn’t see one again until 2010. I now have bobcats on my trail camera nearly every month in my own back yard!

Save the future today

We need not only to save what we have, we need to do all we can to increase habitat for birds and animals that are decreasing or are struggling to find a place to live. We need to think about future generations. If our forefathers had thought about us, we would still have nearly all of the birds and animals that have disappeared.

There were good sportsmen of the past and there were some that did not care. Let us not repeat history and make their mistakes again. We need to take care of what we have and save our great natural heritage for all those coming after us.

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