[pct-l] Chickens

[DAVCATDAV at aol.com (DAVCATDAV@aol.com)]

All this speculation about chickens on the trail...well it behooves me to  
remind you youngun's of the shmoo incident on the Appalachian Trail back in the  
40's.  Shmoos were seen as the hiker's best friend: they would haul your  
backpack and give milk and eggs on the trail, Their hides were waterproof and  
breathable and their whiskers were shaped like a spork (other sources say  they 
were more like toothpicks}...and as for their hiking prowess...in the words  
of Pappy Yokum, one of the early and most ardent supporters of the Appalachian  
Trail...well he once said..."Yowee...they goes anywhere."
 
According to my old beau Daisy Mae; who was the daughter of the  
aforementioned Mr. Yokum (she later left me for the admittedly more buff  but absolutely 
cretinous Abner)  A number of rather vitriolic arguments  broke out about the 
purity of a hike mediated by shmoos.  The issue was  finally resolved when the 
shmoos succumbed to hunting pressure as well as  habitat diminishment.  They 
were officially declared extinct in 1948,  although unofficial  reports of 
shmoos, and interestingly enough, Ivory  Billed Woodpeckers (officially extinct as 
of the 1920's) have frequently been  reported out of Dogpatch Valley.