This would put a hurt on your Lead Stash !!

[Johnch]

This afternoon I helped ....errr mainly watched so he didn't run anyone over
As a guy I duck hunt with , got his Great Grandfathers (?) "Duck" boat out of his mothers barn and hauled it home to restore

Not a normal boat
But one used many years ago to market hunt ducks and geese
On the bow were 3 cap lock muzzle loading shotguns ....about 2" bore

As he understands it it was rowed to up wind of a large flock of ducks
You would then let it drift into range of the flock
Then one person shot at the ducks with a normal shotgun while they were on the water to get the flock to take off
As they took off , the 2 person pulled the rope to set off all 3 "shotguns"

Then they picked up ducks and reloaded the shotguns
Oh all this was done after dark , out on Sandusky Bay
Real sporting LOL [smilie=1:
No clue as to how many cripples were lost each time , but after dark they would be easy to loose

But I guess there were a lot of ducks and this was a easy way to harvest them


Not sure what the load was in the 2" shotguns
But I bet they used up a bunch of lead shot in each of the 3 barrels

He plans on restoring the boat and making a new trailer (old style) to haul it on
As the old trailer has mostly rotted away

I would love to set it up behind my house and try all 3 shotguns out on a huge flock of blackbirds
Maybe 1 lb of shot or more in each barrel LOL
My lab would be chasing cripples for days

John

[MT Gianni]

Those market hunters lived in a different time. It would be neat to see some finished pics. Originally Chesapeake Bay retrievers were bred to hunt/retrieve all day in tough conditions and defend the take from those who would steal it and head to market before the shooters.

[labradigger1]

Punt guns iirc

[2wheelDuke]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punt_gun

Something like that?

[Duckiller]

I would be real careful where he took that boat, especially with loose shot and powder. Game Wardens just seem to have no sense of history. Without the greater than 10 ga shotguns and using steel or other non-toxic shot it could be a fun boat to shoot out of.

[Bent Ramrod]

That's a great find! A real market hunter's boat.

You might want to look at Capt. Peter Hawker's diary. He had a skiff on which was mounted a double barrel gun like you describe. One barrel was flintlock, the other lock worked on the new "detonating principle."

He would go out to where large flocks of shore birds were floating on the water. Each barrel fired 2 lbs of shot, and nothing was going to get into the air if Hawker had anything to say about it. He'd wipe out half a flock, pick up the birds, and go back the next day for the rest of it.

To be fair, there must be some way that seeing vast numbers of birds or game affects the mind so that one can't imagine that there could be a time when there would be none around. Much of Hawker's diary alternates between exulting in getting all these birds and complaining that the shooting this year is the worst he'd ever seen, what's the problem? He couldn't seem to grasp that he was the problem, but he wasn't stupid or narrow minded, either.

He was a "sportsman," for his time. He froze and starved and nearly capsized and drowned in his efforts to get the birds. He was also a dead shot at birds on the wing with more conventional shotguns.

[runfiverun]

yes he was.
he had a shotgun made up that was reported to have taken many, many birds on the wing at 100yds and some even further.

[Johnch]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punt_gun

Something like that?

Something sort of like that
But a wider and longer boat
But it was built to the water like that one is


If I get a chance
I will take some pictures when he is done

I duck hunt
They most likely "Harvested" more ducks in 1 night than I do in a whole year

John

[StolzerandSons]

Commercial water fowling with punt boats and the "punt" guns mounted to them...it was definitely a different era. An original punt boat with it's original gun still in good shape(or close enough to restore) is probably worth a good bit of money to the right collector.

I have an original SxS 6 bore shotgun that was used for commercial upland fowl harvesting. It would be a pretty nice example with the german silver buttplate and triggerguard but somebody(not me) took a hacksaw to it and shortened the barrels.

[oscarflytyer]

VERY COOL piece of history. I would almost consider checking with some museums, especially (assume not) the old shotguns are there. That would be an amazing museum piece. Regardless, still very cool history piece. Pics would be great!

[CLAYPOOL]

Do some checking BEFORE he destroys what may be the Last one. Those are very few left and he can buy a new - modern boat cheater than he can change that one. As for the shot guns I trade some of my stuff for them.....