Hi there Capt. Brian and all;
I don't want to put a damper on the `danger' and thrill of hunting in a Nova scotia duck tub, thats a big part of a business plan draw. However I don't want people to seriously think that doing so puts you in danger of life and limb.
Yup, your absolutely right in that it LOOKS like a death trap, but it ISN'T at all.
I'll explain why in a second.
First some background.
Part of the adventure in duck tub hunting is the adrenaline rush for the hunting guests who aren't familiar with this type of hunting.
As Steve and Dani indicated, its a real rush to be in the tub with most of your body below water level. In fact, when ducks approach your head would be level with the water line inside the tub, your head should be turned sideways, and you should only be looking out of one eye over the tub rim. Ducks up here are far more `wild' than most US hunters would be used to.
When your down in the tub the boat looks so high, and as the boat leaves you feel very alone for a few seconds.... or longer, its a great rush. Its you, the ocean, and the ducks... nothing else!
Today you will have radio communication between the tub and the boat (Steve S.'s suggestion). Marine flayers, an inflatable life vest, and a fluorescent orange flag if needed to get the boats attention. Realize that once the boat is several hundred yards away, even on a calm day, the tub and hunter becomes invisible to people in the boat. Thats why the captain needs to `remember' where he put `you', the chart plotter and radio is an excellent safety precaution.
Now imagine the rush when snow squalls blow by and suddenly you are ALL ALONE! But I know where you are and I'm not far away.
This is where the experience comes in. I lived these waters, and fished when few people, even other fishermen from the other islands ventured out. The Ironbounders knew the limits of our boats, of our gear and knew the ocean.... and respected the ocean. We knew what was safe, when it was risky, and when it was time to (as my father used to tell me), "Time to stay your a#s ashore".
Many fishermen were lost at sea from the mainland and other islands around the bay. No one was ever lost from Ironbound in over 200 years of occupation. This despite launching boats through breaking water and reefs from the island before the first breakwater was built in the late 1940's.
Why the tub is safe
1) I know what I'm doing...... equally important I know what NOT to do and when to look for alternative forms of hunting.
2) Drowning customers is bad for business.
3) Scaring customers is almost as bad ..... people can back out and I'll find lots of other exciting and different types of hunting.
4) The tub is tipy until it is ballasted down .... but I get in to do that.
5) It is ballasted by two permanent weights hanging from the bottom, but this makes up only a fraction of the actual ballast.
6) The tub will not capsise..... it'll give you stomach butterflies..... but I'm surprised how quickly that passes.
7) Ballast is placed under your feet.
8) If you start to take on water you throw it overboard ...bailing in this unlikely event is recommended.
9) Most ballast consists of flat rocks placed around the sides of the tub. This is easily pushed off.
10) If the tub tips to far for whatever reason the ballast on that side will slid off into the water, automatically adjusting the tub.
11) The wing boards with cork flotation plus the decoys will hold the tub up in the highly unlikly event of a problem.
12) The tub was filled with water in the past by my fathers generation when a Coast Guard Cutter was seen from a distance. They filled it with water and went ashore on the nearby island (of course they were hunting out of season). It didn't sink.
14) The final safety precaution. A very sharp knife, called a cut-throat because it was used to cut the throats of the large fish when cleaning. Its sole purpose is if the tub sank (which isn't possible), it would be for insurance in case the hunter got caught in a string of decoys .. cut yourself free.
When we dressed fish in December and January the fish were often three-parts frozen. Your hands became so numb that you soaked them in steaming hot water. The water was kept hot by hanging an electric heating coil in the water. Without a periodic soak, you simply lost the ability to move your fingers. Worse, you lost the ability to know if you were cutting into the large fish, or cutting into your hand. Not good. You knew that if you did that, in theold days, you went up to Great Aunt Margaret's house. She would clean up the wound, soak it in hot creoline(sp?) water (industrial; strength garbage can cleaner), pour on iodine. Then she got out the darning needle and would stitch up the cut. Next a gauze and tape dressing. Then she made a cotton stall, looked like a full finger covering that had straps to tie around your wrist to keep it on, or as need be a full hand stall with teh fingers cut out. Then you put on you cotton glove or home made cotton mitten, full of fish slime and blood, and went back to the fish store to dress fish. The fish were important, the hand wasn't. It would heal but there would be scars and tissue lumps. It wasn't unusual, even in my time, to have cuts that would break open and bleed for a couple of weeks).
There, thats my little safety talk coupled with another island story and a bit more of a description of what is was like to hunt from these types of rigs.
Philip
