Any good books about hunting out of sneakboxes?

Zach Houvener

Zach Houvener

Active member
First of all I would like to say that I am the proud new owner of a classic 12' BBSB!! I met up at Steves house the other day and with the help of Greg he helped me put on the decoy racks and transom board on my new boat, as well as telling me some things I should know in general about the boats, Just want to say thanks I really appreciated it!

I saw a sneakbox for the first time in a magazine article i believe 2 years ago, I loved the lines on her and I typed "sneakbox" into google and found this site.

Even while im younger than most on this site, I have a passion for this sport we call waterfowling, I enjoy reading the old stories, the makers of decoys, old guns, boats, etc... and was wondering if any of you have read some material that talks about the BBSB in a hunting situation? I would love to have something to read about the history of the boats that have served the waterfowler for a long time...Thanks
 
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Zack,congratulations on the purchase of a fine BBSB.I would be interested in any books myself.My guess is the librarys around costal NJ (Tuckerton).If I had written a book about hunting out of a Sneakbox my first time,it would be an old book today:^).Bill Perry keeps the tradition alive with the boats,guns,clothing,decoys,and gear.I use my box for open water,sneaking from 100yds upwind into the dekes.
 
Don't know about "hunting out of," but I have seen Lee Harker recommend this as being of interest:
Four Months in a Sneak-Box A BOAT VOYAGE OF 2600 MILES DOWN THE OHIO
AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS, AND ALONG
THE GULF OF MEXICO. By
Nathaniel H. Bishop



Click his name and it will take you to the on-line book.
 
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Another good book, with some stories of sneakbox( and other duck hunting) is by Van campen Heilner " A Book on Duck Shooting" .
 
The Barnegat Bay Sneakbox it's history, design and construction by D.N. Goodchild, Philadelphia, P.A.




The book mentioned above is a must have for the sneakbox fan and owner.
Tuckerton Seaport has some good books but most are about the Garvey and the Racing Sneakboxs'
 
Hey Zach,

Glad to see that you took the plunge! I enjoyed talking to you on the phone the other day, and I spoke at length with Steve about your boat as well.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Two good books that have chapters about sneakboxes are "Big December Canvasbacks" by Worth Mathewson, and "Successful Waterfowling" by Zack Taylor.

Good Luck!
Kirk Sherbine
Classic Barnegat Sneakboxes
 
reading about them....heck wich you had mentioned that while you were here as I could have sent you home with an armload of reading material....

Next time your close by stop in and I'll load you up....I have a good loaner copy of the Heilner book, (THE MOST IMPORTANT Duck Hunting book IMO), as well as the others listed, and then a few others that include Barnegats as the boats being gunned out of....

Both Hagerbaumer and Matthewson's books reference them which makes those unique for West Coast material....and even neater to that is that when you see Tom Newell's Barnegats you'll be looking at the same boats that Hagerbaumer references in his book.....

Give me a shoult...I'll load ya up....

Steve
 
Hey, I'm a duck hunting and decoy whore...and I'm really geared towards traditional, unique, old-school stuff. The fact that people still use a design almost unmodified dating back to the 1880's or earlier; well, it doesn't get much more old-school than that.

I'm probably one of six idiots in the State of Arkansas who will hunt divers on purpose...and one of maybe six in the State who carve anything remotely resembling gunning decoys. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise. Hell, I'm going to try and learn how to scull this year if I can get everything worked out...to be able to say that I've done it and experienced that rush

A sneak just isn't practical for the way and places I normally gun. Breaks my heart, but it's true. The ubiquitous aluminum jonboat is just the better choice to take the punishment of flooded timber, cypress knees, logs, etc. in addition to the open water of the rivers.

Doesn't keep me from reading about them or wanting to build one, though.

Seriously, if you can help me find a copy of the book that Folkman mentioned, I'd appreciate it. I have Big December Canvasbacks by Mathewson, Duck Shooting Along the Atlantic Tidewater, and a few others, and the Perrine plans from Mystic Seaport are mounted in an open frame and on the wall in the guest bedroom with live decoy neck collars, brass shells, DU pinbacks, shot/powder measures, extractor rings (12, 16 and 20), and other "stuff" nearby.

I'm afraid the next time I get "close by" will be a specific trip to visit and hopefully shoot a few seaducks with you. Laura wants a harlie bad enough to almost taste it, but she isn't sure about gunning open ocean...little nervy about that. Business won't take me West any time soon.
 
http://www.dngoodchild.com/front_pg_02-08.htm and then sometime in May or so got here.....they will have what you are looking for or will be able to direct you to it....

I'm sitting on (3) Miles boats right now so if you and the wifey come West we could put em all on the water at once and have the largest deployed fleet of Barnegats on the West Coast......we'll make Waterfowling history I tell ya....the industry will be "abuzz"....heck we might even kill a duck if we arent' careful....

Tel Lora that we won't be in the "open Ocean" ....the water we run can get rough of course but for the most part we run within a few hundred yard so shore, at the most, and the Harlequin gunning is done with the boat so lclose to the shore that you can often touch it from the shoreside of the boat....Harlequins are so shoreline oriented that they'll often fly between the boat and shoreline if you give them a big enough gap to do it....and all Harlequin gunning is done out of the big boat so she won't have to worry about big water/little boats.....

Keep an eye on that site...the reason you have to wait till May is that they are in a major refurb of their systems and the site isn't operational at this point and going there now will just get youu the homepage and a notice of "check back later".....they do have an e-mail address and you might be able to get something via that if you can't wait....

While not specifically Barnegat oriented if you want to get a look into what liffe was like back when Barnegats were the chief mode of hunting track down IMAGES OF AMERICA-DOWNSHORE FROM MANAHAWKIN to NEW GRETNA published by the Publications Committee of the Ocean County Historical Society, (thats NEW JERSEY if you haven't guessed).......Back when Don Aye used to post here he got me my copy and its a great pictorial history of what is essentially the "center of the universe" for Barnegats.....

Since I got mine I've bought two copies at the Tuckerton Show so a good place to start looking for a copy is would be the Seaport gift store....if they don't have it then I'd go to the Historical Society that printed it...great old pictures of everything from salt hay harvest to duck shacks, commercial fishing to decoy carving with lots of Barnegats and Garveys "in action".....

Steve
 
The outlaw gunner, big december canvasbacks both great reads, big december is all about the west coast and outlaw gunner is about the chesapeake
 
Thank you, sir.

Hey, I'd love it. That will definitely help Laura's comfort level. That, and the promise that after the harlie and an oldsquaw (screw "long tailed duck") or scoter or two she packs up and heads for an antiquing trip with your lovely wife...I better go make some money, because I'll probably have to buy a trailer from you if we let those two loose.

I've about got the shop back in order, and am going to try and spend some quality time out there over the next few months. I can't quite bring myself to sell all of the plastics and force the issue of finishing out a spread, but the goal is to have a usable mallard/puddler rig and a good diver rig all handcarved by this season so I can ditch all of the plastics. Might make a few more sleds to supplement the divers; it was a fun process to figure everything out, and the bluebills don't seem to mind one bit. I also sent off an order for cedar to a shop up around my parents' house, so when they finish cutting, I should have enough white cedar for the next three to five years.

By the way, you bought any snipe whistles lately? I've looked a little, but haven't found any. I also thought about putting my bois d'arc Hambone up for sale...been seeing them go for outrageous money on Ebay and elsewhere...those and the Taylor Made calls are just getting obscene. I guess I'm just too hardheaded to part with anything; the money doesn't really mean anything, unless I was putting it into a nice antique decoy, an old Fox or Smith, or something along those lines.
 
I grew up reading "The Outlaw Gunner". Great book.

There's a part of me that would like to have the experience of sculling up on a raft of canvasback or redheads on a full moon night on the Chesapeake Bay, with a punt gun strapped to the nose of the boat. I know I can't, and I know why, but sometimes...
 
Zack,looks like you hit the mother load,with the library that Steve has.I would deffinetly take advantage of his generosity.I just ordered Hielner's book (used hard cover)from Amazon,for $25.Mitchner's "Chesapeak",has a couple interesting duck hunting chapters
 
Ditto on the "Outlaw Gunner" . It may be out of print but if you can find a copy buy it.

Sounds like you too have gotten hooked on this wonderful addiction.

Best,
Harry
 
I wish I hadn't read this thread. Now, in addition to that Snow goose I want to build, after the move from here to there, I have the wants for a BBSB. It's just that the SG is so much more of a utility boat for my purposes. But really do want one of the sneakboats.

By the way Steve, we did get an offer on the house that we've accepted, so the move may be happening soon. Then to find the room for two boats.
 
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