Hunting from the Skies: A Look Back at Aerial Predator Control in 1937

Published in the October 1937 issue of Popular Aviation, the article “Popping Them From the Air” by Spencer Eddy offers a glimpse into a bygone era when hunting from airplanes was not only accepted but even celebrated. The story details the aerial exploits of E.L. Torrey, a hunter who used his aircraft to target hawks, coyotes, and even eagles, collecting bounties while contributing to what was then considered pest control.

By today’s standards, this method of hunting is neither legal nor ethically acceptable. Modern conservation efforts recognize the essential role that predators like hawks and eagles play in maintaining ecological balance. What was once seen as a necessary protection for livestock and poultry is now understood as a disruption to natural predator-prey dynamics.

This article serves as both a historical curiosity and a stark reminder of how attitudes toward wildlife and conservation have evolved. While we may look back on these practices with disbelief, they reflect the mindset of the time—a period when aviation was rapidly advancing, and its applications were still being explored, for better or worse.

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“Popping Them From the Air” by Spencer Eddy, published in the October 1937 issue of Popular Aviation.

Airplanes as means of hunting furred and feathered pests are nothing particularly new in the West-except in point of magnitude. 

Almost every predatory creature, ranging from boll weevils to eagles (and not forgetting mosquitoes), has been killed from the air in the hope of making democracy safe for the rural districts.

POPULAR AVIATION has carried these stories from time to time, and I particularly remember the story of the eagle hunt by Wiseman. 

I am showing the present pictures just to introduce the idea of magnitude into the sagas of aerial hunting adventure. And to follow this thing up, I can even remember back about five years ago to the time when J. B. R. got bawled out by an Indiana game-warden for showing a plane covered with dead ducks! 

But to get back to my particular job in this case, I wish to exhibit some photos of a man who is warring on pests in a big way. This is E. L. Torrey, who very effectively uses his plane to eliminate chicken hawks, coyotes, more hawks, more coyotes, more hawks, and more coyotes, and so on. And the bounty collected by the industrious Mr. Torrey, is no small item as you can easily guess from the exhibits herein displayed.

To bag one or two chicken hawks in a day is a sizable job for any full grown man, regardless of how big he may be or what sort of vehicle he uses for transportation and for the hunt, but Mr. Torrey thinks nothing of stringing up eight chicken hawks in one day and even then, he has a few hours left for the general purposes of work and recreation. 

He just levels the old gun across the cockpit, pulls the trigger and permits the laws of ballistics to have their own way about the matter. And then, be sure of it, something drops and that something is a bird or an animal that the country can well afford to lose. It is not only the domestic animals that are killed by these wild birds and animals that matters, but they also destroy useful birds that assist man on his war with insects and fungus plagues.

In a booklet published by the government, much is said in favor of the chicken hawk as an enemy of field mice and other destructive rodents with a parting paragraph stating that hawks only seek chicken yards after the mice and rats are cleaned up and that the hawks well earn the few chickens that they take. However, it is difficult for a farmer to believe this statement after half his poultry has been wiped out and so he boosts the idea of bounties for the benefit of public benefactors such as Mr. Torrey. 

Mr. Torrey also exhibits an eagle of no mean wingspan—a bird that can carry nearly its own weight in the form of “live load.” Many weird eagle stories have come in from the West, tales of attacks by the birds and so on, but it’s easy to prove that they can be bagged from the plane. We need only to look at the picture.

Book-learning is one thing and experience is another, and it has been the experience of most farmers that the fewer the hawks the greater will be the number of chickens. Scientists may frantically declare that eagles do not steal lambs or calves, but as many a rancher has seen good lamb and future mutton disappearing skyward in the talons of an eagle, this rancher is still from that sovereign state of Missouri where skeptics require more than statements.

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Looking back at “Popping Them From the Air”, it’s clear that attitudes toward wildlife conservation have changed significantly since 1937. While early aviation allowed for new methods of hunting and pest control, the unchecked targeting of predators like hawks and eagles disrupted ecosystems in ways that weren’t fully understood at the time. Today, we recognize that these birds play a crucial role in maintaining balance, controlling rodent populations, and contributing to a healthy environment.

Hunting, when managed responsibly, remains an important tool for wildlife management. However, modern regulations ensure that it is done ethically and sustainably, preventing the kind of widespread eradication that once took place. Conservation laws help maintain the delicate balance between protecting agricultural interests and preserving the natural predators that keep ecosystems in check.

This article serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come in understanding the interconnectedness of nature. While past methods may seem extreme by today’s standards, they underscore the importance of maintaining regulations that respect both human needs and the role of wildlife in a thriving environment.

Until next time, keep looking towards the skies!