No BB Guns Allowed

[AL WORRELLS KID]

Some, too fragile for winter winds
The thoughtful grave encloses-
Tenderly tucking them in from frost
Before their feet are cold.

Never the treasures in her nest
The cautious grave exposes,
Building where schoolboy dare not look,
And sportsman is not bold.

The covert have all the children
Early aged and often cold,
Sparrows, unnoticed by the Father-
Lambs for whom time had not a fold.  Emily Dickinson.....1859

(Glad we made this trade with China, back in 1881.)

On March 13, 1881, around 60 Chinese ring-necked pheasants arrive in Port Townsend aboard the ship Otago. United States consul general Owen Nickerson Denny (1838-1900) and his wife Gertrude Jane Hall Denny (1837-1933) have shipped the pheasants, along with other Chinese birds and plants, from Shanghai in hopes of establishing a population in their home state of Oregon. Most of the pheasants succumb as they are transported from the Olympic Peninsula to Portland. A few survivors are released on the lower Columbia River, but accounts differ as to whether this population survives. However, the Dennys ship more pheasants in 1882 and 1884, successfully introducing ring-necked pheasants into Oregon's Willamette Valley and on Protection Island in Jefferson County near Port Townsend. The colorful game birds prove prolific and popular. Ring-necked pheasants spread throughout Oregon and Washington and are introduced in states across the country, becoming so common that they seem more a native species than one first established in the United States in 1881.

[Old Dog]

Very cool!  I was not aware of the Port Townsend connection.  Thanks for sharing.   

[Special T]

Very cool story. Is there a source for this story?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[AL WORRELLS KID]

Special T, Thanks for asking, here's the link. Doug

http://www.historylink.org/File/8444

" Within a year, ring-necked pheasants had spread to surrounding counties. Owen Denny used his political connections to win passage of state legislation banning hunting until the population was sufficiently established. The pheasants thrived and when the first pheasant season opened in Oregon in 1892, hunters reportedly bagged 50,000 birds on the first day."

[Pegasus]

Doug   Thanks for posting those pheasant pictures.

[AL WORRELLS KID]

Thanks Pegasus, With 50,000 Birds taken on Opening Day in 1892, I imagine the coyote population was at an all time low back then.
 There was a big decline in the Pheasant population back in the 60's when the farmers started plowing right up to their fences (to get more out of their crops.)  That made it easy for the coyotes to team play and run the flocks right up the fence line and into the jaws of their waiting mates . 

With the outlawing of leg hold traps and the use of poison, along with loss of winter cover, we unfortunately won't be seeing those numbers ever again, (except in varmints.)
But we still have a good time in the field making the most with what we have, and besides, my dog can't count anyway.   
Doug

[jackson7]

Great pics, cool history. thx to all.