Steve Sanford..."When the Broadbill was King on Great South Bay".

B

Bill Abbate

Active member
Fantastic DVD. I just finished watching it. I'm glad that I purchased 3 of them for friends out of state. You gentlemen truly did a great job preserving Long Island, NY water-fowling history. I sincerely hope that everyone on this site gets to see it. Thank You !!
 
Bill~

So glad you liked the DVD. This is our first experience waiting on pins and needles for the critical reviews following a World Premiere. We actually sold out all 200 copies (our first print run) by 1:00 at the Show. I have already ordered the next 100 - should take just a few days to have them in hand.

BTW: For others wanting a copy, here is the "drill':

1. Mail me a PERSONAL CHECK to STEVE SANFORD (with LIDCA DVD in the memo line)

Steve Sanford
PENCIL BROOK FARM
160 Gannon Road
Buskirk, NY 12028

2. Price is $20 for first copy + $10 each for any additional copies

3. Please be sure to include YOUR MAILING ADDRESS

DISC%20ART%20-%201094%20in%20red_zps210yx19o.jpg


All the best,

SJS
 
Last edited:
I'll try to get a check in the mail to you in the next day or two Steve. Can't wait to watch some waterfowling / history.

Steve
 
Steve

Put my name on a copy. I'm at the flyway meetings all week and will mail you a check when I get back.
 
David~

I think it's fair to say the exhibit exceeded everyone's expectations - including Craig Kessler's and mine. We especially appreciated all those who went out of their way to express their enthusiasm and thanks.

The DVDs sold out by 1:00 - but the second printing will be ready later this week.

All the best,

SJS
 
Good morning, John~

Duly noted! I have just set up my record-keeping, etc - for all the mail orders. I guess I am now in the "fulfillment" business....

All the best,

SJS
 
All~

Been mailing out DVDs - and getting lots of nice reviews. I just ordered our third printing.

Also, for those who did not get to the Show, I just posted a bunch of the information and images from our exhibit up on my website. I think many will be especially interested to read the Narratives and the Rigs down toward the bottom of the post.

http://stevenjaysanford.com/when-the-broadbill-was-king-on-great-south-bay/

One artifact we had - in our Pre-1935 section - was an original of these "rules" from 1920 - about the sharing of gunning grounds by battery rigs. Craig Kessler and I grew up in the Town of Islip - and did our first gunning in "Great River Cove" (aka Nicolls Cove).


M36%20%20Harwood%20-%20Islip%20Gunners%20-%20color%20001_zpsiwmnp3pa.jpg


I apologize for not having photos of the rest of the Show. Craig and I were "otherwise engaged" all day.....

All the best,

SJS
 
Now that you have NOTHING to do how about get cracking on the Olin Smith Whaleback! I have been waiting for this rebuild.
 
Steve, dont you wish Doc Brown was around with his time machine, to wisk us back to those good old days. Wouldnt you just love to go gunning with some of those old timers! Rich
 
Bob~

Right now, I cannot get to that Scooter. She's "resting comfortably" in the Pencil Brook Marina - but I cannot drive through the foot of dense, icy snow that has yet to thaw. I'm thinking she'll come into the shop sometime next week.

All the best,

SJS
 
Rich~

Working with these gentlemen over the past year I certainly gained the appreciation that my earliest gunning grounds - right at the mouth of the Connetquot - were, in their day, THE spot on this globe for shooting the Incomparable Broadbill. As John Verbeke says: It was the Garden of Eden.

And, I'm happy to have gunned with my Dad - and glad for him that he saw some of the best of it.

All the best,

SJS
 
OK. When you get her in the shop take some lines off and measurements. I will have some shop space soon.
 
Steve a question....HOW did an Association, which doesn't seem to have been authorized by law, govern the Bay?.....Public Water, Federal control over the resource, so how could an Association control anything, (other than by force)?......were those waters huntable by people that weren't in the association?...or were they excluded?.....
Steve
 
Steve~

Interesting question/topic...

I think (but am not sure) that Long Island (or at least the more eastern Suffolk County) is different - legally - from much of the US. Because settlement was early (1600s) and by grants from English kings - certain rights were expressly granted to original patent holders - and were never superseded by subsequent treaties, etc. Rights to fish (?), shellfish and the bay bottom were - and still are - the province of the Towns - having passed to them from the original grantees. This is why clammers need Shellfish Permits from both the relevant towns (townships, really) AND the State of New York. It is why Pattersquash Gun Club still exists - unique in the US, I believe - with a lease from the Town of Brookhaven. It is also the reason that the South Fork Towns can restrict gunning on their waters to Town residents (Thomas Dongan Patent). Not surprisingly, NYS has contested these patents viz. F&W management - and has lost consistently.

In the subject area (Nicoll Bay - William Nicoll was one of the early patent holders), much of the bottom was leased by the Town of Islip to the Blue Point Oyster Company during my years - where they raised and dredged clams (John Verbeke from the Broadbill film ran their dredge boat for ~ 40 years). As an independent clammer in my youth, I had to stay outside of their staked grounds. I don't know if they held the lease in 1920.

With respect to the Islip Town Gunners Association, I have no specific knowledge - had not heard of it until this past year. I do not know if it had a firm legal basis - or was more of a gentlemen's agreement. Certainly, I have never heard of Islip Town having any involvement with the regulation of waterfowl hunting over my lifetime (which began in 1953).

I will have to check with some others - including my older brother and also a dkbts member who has worked with both USDOJ and NYS DOL.

All the best,

SJS
 
Interesting....seeing the ASSOCIATION Rules brought to mind the long conversation I had with an older gentleman many years ago while on a tour of the NorthWest Museum in Maryland...his Father had gunned for the market and had owned one of the double laydown sink boxes used in the area...he showed me the RULEs that were in place for Sinkbox Rigs and that were "said to be" legal per the State but he wasn't sure that that was actually ever true or not....he said that what he saw as a very young man as Market Gunning was fading was that' since it was so equipment intensive, (as does the gunning you've been sharing with us-at least at the level your saying), that the number of people involved was fairly limited and since they were "local" it was as much a "might not right" thing when it came to outsiders......


Seeing the restriction listed in your attachment made me wonder what the situation was there......


Thanks for the response...


Steve
 
In South Hampton Township, the town owns the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. This ownership goes back to a grant made by the Queen of England in 1686, known as the Donegan Patent. Back in the early seventies I almost spent a night in jail for netting a mess of sand eels in the Shinnecock canal. Found out about the Donegan patent in a real hurry that night. Rich
 
Last edited:
Rich...and they enforce it even for recreational activities?......not sure if you were old enough to be Commercial then but if you were then I guess that's a "license thing".....how did it effect "recreational" fishing and hunting.....


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