Steve Sanford
Well-known member
All~
I just got back from 2 fine hunts with Craig Kessler on Long Island - on 2 different bay systems. Both were wonderful times afield, but with a shooting display by Craig's "youthful sidekick" that we can only hope will remain "one of a kind".
I suppose the upside is that I "educated" fewer ducks than I might have. Although ECS (Empty Chamber Syndrome) is not unheard of in my shooting repertoire, I cannot recall another bout - since I began carrying a shotgun in 1965 - where I suffered a full-blown case of EGS (Empty Gun Syndrome - aka NO BULLETS AT ALL!). I guess I will have to ask my Doctor if Kent Fasteel is right for me....
Thankfully - despite the foregone bunch of Mallards and Blacks "at about 6 yards" and the foregone Black + Hen Pintail "right over the boat" - my Trusted Guide was able to laugh, shaking his head, able only to repeatedly utter the words: "One for the record books". We did come home with birds - just not as many as we should have....
MONDAY AFTERNOON - Between the Forks
The first shoot was an afternoon hunt - after I drove WHITE-WING and her 18 Oldsquaw stool down - beginning pre-dawn in a heavy snowstorm here in dairy country but ending in dry roads and sunshine on eastern Long Island. We both savored the late-day brilliant sunshine with a fresh northwest breeze and glowing marshes - what we think of as "Black Duck weather".
The Trusted Guide - who, as you will see, does ALL of the hard work - anchors the TDB to an expanse of flooded Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora).
Although we prefer the traditional "falling tide", the meadows were still flooding during our hunt.
The brilliant light bathed a stretch of unspoiled Long Island "mainland" - with Pitch Pine and Oaks in the woods that front the saltmarsh.
We had plenty of activity. Crossing the bay, we saw hundreds of Oldsquaw and plenty of Butterball (Bufflehead). Once on our salt pond, we saw Blacks, Mallard, Spoonbills (Shovelers) and Hoodies. Evoking an earlier time, a flock of about 15 Black-bellied Plovers (Beetleheads to shorebird gunners of old), could be heard throughout the afternoon. Trusted Guide mimicked their 2-note calls perfectly with his Wigeon-Pintail whistle and brought them right over the boat.
TUESDAY MORNING - Great South Bay
The next morning, we left the Bellport Dock to hunt the Pattersquash Gun Club for the morning.
Bamboo stakes marked the channel through the shoals that dominate the south side of the Bay.
A more permanent "stake" identified our first destination. Club members sign in at the dock - and can head out to their assigned points at 7:00 AM.
Those worn "branches" on the end of the saltmarsh point are the remains of last year's Cedar boughs - stuck in the bog to help hide the gunning boats.
More than a dozen gunning spots are identified - by tradition since the 1920s - along the islands and shoals.
Thirty or so Blacks leapt off our chosen spot as we approached.
As promised, Trusted Guide pushed the 17-foot vessel over an especially shoal patch.
We like some wind for gunning anywhere on Long Island, but we had a "flat slick" calm most of the morning, as the winds moved around from northwest to northeast over the hours we were there.
Sun dogs gave us a show for the first couple of hours.
The TDB was hauled up against the bog. Water depth prevented us from putting it right in front of the Cedars.
Trusted Guide made these big Black Ducks back in the 1970s, I believe.
The event that led to my episode of Empty Gun Syndrome was a 45-minute "walkabout" with my camera. I wanted to film our hunt but also needed a bunch of images for our upcoming documentary (ON THE FALLING TIDE - The story of traditional Black Duck gunning along Long Island's South Shore - coming March 2017). I unloaded my gun - left in the boat - for safety's sake.
Here are some Ribbed Mussels (Geukensia, aka "bank mussels") and a Mud Snail (Ilyanassa). Neither are primary foods in the Black Duck's winter diet. But, they will use these in dire times - when heavy ice keeps the birds from their staples of Saltmarsh Snails (Melampus) and Duck Clams (Gemma) and Worms.
(BTW: Blue Mussels (Mytilus edulis) are the local species found on human dinner plates.)
These craters are made by Black Ducks. They excavate these shallow pits with their feet when the bottom is flooded. They float above the bottom, treading away the sand or mud to reveal the Clams and Worms that are embedded in their subsurface chambers.
I have never come across a formal term for these excavations - please let me know if you do.
Mud Snails leave trails across the bottom. They are abundant but are thick-shelled and not a desirable food for puddlers.
Salt Hay is the habitat of Saltmarsh Snails. It is typically flooded only a few days each month - on "moon tides" and storm tides.
"Wrack" is the detritus that collects along the high tide line. Here on Great South Bay, it usually includes Eelgrass (Zostera), Sea Lettuce (Lactuca) and often numerous "artifacts" from the nearby human population. Mylar balloons are too common in the wrack line.....
The intertidal (flooded on every high tide) Cordgrass is to the left, the "high meadow" Salt Hay is to the right in this photo.
With the shoals, creeks, intertidal and high marsh, the south shore provides a variety of feeding habitats for Black Ducks - and many others.
Little pools like this provide a good spot to hide a gunning coffin.
Without any wind to speak of, we had less activity near the rig. We did see Blacks, Mallards, Shelldrake (RBM), Butterball, Hoodies, Canada Geese and Brant over the course of the morning. A Peregrine Falcon gave us a nice look and Dunlins could be heard on the meadows and flats.
So, I will now await a visit from Santa Claus - he will no doubt be delivering a treatise on Duck Hunting for Dummies in a few weeks.....
All the best,
SJS
I just got back from 2 fine hunts with Craig Kessler on Long Island - on 2 different bay systems. Both were wonderful times afield, but with a shooting display by Craig's "youthful sidekick" that we can only hope will remain "one of a kind".
I suppose the upside is that I "educated" fewer ducks than I might have. Although ECS (Empty Chamber Syndrome) is not unheard of in my shooting repertoire, I cannot recall another bout - since I began carrying a shotgun in 1965 - where I suffered a full-blown case of EGS (Empty Gun Syndrome - aka NO BULLETS AT ALL!). I guess I will have to ask my Doctor if Kent Fasteel is right for me....
Thankfully - despite the foregone bunch of Mallards and Blacks "at about 6 yards" and the foregone Black + Hen Pintail "right over the boat" - my Trusted Guide was able to laugh, shaking his head, able only to repeatedly utter the words: "One for the record books". We did come home with birds - just not as many as we should have....
MONDAY AFTERNOON - Between the Forks
The first shoot was an afternoon hunt - after I drove WHITE-WING and her 18 Oldsquaw stool down - beginning pre-dawn in a heavy snowstorm here in dairy country but ending in dry roads and sunshine on eastern Long Island. We both savored the late-day brilliant sunshine with a fresh northwest breeze and glowing marshes - what we think of as "Black Duck weather".
The Trusted Guide - who, as you will see, does ALL of the hard work - anchors the TDB to an expanse of flooded Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora).
Although we prefer the traditional "falling tide", the meadows were still flooding during our hunt.
The brilliant light bathed a stretch of unspoiled Long Island "mainland" - with Pitch Pine and Oaks in the woods that front the saltmarsh.
We had plenty of activity. Crossing the bay, we saw hundreds of Oldsquaw and plenty of Butterball (Bufflehead). Once on our salt pond, we saw Blacks, Mallard, Spoonbills (Shovelers) and Hoodies. Evoking an earlier time, a flock of about 15 Black-bellied Plovers (Beetleheads to shorebird gunners of old), could be heard throughout the afternoon. Trusted Guide mimicked their 2-note calls perfectly with his Wigeon-Pintail whistle and brought them right over the boat.
TUESDAY MORNING - Great South Bay
The next morning, we left the Bellport Dock to hunt the Pattersquash Gun Club for the morning.
Bamboo stakes marked the channel through the shoals that dominate the south side of the Bay.
A more permanent "stake" identified our first destination. Club members sign in at the dock - and can head out to their assigned points at 7:00 AM.
Those worn "branches" on the end of the saltmarsh point are the remains of last year's Cedar boughs - stuck in the bog to help hide the gunning boats.
More than a dozen gunning spots are identified - by tradition since the 1920s - along the islands and shoals.
Thirty or so Blacks leapt off our chosen spot as we approached.
As promised, Trusted Guide pushed the 17-foot vessel over an especially shoal patch.
We like some wind for gunning anywhere on Long Island, but we had a "flat slick" calm most of the morning, as the winds moved around from northwest to northeast over the hours we were there.
Sun dogs gave us a show for the first couple of hours.
The TDB was hauled up against the bog. Water depth prevented us from putting it right in front of the Cedars.
Trusted Guide made these big Black Ducks back in the 1970s, I believe.
The event that led to my episode of Empty Gun Syndrome was a 45-minute "walkabout" with my camera. I wanted to film our hunt but also needed a bunch of images for our upcoming documentary (ON THE FALLING TIDE - The story of traditional Black Duck gunning along Long Island's South Shore - coming March 2017). I unloaded my gun - left in the boat - for safety's sake.
Here are some Ribbed Mussels (Geukensia, aka "bank mussels") and a Mud Snail (Ilyanassa). Neither are primary foods in the Black Duck's winter diet. But, they will use these in dire times - when heavy ice keeps the birds from their staples of Saltmarsh Snails (Melampus) and Duck Clams (Gemma) and Worms.
(BTW: Blue Mussels (Mytilus edulis) are the local species found on human dinner plates.)
These craters are made by Black Ducks. They excavate these shallow pits with their feet when the bottom is flooded. They float above the bottom, treading away the sand or mud to reveal the Clams and Worms that are embedded in their subsurface chambers.
I have never come across a formal term for these excavations - please let me know if you do.
Mud Snails leave trails across the bottom. They are abundant but are thick-shelled and not a desirable food for puddlers.
Salt Hay is the habitat of Saltmarsh Snails. It is typically flooded only a few days each month - on "moon tides" and storm tides.
"Wrack" is the detritus that collects along the high tide line. Here on Great South Bay, it usually includes Eelgrass (Zostera), Sea Lettuce (Lactuca) and often numerous "artifacts" from the nearby human population. Mylar balloons are too common in the wrack line.....
The intertidal (flooded on every high tide) Cordgrass is to the left, the "high meadow" Salt Hay is to the right in this photo.
With the shoals, creeks, intertidal and high marsh, the south shore provides a variety of feeding habitats for Black Ducks - and many others.
Little pools like this provide a good spot to hide a gunning coffin.
Without any wind to speak of, we had less activity near the rig. We did see Blacks, Mallards, Shelldrake (RBM), Butterball, Hoodies, Canada Geese and Brant over the course of the morning. A Peregrine Falcon gave us a nice look and Dunlins could be heard on the meadows and flats.
So, I will now await a visit from Santa Claus - he will no doubt be delivering a treatise on Duck Hunting for Dummies in a few weeks.....
All the best,
SJS
Last edited:
.