Re-wilding

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My point was to contrast how certain people view the negative interactions of "primitive" human cultures vs modern and/or more advanced human cultures. So, no, the already known Bison near-extinction isn't really relevant, though perhaps the humans who arrived in the Americas by boat or over the Bering ice bridge also brought new diseases that helped wipe out some established native species. But they were virtuous or something. Had no evil human flaws (despite evidence to the contrary). Whatever.
 
Ive recently re-discovered peacefulness of river fishing lately , its been many years,
I found a spot only 500 meters away , theres a large pool near a bridge ,
I had previously tried cheese and worm as bait with no luck ,
Then I got the white maggots , bam I was getting hits the moment the bait dropped down to depth , only small fry though , brown trout .
In the sunlight I can see bigger fish down there but my bait doesnt seem to make it down past the tiddlers ,
I have to work on my hook dissengorgement technique , so far Ive only managed to return a handful alive ,
I forgot to get the disengorge tool at the tackle shop , anyway it doesnt go to waste , one of my dogs is very very keen on trout as it happens ,it works wonders for his coat and helps his touches of arthritis through the winter ,he's an old boy now .

There is many sea trout in the river , the water level is low just now so there waiting in the lower stretches ,
unfortunately salmon and sea trout fishing is suspended on this river just now , if the bailiff arrives and youre fishing with tackle appropriate for salmon or sea trout your in trouble if you dont have the license , getting caught taking a fish you would almost certainly end up in court . Of course there is a segment of Irish society that says F.U. to the fishery rules ,it all goes back to draconian laws imposed under the crown to prevent poorer people from feeding their families from the natural resources , so theres a certain amount of Irish republican pride and bragging rights to 'stroke-hauling' or 'dawking' a bag of salmon or sea trout from his lordship in certain quarters ,
Im using ultra lightackle , if I happen to get a good size sea trout on the line most likely it will snap the leader trace of 4lb breaking strain and/or the childrens telescopic rod I'm using , I was thinking though if I was lucky enough to land one I could have it cooked up on the disposable barbeque and devoured in no time at all and me and the dogs would go home with happy tummies :) .Doing some smoked trout is something I definately must try soon . I must figure out a way of turning my mini Kamado barbe into a cold smoker .

One of the brownies I landed and didnt survive had roe inside , tomorrow I might try using a globule of the roe as bait and see how it goes , Ive heard theres ways of curing it that can make it even more effective.
 
Tubetec said:
The American buffalo's near extinction seems like the logical one to look at to bring more context to the convo .
heres a link , first one that popped up , I dont make any claims as to the veracity of what the site contains , Im only just starting to read it now .
https://www.grunge.com/217892/the-real-reason-buffalo-almost-went-extinct/
well worth a read ,
Click to expand...

That article only contains that, besides shooting them, it was probably also disease that killed them.

This disease was caused by importing cattle. Just like some native American tribes suffered from measles.

It's still humans that caused the near extinction...

Even the Dodo didn't go extinct by hunting alone. The pigs introduced by passing sailors ate the Dodo's eggs. Maybe even disease helped a bit.

Extinction is rarely caused by one factor.
 
Well it certainly was news to me that disease was involved , Id just gone with the old belief that these beasts were rounded up and shot or driven off a cliff , I agree with Cyrano it was still a disaster of our own making as clearly there was an attempt to deprive the native people of a source of food and clothing , in the end it seems there just werent enough bullets and manpower to do the job that way , nature prompted by mankinds actions took over and finished the job . Its seems there were a few of the founding fathers calling for an end to the slaughter long before the end but they may not have been listened to. Definately deserves a page or two in the great book of lessons learned to humanity.
 
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JohnRoberts said:
I am disappointed in the bird netting's inability to keep them from trashing my figs, apples, etc.
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I've heard of people using painted stones to deter birds from eating their fruit. Find some round stones that are roughly the same size as the particular fruit you're trying to protect, paint them the same colour as that fruit, and hang them from (or place them around) the besieged fruit tree/bush.

They won't enjoy it if they try to eat the decoy fruit, and they should remember to avoid that tree in the future. It's normally done with strawberries and other berries, but I don't see why it wouldn't work with other fruits.

https://www.instructables.com/Decoy-Strawberry-Rocks-to-Deter-Bird-Burglars/
 
It's definitely worth a shot, hopefully the birds will have learned to avoid that tree by the time the figs are ripe.
 
JohnRoberts said:
perhaps I wasn't clear (as often happens).

The birds are attracted to the smell of the ripe figs, not purple rocks.

JR
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Most birds rely on their vision to find food, rather than smell. There are some exceptions, but unless you're dealing with a parrot, vulture, or kiwi infestation, your local birds are probably using their eyes to identify tasty-looking things to eat.

The logic is that they see the purple rocks, mistake them for fruit, try to eat them (which won't be pleasant for the birds, but won't do any lasting harm to them either), and they'll then learn to stay away from the purple things on that particular tree, regardless of how appealing it might smell.

I appreciate that it's not exactly high-tech, but considering the level of investment required (finding some nice rocks, drilling a hole in them, painting them an appropriate colour, and hanging them on the tree), I'd say it's worth a try nonetheless.

It worked really well for protecting my friend's blackcurrants and blueberries.
 
thefeatheredfriend said:
And of course, some birds do use their sense of smell to feed (and avoid certain food, too). For example, kiwis are flightless birds with very poor eyesight, so they actually rely on their sense of smell to find food to eat. Without their sense of smell, they could easily die of starvation – it’s that important to them. Conversely, vultures use their sense of smell to decide what not to eat. Despite their reputation, vultures aren’t evil creatures that wait for week-old animal carcasses to give off pungent smells before feeding. They actually prefer animals that have died only within the last 24 hours or so, so any strong smelling meat from old carcasses will turn vultures away, not attract them.
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I routinely see vultures circling high overhead trying to smell dead critters.

One strategy that apparently works for figs is bagging them, but then you can't see them to tell when they are ripe.

==

easier than drilling rocks they sell fake fruit
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as ususal thanx for the advice.

JR

[edit- I read in the newspaper that MS has the shortest life expectancy of any state (71.9 years). Hawaii is the best (80), so when I see vultures circling overhead I wonder if they are looking for me. :unsure: /edit]
 
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