Over one gunning season in the 1890s, legendary Galveston businessman W.L. Moody's market hunting operation on canvasback-rich Lake Surprise in Chambers County made the modern equivalent of more than $217,0000 profit.

Such profit was understandable considering demand for wild fowl. In New York in the 1890s, a meal of canvasback could cost the modern equivalent of $300. In the 1890s, a pair of canvasbacks shot in Texas, packed in ice and transported by ship to London sold for $25, the equivalent of $700, today.

Sprig was kind of a middle class bird

What do you mean was?

... We take their guts out and age them 3 days in the fridge wrapped in newspapers