Old Brant decoys

[eelgrass]

You know you're getting old when you go to the local museum and see a display of old wooden decoys that you hunted over as a kid.

Brant hunting is a very localized sport because Brant are strictly a maritime species and only frequent bays and lagoons on the coast.

Here's a collection of decoys that were made locally. Some I am familiar with. I thought it might be of interest to some of you. The wood of choice was Redwood because of it's durability and availability.

I actually collected a few of these over the years. I would find them floating around on the bay after they had gotten away in a big storm from who ever owned them. After keeping them for a while I would toss them away.

There wasn't much information on the gun except to say it has a 1" bore.

I hunted over the decoys in the lower left corner. "Slim" Stills was the maker. He was a good 'ol boy, his kin not so much. We faced off at gun point a time or two. Some people thought they owned the Bay

Eel

 

[264mag]

Nice display! I wish I had a couple of those.

 

[kilowatt]

Sounds like the Sills Family might be descendants of the Hatfields...no wonder the fights between Hatfields vs. McCoys took place.

Why would someone fight over a nasty tasting duck is beyond me...LOL


Brian
http://i44.tinypic.com/es7x8z.jpg[/IMG]

 

[2lumpy]

It's not the duck (or the damn pig), it's the principle. You pragmatic wimps are giving the country away. ;-)

DC

 

[chewyman55]

I remember reading some of your earlier posts about going after Brant. It was very interesting for someone who had no idea the lengths a guy had to do to get them. Sounded like some pretty specialized hunting!

 

[eelgrass]

Thanks for the comments. Kilowatt, back then I would rather kill a limit of Brant than kill a 170 Mule Deer. That's how dedicated and hard core I was back then.

Hatfield's and McCoy's? Funny you should bring that up.lol The feud with the Stills started back in the 50's between my dad and them. Dad finally gave up and quit duck hunting because of it. That only made me more determined.

Looking back on it now I believe that, very seldom can you win a feud. About the best you can do is lose less than the other side. I think I accomplished that.

Here are a couple more

Sculling was my true passion. My scull is very similar to this old timer.

Eel

 

[wileywapati]

Outstanding post!!

I had a buddy go back to New York year before
Last hunting brant. It is a different deal for sure.
They'd hunt out of some big boats which they would
Basically park / beach next to an island. Shoot until
The tide started heading out then hope they still
Had enough water under the boat to get out.

If I remember right the hunt was pretty inexpensive.






"The future is large scale auction tags.
The majority of the tags should go up
for auction anually. It MIGHT even be
good to allow second sales of auction
tags as in outfitters purchasing tags
and then re-selling them to the public."
TRISTATE 8/17/2012

 

[sageadvice]

Nice Steve!! Too bad about you throwing those old deeks away. I know how it is though. When i told my Grandfather that i had gone to a refuge duck hunting and liked the experience, he promptly pulled out a big ol burlap bag full of old wooden duck decoys for me to have and use.

I hunted them a few times along with my new bought plastic assortment. I found though, that the wooden decoys would sometimes soak up mega water and what weighed a few pounds packing in the the hunt area, weighed 10 pounds apiece packing back to the truck.

Screw this i said to myself and remember leaving more than a few right in the ponds i had hunted. Still though, there was a yard sale that i had in the 70's where most of the bulky things i had were to be sold as i was moving to Mexico City.

There were about a baker's dozen nice newer deeks and half a dozen or so of Grandpa's old wooden ones. The price? 2 bucks apiece for the good ones and a buck a piece for those old ones! I wish i could do some things over but it is what it is...

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"