doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Salty stories of sea ducks eh lads!

Tell me of your adventures!
...and King Brown, can you tell of that day your Sterlingworth went down?

Yeah. I was wondering how you guys did at hunting this year, myself. I didn't do the bird hunting deal, but I did do extensive squirrel hunting. Got a dozen over the season which is good for me. Now it is time for rabbit. So, how did you guys do? Any good adventures? Tell us.

Sorry, I'm still looking for a dedicated classic fowler. I found 12ga 28" 8+lb lunker called the 'Trojan'. When it comes to American sxs this gun is second only to Winchester Mod 21 in strengh department. It's in excellent mechanical condition (no screws were ever turned) and butt stock was never pulled off. I don't think I will get it because I don't think this 1930s piece can stand up to steady diet of 2&3/4" Mag Bismuth loads.

How about a fine Griefelt 12 bore hammer back action hammer gun with Krupp barrels, outstanding wood, and both bores choked .060? I did foolishly have it up for sale for a short while, no takers, I am very glad. A wonderful old Griefelt.

Briefly, the story only as a lesson learned, nothing to write home about, Lowell. Three guys in a 12-foot Springbok aluminum boat, 9.8 Merc, couple bags of decoys, guns and gear, almost exactly a year ago, an hour before daylight in moderate and gusty winds and snow squalls, heading for our blind. Pure stupidity, complacency. We're overloaded, three guys brought up in fishing villages, lived on the Atlantic most of our lives, naturally without lifejackets, never wear them.

There was some slop with the wind against the tide, so I asked my nephew in the bow to throw the bailer to me. At that point, my Newfoundland friend at the tiller slacked off on the throttle, the bow lowered just as we entered a tide-wind rip we couldn't see---right into a lop that foamed over the bow, settling the stern under water. The boat turned over as each left from the port side, 200 metres from shore without a light or loom of land anywhere.

Laurie, a navy bo'sun and training officer on one of our destroyers, quietly said "Don't leave the boat." My nephew behind me said quietly, "Grab a decoy bag." We were wearing chest waders, mine of thin rubber and my buddies' of wonderful Cabela 1600-gram neoprene. With one hand on the gunnel and the other on a decoy bag, we scissor-kicked at least 20 minutes to reach shore. We emptied our waders and drank coffee from a plastic thermos my nephew grabbed during the capsize.

My nephew said, "Uncle King, remember now we've got to take it easy. The blood has been pulled from our extremities to protect our vital organs. No bulling up the rocks and cliffs or we'll have a heart attack." My buddies are in their 40s so I knew who he was talking about. It was something I hadn't considered. We're all divers and retrieved guns, binoculars, shells, everything six months later. I reloaded the bismuth and TM, had the Watson and Bakers restored beautifully in Montana, and the 1925 SW will be back good as new this month.

We're now all wearing Defender Industries vest PFDs. The Merc stayed on the boat and needed only a black box computer. I went looking for a 14-foot boat, couldn't find one that I could handle alone, so I'm sticking with the 12-footer as a two-man- and-dog boat. I think the best piece of safety equipment I could have had was a waterproof cellphone or one that I could keep in a pastic bag in the flap inside my waders. Maybe Santa will leave 1600-gram Cabelas under the tree.

Thanks for the taste King, sea duck hunting is something I'd like to do, but prolly never get around to doing it.
The Atlantic is along ways from St.Louis!
Btw, sounds like quite an ordeal too me, glad all's safe and the repairs nearly done.

King,

Glad to hear you found all the guns. Last time we talked about it you'd not located them yet. Scary stuff, going in the water in the wintertime. You remember my story about getting caught out in big sea swells out off the Oregon coast last Christmas. We didn't go in the water but we were on the ragged edge. Had another semi-close call this year out on Mitchell's Bay in Ontario. Duck hunting on big water is a dangerous sport, but I guess that's part of it's charm.

Just got back from two days gunning on Beaver Dam Lake in Mississippi, Nash Buckingham's old stomping grounds. It's been a good season, and it's not quite over yet.

You boys been doing any gunning up there in the far north?


Destry

Returned from Maine last week. The Riggs suggestion worked out very well. Not one spot on the 21.

This was my fourth trip to Maine in the last several years. Just a tremendous place. The tides really make it difficult on a flat lander free lancing and used to constant water levels. We had some 12 ft. tide swings while we were there so ledges that we hunted from would disappear a few hours later.

Being a salt water duck hunter and being from Indiana is awful odd. I am pretty sure I have the largest sea duck rig in Indiana, if not the mid west. We make our own decoys, which adds to the hunting for us. We've freelanced on the Texas coast, east coast and Washington coast in the last 2 seasons. Just can't escape that salt water duck hunting.

Anyway, some pictures from Maine. Weather was pretty bad so took a smaller amount of pictures than usual.

Destry, our harbour and bays are filled with blacks and whistlers. Haven't seen the likes. Geese never seen in these parts are also showing up--snows and white-fronts. A real surprise because until two weeks ago we weren't seeing much.You guys should have some really good gunning pretty soon.

The capsize was a sobering experience. I think duck hunting on any open water iinvolves peril. Last night I received a report from a western Canadian friend who alone in a 12-foot fibreglass boat had it open up under his feet; he was lucky to make it ashore. Complacency is a problem; glass boats too long upside down in the sun are poison.

For all our stupidity---over-confident guys living close to the edge on water all our lives; you know the conditions from your visit here---we do not accept leaks or any apparent weakness in our watercraft but we do tend to let our brains get out of gear because of notions we can handle any surprises. Live and learn.

Destry, I beamed at the sartorial splendor of you and your friends in Parker Pages. It's important to live, have fun, to spread your enthusiasm as an example to others far and wide that the world isn't going to hell as long as we respect the values of those who gave us our heritage. Bowlers and old guns are part of it.

Peace and best wishes to you and all who live here.

I just have to ask, what do you do with those sea ducks?

About 11 years ago I hunted sea ducks on LI Sound with a friend of a friend, I believe we shot ducks that went by the name of buffleheads? I was told they weren't very palatable, but truth be told they were inedible. The meat smelled like low tide from all the mussels and other tidal tidbits they ate. The guy I was with used them to feed dogs.

We did get one black duck that smelled fishy while being cleaned but ate OK.

The old "plank" recipe was suggested to me...

I have to admit I had a great time, we would motor out to some rocks, set up the dekes and settle in with coffee and wait. I still live in the area and would like to do it again but only if I can use the meat.