FWIW, Dr. Sam Fadala wrote an interesting article on the Buffalo hunters, and discovered that there was not enough lead and powder taken or sold west of the Mississippi, through Sutler's stores at army posts, where almost all good were shipped, to have killed off the buffalo, No matter what other say. He believes that diseases acquired from cattle lost by settlers during raids, and storms, along the various migration trails, including the Oregon, and Santa Fe trails, are really responsible for the decimation of the buffalo out west. There were not enough train tracks laid across the open prairie to deliver hunters, or receive hides from the hide hunters to make it profitable to hunt the herds to near extinction.
He computed how far a wagon full of hides could be driven in a week, and then mapped out the Railroad lines, and found HUGE areas that just were not commercially reachable by hide hunters so that they could make a profit killing the buffalo there. He also took into account the market prices for Hides during the heyday of the Buffalo hunters. and the costs of bullets, or lead, and powder, and even rifles, as well as flour, beans, and other staples the hunters would need to sustain the hunters and the skinners. When the great buffalo hunts were going on, we knew nothing about bacteria or viruses, and had no way of knowing what diseases that cattle seemed to survive would prove deadly to buffalo , or even which could be transmitted to Buffalo, and how. Evne the diseases that livestock did get were not clearnly understood or named correctly, and their were no vaccines, or antibiotics, or antiviral medicines to give out, even if they were known.
Its too easy to forget the vast leaps in medical sciences that took place in the last 3 quarters of the 20th century. Penecillin was not perfected as an Anti-biotic until 1940, and became a top secret " weapon " that we did not want the Germans to learn about when we entered WWII. Quinine to treat malaria was discovered only in the early 1900s, but understanding what causes malaria, and how to stop its transmission, and the pesticides to do so were not developed until after WWII ended in 1945. Vaccines for Polio, Mumps, Measles, Chicken pox, Small pox, and other lesser diseases that have killed millions of people, ( Including American Indians) are a product of the 1950s, and later research.
Personally, I believe that it is much more likely that both the Buffalo, and the Passenger Pigeon fell victims to diseases, which reduced their numbers to almost extinction in the case of the Buffalo, and to extinction for the pigeon, than the work of all the hunters and shooters who shot them, no matter how many shooters you can imagine. There still are so many bird viruses that Vets have not isolated, or learned how to treat today, that large populations of birds are quickly reduced whenever one of the viruses strikes.
That is the true concern of biologists, about the White and Blue Geese that nest up on the Northern Tundra. The numbers of birds has risen so quickly they are eating and polluting their nesting areas to ruin, and its the pollution that may carry and spread any number of viruses that will wipe the populations out, if we can't do something to reduce the populations some other way.
That is why the hunting seaons on the two species have been extended, as have the bag limits, and why the Fed. regulators have lifted the ban on use mechanical(electronic) callers when hunting these species. I can remember a time, not too long ago, when NO ONE hunted the small White and Blue geese, preferring to hunt the larger Canada geese.
I only comment about this hear, because this myth of the power of the Western Hunter to nearly kill off a species is so widespread, and accepted without question, even by shooters, that someone other than Dr. Fadala has to ask people to stop and think what they are saying. If you believe the estimates of the Northern and Southern herds of Buffalo in the 1820s, there were between 60 and 80 million animals living on the planes. If the number were only half of that, AND all the ammo taken and sold West of the Mississippi was used to only kill buffalo, and no more than one shot was needed per animal, when you consider the birth rates of buffalo, and stretch the hunt over 40 years, you begin to get the idea that even 10,000 hunters all killing 50 buffalo a day could not destroy that herd. The same with the passenger pigeon, which was described as blackening the skies from one horizon to another all day long when they migrated over head. How could you find enough hunters with enough guns, powder and shot, to kill that many millions of birds in a few years? And this is when they used black powder, and cylinder bore guns! Now consider the reproduction rates of pigeons, which have at least 3 hatching a year, with 4-6 chicks, and you get the idea of how vast a problem it is to Kill that many birds. :hmm:
Maybe the American Hunter is not the Beast the Greenies have been describing all along, NO? :thumbsup: :hatsoff:
