Pop Quiz

[Steve]

1. Which is the fishing reel?
2. Which is scarcer?

[OCauto]

The jeweled cap on the reel

[RAM]

Passenger pigeon. Extinct. How scarce can you get?
Bad Bob

[Steve]

Here's a letter published in Forest and Stream, Apr. 18, 1914, the same issue that carried T.J. Conroy's first(?) ad for Julius vom Hofe's B/Ocean with his new star drag:

Martha, the last remaining passenger pigeon, died on Sept. 1.

[Reel Addictive]

Accounts of passenger pigeons from the last part of the 19th century reported flocks "so thick that they blotted out the sun for days as they passed by". During these times no one believed we would ever run out of these birds.

Of course we thought the same thing when 50 million bison roamed the plains.

I'm more than a little embarrassed about what we have done to our native wildlife.

William

[Mike N]

Accounts of passenger pigeons from the last part of the 19th century reported flocks "so thick that they blotted out the sun for days as they passed by". During these times no one believed we would ever run out of these birds.

Of course we thought the same thing when 50 million bison roamed the plains.

I'm more than a little embarrassed about what we have done to our native wildlife.

William

The sad part is that when it comes to moden day invasive species like the zebra mussel, snakehead fish and the stink bug, we semed to have lost our propensity to eradicate when it's really needed.

[Steve]

...when it comes to moden day invasive species like the zebra mussel, snakehead fish and the stink bug, we semed to have lost our propensity to eradicate when it's really needed.

The problem is that when we stalk and shoot stink bugs, we tend to break windows and damage woodwork. And if you've ever spent a cold day in a blind, waiting to blast away at a zebra mussel, you can understand why we're picky about what to eradicate. As for snakeheads, just market their fins as aphrodisiacs, and they'll soon disappear.