Long Island duck hunting footage

P

peter lowe

Member
I saw a few videos posted on vimeo that might be of interest to some, posted by Terry Blitman and associated with the Long Island Maritime Museum. No great action shots but there are 2 older color home movie type videos with no sound looks like from the 70's of setting decoys for broadbill and brant and then another setting mostly y-boards for geese on the water. there is also a video from 2015 showing the big garvey retriever breaking ice and scouting for broadbill. While the footage isn't great it would be interesting if anyone had the back story. I found it interesting they were hunting geese on the water back then and you saw quite a few geese flying around. Always thought shooting geese on the Bay was relatively rare back then. Let me know your thoughts.
 
That looks good. I'm going to watch the full show on my TV rather then my phone. Much more professionally done. Thanks Bill.
 
Hey Pete,

I filmed a broadbill hunt with Red Oster back in 2015 it's on my company YouTube channel as part of "When Broadbill Was King" documentary in partnership with the Long Island Decoy Collectors Assoc.If that's the video you are mentioning... I also posted up the one on Vimeo link above with the broadbill / brant. That was a nice film. Got some more footage up on Youtube just search Island Outdoors Productions / Vimeo @IslandOutdoors

In regards to the geese on the bay yes quite rare back in the day here on The Great South Bay. My father actually used a 10GA side by side for em, says he shot one of the first geese out there back in the early 70's.. not sure but I actually still use that 10GA today while guiding on the eastern end of Long Island. Lot's of history on the bay
 
Last edited:
Anthony I have seen your site on vimeo and have a copy of when broadbill was king, excellent work. I watched "on a falling tide" there and it brought me back to gunning on the saltmarsh, especially the western south shore section.

The footage I watched wasn't done as well but interesting nonetheless. I just searched duck hunting and recently uploaded on vimeo.
Maybe we should start a thread on old waterfowling footage.
 
Peter~


The RETRIEVER hails from Brightwaters. Built for Bud Ladman, it was later owned by Brandt Rising. Brandt contributed lots of photos for our When Broadbill was King on Great South Bay (exhibit at a LI Decoy Collectors Annual Show and documentary DVD). I first met Bud (now deceased) when he judged one of the early SSWA Duckboat Shows; he sailed right to the Heckscher boat basin in the RETRIEVER. I joined the judges as they tallied their results in the warmth of the pilot house.


I hunted from the RETRIEVER once when Brandt owned it years later. You cannot see the whole of the davit/gantry that was used to lift the scooter onto and off the foredeck.



View attachment 2003-01-01 00.00.00-9.jpg



She was "on the hard" when we were doing our research for "Broadbill".


View attachment 2002-12-31 23.00.00-11.jpg



She was built expressly for gunning Broadbill - and was basically a very large garvey - the shoal draft necessary for Great South Bay.



View attachment 2002-12-31 23.00.00-13.jpg



All the best,


SJS



 
Good morning, Anthony~


Yes - geese were indeed rare back in the day. Atlantic Flyway Canada Geese wintered mostly in North Carolina - long before they started using the Eastern Shore. Nowadays, upstate NY, Long and Island and Jersey all seem to get good numbers of wintering geese.



I cannot find the photo of my first goose - circa 1966. Most of the birds here are, of course, Brant - but the 4 Canadas were taken by my Dad (shown) and his friend. They were probably "locals" - taken near the Connetquot River. I still shoot my Dad's Winchester Model 50 - and was 6 for 6 this year on geese with it.



View attachment 1967 - TMS_with_brant_and_geese.jpg



All the best,


SJS

 
Hey Morning Steve,

Very nice photos! All this talk about nostalgic films / photos has me itching to make another film soon! Hopefully when this covid storm blows over we can get back to work behind the scenes!
Sad to hear about the decoy show this year highlights the importance now more then ever of preserving traditions of our past.
I wanted to get out with Red one last time and film before he sold & headed up north but unfortunately our schedules couldn't align. The last of the old ways out there!

Stay well & say hello to Susan
 
I believe I did hunt out of that garvey as well. I got an invite from Mike Matram to do a layout hunt. We broke ice down the canal but then the bay was frozen as far as we could see so we broke a hole at the end of the canal and put out the scooters. We probably could have all sat on the back of the garvey and done as well but we wound up shooting geese and widgeon.
 
Nice pics of the Retriever but " I Spy" a plastic owl decoy on the boat. A more fitting scarecrow needs to be in that position. Wood is nice . Anybody know any local carvers? hehe
 
I have the good fortune to have 15 Len Tucker decoys. He was ahead of his time in the art of decoy carving. His Blackducks and Brant are extraordinary.

Joe
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top