The brant rig has been a basic labor of love. I started back when the brant were on a comeback, back in the late 70's and had around a dozen corks to take gunning. My partners, Barry and Bob, always encouraged me to make more, as we could lure more brant to the rig.
Eventually, the rig got to the point where we were taking around 40 dekes out when we gunned them--yep, it got serious.
There were times that we had good flocks come to the rig, and often, when moving things about, the darn things would stool even when we were out resetting things. We did lose a group during a major Christmas eve blow back in the early 90's- Biggest temperature drop we ever experiences--buoys that had bee in Indian river forever wandered off. I digress---Anyway, the rig stabilized at around 110 dekes--mind you, we have not taken that many out in close to twenty years, due mostly to a decline in numbers and a HUGE decline in the bag limit and days to hunt.
I still make a few annually, just to keep up with my eye-hand memory. Strangely, to me, anyway, I have always found painting them to be a real pita, as the back edgings are extremely subtle, and the barring on the sides are a bear.
If you do get the bug, make sure you have a couple of specimens in the freezer, as they are the best possible references. Yeah, they are geese, BUT don't have the feathering that geese have.
Fun gunning your own, basically since you are in control of attitudes. Enjoy.
If you look closely at the photo, you will note stainless clips. Those are still under work contracts. The others are semi-retired, at least until the limit returns to four per day, and we get a 60 day season again. At 77, I can always remain hopeful that this will happen, BUT, like the idea that the population seems to control pressure, not to mention the food sources.
Strangely, a number of years back, our state wildlife experts were afraid that the brant population had declined drastically. The regular flyovers were not picking up numbers, although we who hunted the beautiful little geese were aware that they had changed their habits, grazing in stubble fields and condo lawns, as well as local golf links. This occurred the year that Delawhere had a light skirting by the 'cane that really damaged the Jersey Coast. Their food source simply got covered up by sand, and they changed habits, which, to me was a miracle. Thirty years or so before, the population here was devastated when the inland bays froze over, causing a MAJOR die-off.
Enjoy them, as they are a treasure--the birds, not the decoys!
