Wonderful piece again! I am glad to know of the 1855 work. I have been reading Forest & Stream from 1890 and there is an anti-immigrant thread with regard to market hunters, who were "Bohemian" and Italian. Also, there are so many examples of poor enforcement of game laws (or no enforcement) including the occasional game warden who is on the take or in violation of the laws himself.
Thanks for reading! Forest and Stream is such an incredible resource. A year or so ago I wrote a two-part series on anti-Italian sentiments among conservationists, but I only used sources from 1900 on. I didn't realize that it started as early as 1890!
I like reading "Bird History" because I keep learning things about birds and our interactions with them that I didn't know, at least in such detail. For example, it was amazing (and depressing) to read your post in the past year or so about how many of the songbirds that I see and look for regularly would be routinely harvested (that's a word) for regular consumption. It's a different world.
And here there is your discomfort with how the sportsmen who hunt are concerned about what's going on, in some cases for their own selfish reasons. People wrote and felt a whole lot of different things back then -- again, it's just a different world.
I guess I want to say -- take the win -- and we can be overall glad that there were and are people and groups willing to deal with what they saw was a growing problem, even if they worded it in ways I don't much like.
Today we have the Federal Duck Stamp, which I regard as a good program, since it raises funds and awareness.
I'm a birder, not a hunter, but I'm friends with those who hunt, and know and appreciate their interest in conservation. Thank you for your work here.
Thanks for reading as always, Mark! And thanks for wrestling with these contradictions as well. The world's birds owe a lot to the hunters behind the conservation movement!
I always struggle to know how to think and write about the inequalities that run through American history, and in a lot of my pieces the closest I've come is that injustice and discrimination is part of America's history. And it's not that individual hunters are morally culpable for holding these views so much as these ugly elements of our history touch everything, including our relationship with birds and who gets access to them.
Wonderful piece again! I am glad to know of the 1855 work. I have been reading Forest & Stream from 1890 and there is an anti-immigrant thread with regard to market hunters, who were "Bohemian" and Italian. Also, there are so many examples of poor enforcement of game laws (or no enforcement) including the occasional game warden who is on the take or in violation of the laws himself.
Thanks for reading! Forest and Stream is such an incredible resource. A year or so ago I wrote a two-part series on anti-Italian sentiments among conservationists, but I only used sources from 1900 on. I didn't realize that it started as early as 1890!
https://birdhistory.substack.com/p/the-italian-problem-part-i-bird-killing
Yes, I will send you a clip featuring the fictionalized story of "Plover Joe."
Please do!
Always fascinating – thank you.
I like reading "Bird History" because I keep learning things about birds and our interactions with them that I didn't know, at least in such detail. For example, it was amazing (and depressing) to read your post in the past year or so about how many of the songbirds that I see and look for regularly would be routinely harvested (that's a word) for regular consumption. It's a different world.
And here there is your discomfort with how the sportsmen who hunt are concerned about what's going on, in some cases for their own selfish reasons. People wrote and felt a whole lot of different things back then -- again, it's just a different world.
I guess I want to say -- take the win -- and we can be overall glad that there were and are people and groups willing to deal with what they saw was a growing problem, even if they worded it in ways I don't much like.
Today we have the Federal Duck Stamp, which I regard as a good program, since it raises funds and awareness.
I'm a birder, not a hunter, but I'm friends with those who hunt, and know and appreciate their interest in conservation. Thank you for your work here.
Thanks for reading as always, Mark! And thanks for wrestling with these contradictions as well. The world's birds owe a lot to the hunters behind the conservation movement!
I always struggle to know how to think and write about the inequalities that run through American history, and in a lot of my pieces the closest I've come is that injustice and discrimination is part of America's history. And it's not that individual hunters are morally culpable for holding these views so much as these ugly elements of our history touch everything, including our relationship with birds and who gets access to them.