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| www.decoymuseum.com |
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| Adam Jones is the man |
Here's a few photos of the trip, and I'll somehow try to find the time to put up a couple of posts including the most impressive duck hunting educational experience I've ever encountered in my life. After witnessing the Decoy Museum, I want to start my own... downeast style...
But for now, I've got 6 T-Ball and Farm League games to coach this week and a school year to start winding down.
Have a great day,
The Downeast Duck Hunter
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| My kind of duck boat |
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| I could shoulder this no problem! |
You cold likely starts a Downeast waterfowl museum with what you have kicking around in your basement! LOL!
ReplyDeleteNow that's a nice little gun! Does it shoot 3 1/2 inch??
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great trip! I want to hear more about that museum.
ReplyDeleteHey - coulda dropped a line and let me know you were in town!
ReplyDeleteRabid, no doubt my man... plus with what I could acquire in loans... it would be legendary!!!
ReplyDeleteTrey, punt guns were basically howitzers on row boats and moved onto large groups of ducks at dusk, dawn, or at night. Market gunners used these and there have been reports of over 100 birds taken in just one shot. Big, big guns...
Kevin, the report is coming but I'm sure I'll shoot you an email before...
Mud, seriously thought about dropping you a line but we left home at 12:30 a.m. drove to Portland, flew out and arrived Friday morning only to crash at the hotel before the game. Next morning we bolted for the museum and then back for the second game. Ended up staying out in Owings Mills that night, and early flight out Sunday morning. No excuses, just didn't think I would have the time to bomb your weekend...
We are lucky to have two amazing waterfowl museums in Maryland, both the Havre de Grace Decoy Museum / Upper Bay Carving Museum on the historic Susquehanna Flats, and the Ward Museum of Waterfowl on the lower eastern shore, outside Salisbury MD.
ReplyDeleteThe Chesapeake Bay is something else (or rather, it CAN be, most seasons) when it comes to waterfowl. American waterfowling culture pretty much hailed from carving shops from the NC Outer Banks to Long Island, NY. Proud to be from the region!
Trey, the punt guns were ridiculous. Most of the wildlife refuges in the region have at least one in their visitor center. Some even had ARRAYS of guns - 8 barrels across the bow. If they ran out of shot, they just filled it with nails. They floated into sleeping flocks of Canvasbacks, Redheads, Pintails, and Black Ducks (our marketable birds at the time), lit them up with a giant oil lamp, and then blasted them on the water. Most boats had several dogs on board, and indeed, it was common to kill anywhere from 40 to 200 birds in a 2 minute volley of shots. The birds were loaded up whole, packed tight into barrels, and put on refrigerated rail cars up to restaurants in NYC and Boston.
ReplyDeleteApparently, that was unsustainable. Who'd a thunk it?
I've been reading the book Outlaw Gunners, just another awesome look into the efforts taken to maximize the potential behind the value of ducks. Once laws were put into place to help regulate and protect the birds, these guys found themselves in world without any other ability other than hunt.
DeleteMaine has it's fair share of lore and tales, but we find ourselves had major scores of scoters and eiders.