# Old School



## Bret (Sep 7, 2007)

I like to think of what it must have been like before camo, plastic decoys, acrylic calls, and motor boats. I'm not going to do it, but it is fun to think about. I thought some might enjoy the read.

http://www.sportsmansphotoalbum.com/apps/blog/show/25937788-vintage-fowling


----------



## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

That is a good read!
The marketing geniuses of todays world try to make us think differently.


----------



## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

My dad tells me stories of his dad poling their skiff all day long through the marsh in the days before motors became common. The old Barnegat sneakboxes always had a removable mast and sail, you would sail out to the hunting grounds, take the mast and sail off, then set them up again when it was time to leave. Standard equipment in those days included blankets and an oil lamp in the boat in case you got stuck out there overnight. 
Those old school market hunters must have been some tough SOB's, hunting 150+ days a year in waxed canvas and wool-it wasn't uncommon for them to shoot upwards of 100 ducks a day. 
I love waterfowling history, there is still a lot we can learn from those guys!


----------



## Bret (Sep 7, 2007)

It fascinates me too. 
These pictures of old punt guns they used were on another forum. I thought they were cool.


----------



## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Here's some examples-I like this guy's choice of sailing partner:


A guy rowing his sneakbox, notice the live decoys in the crate in front of him:


Cedar Canvasback decoy, painted with oil-wood decoys are heavy, but nothing else sits on the water as naturally. I'd say it looks as good or better than anything you can buy today:


----------



## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Great photos Bret! I want to shoot a punt gun someday.......I think that the decoy museum in Havre de Grace, MD still has a functioning one that they use for demos sometimes.


----------



## Bret (Sep 7, 2007)

I saw one shot off on the shore of Lake Erie some years ago. I think it might have been a replica but either way it was a sight to see and hear.


----------



## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

Great thread guys... The punt pics are awesome! :shock:


----------



## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

I visited that museum in Havre de Grace maybe 20 years ago. We visited a decoy carver, and bought a 1/2 size pintail deke from him. It's up on my mantle now. I like the old time stuff. Simpler times, simpler gear, no "Teams", just buddies. Sometimes I think we've lost more than we've gained in our outdoor pursuits.


----------



## Crow (Sep 15, 2007)

paddler213 said:


> Sometimes I think we've lost more than we've gained in our outdoor pursuits.


How very true. I've been hunting waterfowl since 1957. Times sure have changed. A lot simpler back then. I have every waterfowl stamp back to 1960 the first year I had to buy one.


----------



## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

My grandpas came from a large family in eastern Arkansas. During the Great Depression he did a lot of market gunning to support them. He used to kill ducks and squirrels that were shipped over the fancy restaurants that the big $ folks over in Memphis TN frequented. I heard a lot of stories about it.

I know that once him and his cousin killed 1135 ducks over the course of 5 days. Each morning they would kill all they could carry out in a couple of tow sacks, carry them home for his 8 younger brothers and sisters to clean and go back out and shoot the afternoon flight. There were selling them for 3 cents each through a rail road guy that sold them over in Memphis. Each day the local MP train would carry the haul (packed on ice) over. 

It might not seem like much $ now but back then a box of shotguns shells was only 5 cents. :shock: he said he wore a Winchester model 1911 12 ga plum out shooting. I still have 2 of his, and one is in such bad shape it's unfit to shoot. The other one still functions. I have his old calls and canvas jacket and hat too.
Funny thing was he said they didn't use decoys much, they baited the birds with grain. As well as blasted a lot of rafts of rooster birds.


----------



## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

I hear you Mojo. My family is from the Outer Banks of North Carolina and have been waterfowlers and fishermen for generations. I would give a lot to have some of my great Grandpa's old decoys and LC Smith double guns but my great Grandma sold them after he passed away. 
One of my favorite books is American Duck Shooting by George Bird Grinnell, it was written in the 1890's when market gunning was still in full swing. I know that in the Chesapeake Bay area market gunners could sell canvasbacks for $4 a pair, which is close to $75-80 a pair in today's dollars. This was in the days of baiting, night shooting, punt guns, live decoys, and spring shooting. Those were some interesting days but thankfully conservation laws put a stop to most of that or there wouldn't be many ducks left today. There is so much to learn from what these guys knew though. A lot of what we do today, like layout boats, scull boats, decoy longlines, dog training, and motion decoys comes straight from the market hunters.
There was a lot of market shooting in Utah too, they would pack birds in barrels of salt and ship them back east on the railroad. Somewhere I've seen a photo from the 1880's of a shooter in the bear river marshes loaded down with ducks.


----------



## Bret (Sep 7, 2007)

Pumpgunner said:


> There was a lot of market shooting in Utah too, they would pack birds in barrels of salt and ship them back east on the railroad. Somewhere I've seen a photo from the 1880's of a shooter in the bear river marshes loaded down with ducks.


If you come across that again I would like to see it.


----------



## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

I'll keep looking Bret, I can't remember if it was in an old book, at one of the USU libraries, or if I saw it on the internet. I'll post it for sure if I find it though!


----------



## hossblur (Jun 15, 2011)

Think about your own old school. I started the year I got my drivers license, my dad didn't waterfowl. I started with a army/navy surplus coat, rupper hip waders from Smith and Edwards, a retro(Kmart) duck call, and my 870 magnum(it shot 3" but I thought it was too much punishment). Would walk out to the lake with a 1/2 box of #6 pheasant loads, hey I only made $3.35 an hour. To stop the glare I taped up the 870 with green bow tape. I had to learn everything from scratch. That was 1989. Now I roll out with my fancy shot gun, blood line dog, goretex, and I still don't like the 3" kick. Now looking back I realize I was a lot tougher at 16 than I am now!!;-)


----------



## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

I first hunted ducks in ~1967. My shotgun was a JC Higgins Model 20. Don't shoot it anymore cause the trigger group cracked, but I still have it. My first decoys were made of newspaper, I just wadded enough up to approximate the size of a duck and put them along the edge of a big pond near my house. No paint, no nothing. Had to make new ones every day I hunted. First call was an PS Olt D-2, I think it was $3 or $4, but I'm sure it wasn't any more than that. I got every bit as excited then as I do now.


----------

