Michigan Sneak Boat Shooting...

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Pat Gregory

Well-known member
In my pursuit of waterfowling history, I've been doing a little studying and, collecting around the Michigan Sneak Shooting. It's a fascinating history around fascinating men. Below is a picture of one of them. Sidy Dahlka was a sneak boat shooter back in the early 1920's thought the 1940's. He hunted around the towns of Monroe and Grosse Isle, Michigan on the Detroit River and Lake Erie. Sidy was the uncle of famed Michigan decoy collector Hy Dahlka. Thanks to Jack Wilkie of Monroe, MI for the picture of Sidy painting some of his rig...

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A pair of canvasbacks from Sidy's rig made by Y.F. Hardcastle. Aluminum heads and balsa bobtail bodies. I love the heads on these decoys! Paint restored by Phil Babe.

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great look into history of the shooting in your area! do you happen to have any pictures of the boats they used? I know they used to use them in the upper chesapeake bay but i wonder if the style has varied. This reminds me of dave diefenderfer's susquehanna roll boat.. making any progress on that dave? I went over to take a look at it last year and my oh my is it a cool boat!
 
Got to hunt out of one north of you several years ago on a trip with the MLB....we were rigged in a layout and an acquaintance of Marks and Greg Bires was rigged in one not far from us.....Greg and I were invited to take a turn in the boat for a couple of drifts....I'm not much on water shots, which seems to be the norm to announce to survivors of that salute to flush, but it was neat to see and watch and do.....
Plus neat to add to the list of neat stuff few do anymore.....


Steve
 
steve i have been on this site for a long time and i miss seeing your pictures.. hope to see some more in the future
 
I really liked this, Pat. No doubt about the popularity of Mr. Can. I got a chuckle from what Bill said. You'll need to post those pictures when that time comes.
Al
 
Bill - Am I that predictable? :) Actually, yes, you will see cans but, not of a Michigan pattern. Lately, the Delta Marsh has captured my attention in a big way. I've been deep in my studies of that history. You'll more likely see some cans patterned after Duncan Ducharme with a Peter Ward paint job that will be hunted this fall on the Delta Marsh. Stay tuned...

I recently obtained some old video footage of a program called "Once Upon a Marsh." It was part of a documentary series from back in the 1950's called Canada99. In it they track a young boy's love for the marsh as well as the abuses of the marsh and "God's creatures". In it, they have actual footage of Duncan Ducharme hand chopping a canvasback decoy as well as painting it. Very inspirational.

Al Hochbaum himself actually stars in the movie and talks about his thoughts on how to change these abuses of habitat and the need to do so. It was a sad and difficult time in our history. But, looking at the duck populations today, I totally applaud our conservation professionals of today and years gone by. Whatever they've done, it's worked in a great way especially when it comes to ducks and geese. And, nature itself has shown it's great resiliency that, if treated with dignity, it will bounce back and flourish.

I applaud our forefathers like James Ford Bell, Hochbaum, Pirnie, Leopold, Darling, Errington and others. I also applaud all those who work professionally or volunteer in conservation organizations today. Without your efforts, our wildlife and it's habitat would have a bleek future but, because of your efforts, thrive today . Keep fighting the good fight and, thank you!
 
Pat, way to stoke the fire! I'm three weeks out of my visit to the Lake Erie Metro Park Museum in Monroe Michigan. Can't wait to see the 18' Dan Kidney Sneakboat made in Green Bay.

Please bring the Struebing can decoy with you on your next visit. A stool of those would keep me up nights!
 
Mike - Something has to keep us up at night. I'm thoroughly convinced that carving/collecting decoys is just a front to keep our wives from knowing our real passion, collecting duck boats... BTW, in Once Upon a Marsh, once scene Hochbaum is walking along the shore of the Delta Marsh and walked by an Alumacraft Ducker. Still looked new...
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Pat some one gave me one of these cans with the aluminum heads, it has a large " F " branded on the bottom. They were under the impression that the maker was Fink from NY but that doesnt appear to be the case, very cool birds, I would love to know more about them.
 
Glenn - Get me some pictures and I'll try and ID them for you. I've seen several Michigan decoys with aluminum heads to include Ralph Reghi both cans and redheads and YF Hardcastle cans. You can post them up or, email me at npgregory@aol.com Pat
 
Hollow Specklebelly? Awesome! Maybe we could take it out to the Point Blind at the club and lure some specks within gunshot... You never know...
 
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