Anyone rember the American Sportsman re layout gunning?

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
While visiting with gunners and gunning boats on Long Island last week, I recalled watching the old ABC TV show American Sportsman - especially the episode about gunning from a layout boat.

The host, of course, was Curt Gowdy. I do not remember whether they had a "celebrity" sport for this episode, but I do recall that it took place somewhere in the Great Lakes. I also remember them estimating that there were about 200 rigs in existence - which I presume included (for the most part) just the Great Lakes and Long Island back in the 1960s.

Does anyone else remember this episode? Is it available anywhere?

All the best,

SJS
 
i know someone who was involved in the filming and production of the series, from what he has said, the film for only a very very few episodes survived.
 
Boy O Boy Steve, that brought back a ton of memories. I wish we had someone of the caliber of Curt Gowdy filming now days. He was a classic for sure.
 
I actually have a VHS of the The American Sportsman the Classic Series....Bird Hunting.
Robert Stack hunting ducks in Mexico
Andy Giffith and Sam Snead hunting snow geese in Texas
Bing Crosby and Phil Harris hunting Sand Grouse in Africa
Bing Crosby and Phil Harris hunting Pheasant in Iowa
Coach Bear Bryant Quail hunt in Alabama
Hank Aaron hunting ducks

sorry no layout hunting on this tape
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I remember watching it as a very young man in the basement of a KC hall while my grandfather took a break from the wedding upstairs.

I don't remember much about about it but in my memory it was foggy or snowing.
this picture stuck with me my whole life and instilled in me a desire to become a layout hunter. Sounds silly but that little segment I saw changed my life.
 
I love the theme to American Sportsman, I grew up with that show... I have it saved on my cell phone and am still trying to figure out how to make it my ring tone.

http://www.televisiontunes.com/American_Sportsman_(The).html
 
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I saw that back in the ‘70’s during a duck identification class taught by the Michigan Duck Hunter’s Association. I think one of the guys was baseball player Harmon Killebrew. My memory says they were hunting from a two man Kalash-style boat. I remember at one point, one of the guys asked “What kind of duck was that last one?” He was told it was an oldsquaw. The scene that left the greatest impression on me was when they were setting out the decoys. The camera was at the back of the tender, facing forward. The decoys were on longlines, and were piled up in the front of the boat in a heap; no bags or barrels or anything. The boat motored along, and the guy just followed the line from one decoy to the next as he threw them overboard. A year later I set up my own layout rig, and I did it pretty much the same way. I still have the same rig and I still do it the same way. I can’t imagine how it could be any easier. Man, you just brought back some memories from my earliest days of duck hunting.
 
Gordon~

Two things really pique my interest from your note:

1) Sounds like the film may still exist!

2) We wonder where and when "long-lining" (trawling, gang-rigging) started. Guys on Long Island attribute it to a bayman named Carl Froehlich in the late 60s. (I would imagine it was "invented" in numerous locations at numerous times.)

All the best,

SJS
 
Good point Steve. It was the early '70's, so I would think it was shown with a 16mm film projector. The class was held at a local high school, and the whole digital media thing hadn't taken off yet, so how else would they have done it? I suspect they must have distributed the episode on film at some point; perhaps somebody has it salted away somewhere.
 
Thanks Pat. Boy did that bring back memories. I remember my dad having the vhs of Bing Crosby and Phil Harris hunting in Iowa. Seems to me he says d it was offering he got in the mail through Time/Life publications.
 
Steve, convergence in action!

Seriously, I had my first exposure to longlining decoy rigs on Austin Lake in 1973. The guy I hunted with had moved from Gibraltar to southwest Michigan. He learned the rigging technique on Lake St. Clair.

Tony H., if you read this thread, would you ask John Kalash for some background information on the origins of longlining on the lower Great Lakes when he attends the Pte. Mouillee Waterfowl Festival?
 
RL~

I use the same term - "convergent evolution" -when similar adaptive traits appear in unrelated and geographically-isolated taxa in response to similar environmental stresses or opportunities.

All the best,

SJS
 
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