HISTORIC DUCK HUNTING STORIES THE GOLDEN AGE OF DUCK HUNTING

Hopefully, someone can unravel the two great mysteries of this extraordinary and historic relic--a monstrous three-barreled punt gun: where is and what happened to this Holy Grail of a unique and unusual monstrous punt gun and who was the gunmaker Lizerad? ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Many gave him the sobriquet the “Rocket Man,” the one who developed the Saturn V rocket that put six teams of American astronauts on the moon from 1969 to 1972. He was the father and superstar of our space program.

Werhner von Braun and three others flew from Huntsville, Alabama to Walnut Ridge AFB, where they drove to Jonesboro on December 26, 1959. The four traveled to Wallace Claypool's legendary and famous Wild Acres, located near Weiner, Arkansas, where Claypool told Von Braun they would hunt tomorrow in his favorite hole: “Hot Spot.”

Monday morning at the clubhouse, von Braun sai...

Mud flats of the river islands and the sandbar inlets were where sports found Canada geese during the olden times. All along the Mississippi River and its tributaries were located numerous islands and sandbars that were the feeding and wintering grounds for Canada geese for many years immemorial, and since pioneer days it was noted for the goose shooting it afforded.

In the olden days, there were comparatively few goose hunters, because goose hunting was no sport for the novice. Hunting ducks was considered child’s play compared to getting the Canadas within the range of the sh...

A TIME TO REFLECT

When the shadows from the hills have gown longer, caused by the departing sun, kindly reflect of your days spent amid the solitude of Mother Nature, which were the sweetest enjoyment to you.

Sometime, somewhere, in that undiscovered paradise high in the heavens whose scenes are painted by His hand, shall you find a happy hunting ground where the axe of the lumberman has not penetrated; where the solemnities of the immense woodland—its brooding calm, its sequestered depths, its flickering lights and beckoning shadows—remain unchanged year after year; where the...

There lived in Chicago an Italian about 40 years of age in 1890, who kept a little fruit store on Wabash Avenue, and was known in the game market and among Chicago sportsmen by the sobriquet of “Plover Joe” or “Italian Joe” as he was interchangeably called. His real name was Joseph Paoli. He was considered the authority on one particular bird of passages, having hunted golden plovers since 1868, at age 18. He hunted for the market, and except for a rare outing at jacksnipe, woodcocks, and ducks, he never hunted anything but golden plovers.

In 1890, there were plenty of Chicago...

It is common wisdom that most everyone believes that the punt or stanchion gun, also known as the big gun, saw its beginning in England. In the podcast, I give some history of the punt/stanchion/big gun along with a few of my thoughts on why, how, where, and when the punt gun originated and the general area where it originated.

With this podcast, it surely looks like that big guns were being used for waterfowling as early as 1734 in the colonies. However, I find no more mention of big guns being used for waterfowling until...

Hearkening back to the Pleistocene epoch, symbolizing good fortune, fidelity, and longevity, the distinctive large winged, long necked, and long-legged sandhill cranes with crimson foreheads are known throughout the world for their mesmerizing courtship dances, their calling, oftentimes heard for three miles away and described as bulging, rattling, or croaking, their longevity, shyness, and being the most unapproachable of the long-legged fraternity. They are also known for their aerial flight maneuvering. They often gain altitude by circling tightly in rising thermal air currents when conditions permit. When sufficient altitude is reached, they glide on extended wings as they descend...

In 1855, in the springtime, John B. Drake came to Chicago from Cincinnati. Having saved enough money prior to his arrival in Chicago, he purchased a quarter interest in the Tremont House in 1855. He became the sole owner in 1868.

What better way to harness the local resources and build his reputation in a new city, Drake thought, than by hosting an elaborate game-dinner party for elite guests? The menu would feature the region’s finest game, in quantities and variety unavailable anywhere else. Each year, his cooks would boil, broil, and roast wild game, especially waterfowl, which represented a ...

PART I

In 1801, Chicago was a swamp. From 1823 to 1832, Chicago was merely an Indian Agency; an agent of the American Fur Company. David McKee, resident of Chicago during these early times, referred to the Chicago River when he recalled: “Over it hovered wild geese, ducks and sandhill cranes in vast flocks, and pelicans and swans were sometimes seen.”

In 1825, the year the Erie Canal was completed between Albany and Buffalo, thus completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, towns and cities near and along the eastern seaboard, especially New York...

There was one style of fowling that was practiced in America, named toling, which was as curious in performance as it was interesting. It probably came closer to the system of the duck decoy as practiced by the Dutch and English as any of the arts employed by the people of a foreign country for the capture of waterfowl. The American fashion of toling/tolling/toleing probably began about the Chesapeake Bay. Toling is an old 13th century word meaning to seduce or entice.

The Saturday Evening Post published in its March 1, 1913 issue that “We learned not on...