Battery (sinkbox) shooting

W

Worth Mathewson

Active member
For those who have wanted to try battery shooting I hope the following will be of help. But first I will explain the difference between a battery and a sinkbox. A battery is a craft that can be moved from place to place. It is a battery that is illegal in the U.S., not a sinkbox. A sinkbox is a blind that is permanently attached to land. The few sinkboxes in existence, largely in North Carolina, were made during a low tide when the bottom was bare. They are hunted during a rising tide and need to be bailed out after high tide. They are called curtain blinds. It is somewhat puzzling why the battery began to be called a sinkbox. At any rate, classic battery shooting is available at Wishart Point Lodge in New Brunswick. The Lodge has a web site. My wife and I shot there in 1985 and it was all that we hoped it would be. We had a photo essay of our hunt in GRAY'S SPORTING JOURNAL. The Wishart family started the Lodge in 1907. For many years it was a famous place. Van Campen Heilner has a photograph of hunting brant from a battery at Wishart Point in his book A Book On Duck Hunting, misspelling Wishart in the text with the photo. He also got the wrong bay that Wishart Point in on. At any rate brant no longer stop there and the hunting is based around Canada geese and black ducks. I was told why the brant are no longer there but have now forgotten. But we had classic hunting for the geese and black ducks. At the time we were there Miles Wishart had a barn full of old batteries. Also a few of the brant decoys. I purchased a few of the decoys, and several years later purchased a battery. Miles had it shipped to Vancouver, BC and I drove up from Oregon to pick it up. I showed it at Sportsman Shows a couple of times then gave it to an individual with a large collection of historical waterfowl boats. For anyone who would want to experience battery shooting, lying down below the water level, I can assure you that a flock of Canada geese coming directly in is something you will not soon forget! Hope you are able to see this for yourself. Best, Worth



















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Worth

That would be an amazing experience.

I looked up Wishart Point Lodge and there is no mention of hunting from a battery, but I did find a picture from a goose hunt in the website's gallery. It also says guests are by invitation and only specifically mentions fishing and bird watching. If they are still offering huts from a battery it must be very low key.

Thanks.

Eric
 
Eric, I emailed the Lodge solely about battery shooting. The guy now in charge didn't know what I meant by a battery. We got on the right track when I said sinkbox. Interesting, because up until about the mid 1930s battery was the name used for the craft. I have no idea how or why they began to call them sinkboxes. At any rate, he emailed me and said that they still offer battery shooting. You might email the Lodge and get more information? Wish I could do that again! It was a pure classic. Best, Worth
 
Worth,

I have the Gray's Journal with your photo essay, but never made it there to hunt. Did try for many years to book a curtain blind hunt in NC, but the guide was always full up. That was disappointing as I had hunted NC as many places as possible back then.

Had a invite to go Body Booting on the flats in MD, but could not make it. Another in yer face way to hunt for those who seek adventure. I'm past that age now.


Best regards
Vince
 
There are several guide services on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands who offer curtain blind hunts. a curtain blind measures only 4ft x 4ft, so it is very, very cramped. I found it very uncomfortable for two hunters of average size. If birds are flying well, you might consider taking turns shooting. I hunted one a couple years ago. The perspective of being water level was incredible, though.
 
Here on eastern Long Island sink boxes were large floating platforms with a cockpit below the surface. It was weighted with cast iron decoys to lower the profile. Every once in a while one is dug up by a clammer. I have a canvasback.
 
Capt Geminski, Those blinds used in New York were batteries. It is very interesting that for a period in the 1800s they were outlawed in New York. If I remember the old history correctly it was because the batteries were being set in resting places the waterfowl used, and it was felt that they were pushing birds out of the area. Can't remember the date they were outlawed, but it could have been as early as the 1870s? And don't know if the law was dropped or if people didn't pay any attention to it. Best Worth
 
Kim, Thanks for the link to Wildfowl Country Guide Service. I shot with the owner several years back. His name is Marcel St. Pierre, and one would be hard pressed to find a nicer guy. His battery is somewhat unique as it is made of metal. He sinks it by filling compartments with water. To a degree his battery seems more like a layout boat to me because one is near the water level, not under it. When I was there we only got the battery out one day out of three due to bad weather. And the divers hadn't arrived in numbers, so we had to work puddle ducks. Puddle ducks don't work a battery as well as divers and geese. (Having said that, when we shot at Wishart Point we had flocks of black ducks come in just a few feet above the water) On one of the days we couldn't get the battery out we shot puddle ducks from shore. On the last day we went for snipe and only on a few times (as in Louisiana) have I seen so many snipe in a small area. Marcel is a commercial fisherman. He uses a trap made of netting. I purchased one from him, he shipped it to me in Oregon and I used it during the spring to catch carp. Once had so many big carp in it I needed help pulling it out of the water and up on the bank. If by chance any one on this page hunts with Marcel, please say hello for me. Again, he is a great guy! Best, Worth
 
Thanks Worth,
Small world! I think I have seen other videos of his operation. Looks like a lot more work than a layout boat!

FWIW I am sharing a picture of plans for a sink box from a 1943 book published in Montreal "Making Small Boats and Canoes"5CD4BAED-4F73-4001-B333-0124AE6861BB.jpeg
 
Good morning, Worth~


Thanks for this post. I have long been a stickler about the terminology applied to our grand sport - but recognize that regional differences and the paucity of written materials confounds such worries. Nevertheless, I was lucky enough to grow up poring through my Dad's copy of Raymond Camp's Hunters Encyclopedia. He distinguishes between batteries and sinkboxes - and even presents the only photo I've ever seen of a sinkbox. I will include here just his sinkbox information.




Sinkbox - Camp 1948 - page 912.jpg



Sinkbox - Camp 1948 - page 913.jpg



Sinkbox - Camp 1948 - page 914.jpg



I have never seen a Sinkbox in the flesh - but have seen a couple of Batteries in museums - esp. in the Chesapeake Bay area. They were common on Long Island before they were outlawed - after which they were replaced with Scooters in the open bays.



I have seen the remains of concrete blinds - which would have needed bailing between hunts - on Peconic Bay, between the two forks of eastern Long Island. I do not know if there was a local name for them.


There is (or was?) an outfitter in Quebec who offers guided hunts in a "sit-up battery" - more like the duck tubs of Nova Scotia. They are made from sheet steel. One wonders about the acoustics.... (I just read the above posts more carefully - sorry for the redundancy!)


All the best,


SJS


 
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Good morning, Rich~


I was lucky to get this cast iron Broadbill in Islip several years ago. It was from the Henry Dick battery rig. She rests comfortably in our living room - safely down low on our hearth, not up high on a shelf. If I recall correctly, she weighs about 35 pounds.


Dick Cast Iron Battery Broadbill.jpg



All the best,


SJS





 
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Steve, Thanks for the information. Do you know what year batteries were outlawed on Long Island? And the picture of the sinkbox with oars looks more like a layout boat to me. But on the other hand, it could be weighted down. So? When my wife and I shot from the batteries at Wishart Point, the guide put out about 60 individual anchored goose and black duck decoys around us. But the sinkbox in NC had two wooden skirts front and back that decoys were attached to. I was lucky and had a big flock of brant come directly in, so low their wing tips were nearly touching the water. Will never forget that! Out here in Oregon we have a few more days of duck season left. Ends on the 29th. For the past two weeks my wife, Marge, has been on fire. She has made four doubles on mallards! Best, Worth
 
Steve, I forgot to mention that Marge is a small 80 year old woman. She certainly doesn't show any signs of slowing down. In fact, on several days she has out shot me. I am a very lucky man! Best, Worth
 
Worth~


Somewhere I have a compendium of all the waterfowl laws in New York State - from the 1600's 'til the 1970s. It gave brief accounts of the battery laws. I believe they were always seen as an unfair advantage - by those who did not have one. Similarly, they were resented by landbound gunners who owned wonderful stretches of waterfront - especially in our eastern South Shore bays - Moriches and Shinnecock - but had to sit idly whilst batteries shot earnestly just beyond their own rigs.


It seems both battery gunners (as well-heeled sports, not baymen) and many owners of waterfront gunning lands were politically well-connected. Numerous battles were fought in courts and legislatures, both locally and at the State level - and so the rules were in constant flux. Washington resolved the matter for all parties when batteries were completely outlawed nationwide.


Kudos to your wife! My dad shot his last birds at age 85.


All the best,


SJS


 
Worth
some canvas covered brant decoys I'am working on. might be the last decoys I do as converting cellar into living space for grand daughter.
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90FEDD54-0489-4D63-9D96-8C8D06BEB9A3.jpeg
 
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