The Delta Marsh Canvasback...
- Thread starter Pat Gregory
- Start date
Pat Gregory
Well-known member
Clint - Glad we could rekindle some memories... Pat
Pat Gregory
Well-known member
Rick - Thanks for the history on Doc Pirnie. He is truly one of my carving heroes and has significance to Delta. He was on the original advisory council with Aldo Leopold and William Rowan. Here are some pics of some Pirnie blocks. The goldeneye is out of Doc's rig. The ringneck hen and scaup are from Dave Hodgman's rig. I don't think the redhead was ever floated. All bear the Pirnie brand...
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What is the deal with biologists and decoy carving anyway???
BTW, I'll be up at East Lansing doing decoy carving demoes on August 9-10 at MSU. Tim will make the trek with me. Come on up if you can.
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What is the deal with biologists and decoy carving anyway???
BTW, I'll be up at East Lansing doing decoy carving demoes on August 9-10 at MSU. Tim will make the trek with me. Come on up if you can.
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Pat Gregory
Well-known member
Jeff - In the log book, it references the lodge being moved but, doesn't say exactly how.
Also, in your Lores and Legends of Waterhen Lodge, it states there were wooden decoys in the Equipment Chapter in the equipment inventory. Any idea who made them? Where they Ducharme Decoys? Just curious. I know Gaylord's had a rig of Ducharme Decoys as did Jimmy Robinson. It would seem likely Waterhen did as Duncan Ducharme carved locally for many of the clubs.
Thoughts? Pat
Also, in your Lores and Legends of Waterhen Lodge, it states there were wooden decoys in the Equipment Chapter in the equipment inventory. Any idea who made them? Where they Ducharme Decoys? Just curious. I know Gaylord's had a rig of Ducharme Decoys as did Jimmy Robinson. It would seem likely Waterhen did as Duncan Ducharme carved locally for many of the clubs.
Thoughts? Pat
Jeff Churan
Member
Pat - I asked our lodge manager about the move. He could not confirm that the 2nd cabin was formerly a Hudson Bay Post. He knows an older gentleman who lives in Meadow Portage who worked for Gaylord. I am going to interview him when I'm there this fall.
The lodge purchased the wooden decoys from Herters in Waseka, MN. George Herter started the mail order business in 1937 from his dad's dry goods store. My research indicates their original "Model Perfect" blocks were made from Balsa wood. I have some real old Herters' catalogs as part of the lodge files.
The lodge purchased the wooden decoys from Herters in Waseka, MN. George Herter started the mail order business in 1937 from his dad's dry goods store. My research indicates their original "Model Perfect" blocks were made from Balsa wood. I have some real old Herters' catalogs as part of the lodge files.
Pat Gregory
Well-known member
Good to know Jeff. I'll be interested to know the results.
I am also interested in the guides at the Delta Marsh. It seems like there is a long standing tradition of families who guided up there at the various clubs. Names like, Ducharme, Chartrand and LaValle come to mind. Iin the Gaylord Log Book it references and has pictures of 2 guides principally, Pat Chartrand and Archie Marion. I noticed the name Marion as a guide at Waterhen... Pat
I am also interested in the guides at the Delta Marsh. It seems like there is a long standing tradition of families who guided up there at the various clubs. Names like, Ducharme, Chartrand and LaValle come to mind. Iin the Gaylord Log Book it references and has pictures of 2 guides principally, Pat Chartrand and Archie Marion. I noticed the name Marion as a guide at Waterhen... Pat
Jeff Churan
Member
Pat - Yes, the descendents of the Lavallees still guide at the Sports Afield Club. I have hunted with Bill (head guide) and his brother Al (RCMP day job). They are sons of Alf, who was the caretaker at the Delta Station for many years. Alf is the son of original guide Frank. I also hunted with young B.J., Bill's son...so four generations there.
The Duscharms are still represented too. I have hunted with Dave Richardson, son-in-law of "Bigfoot" John Ducharme, who followed Rod and Duncan.
And don't forget the St. Goddards. I've hunted with Darryl, grandson of Lawrence.
These guys are really great. They know the marsh like it is their backyard...which it is!
The Duscharms are still represented too. I have hunted with Dave Richardson, son-in-law of "Bigfoot" John Ducharme, who followed Rod and Duncan.
And don't forget the St. Goddards. I've hunted with Darryl, grandson of Lawrence.
These guys are really great. They know the marsh like it is their backyard...which it is!
Jeff Churan
Member
Pat - The Marion family guided and worked at Waterhen Lodge for many years. I know two of the early guides were Raymond and Joe Marion. I have not heard of Archie Marion...he may have meant Archie Catcheway. Guides were discontinued in 1986. Amos Marion, Joe's son, worked for us in the 1990s and 2000s, looking after boats, plucking ducks, cutting wood, etc. He took me up to Waterhen Lake one day for a hunt...the only time I was ever guided up there.
I do not recognize the other name. Our guides mostly were from the Marion, Catcheway, and Nepinak families.
I do not recognize the other name. Our guides mostly were from the Marion, Catcheway, and Nepinak families.
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Pat Gregory
Well-known member
Jeff - Here is the "Marion" photo. From left to right, Archie Marion, Robert Gaylord, Chink Weems (Mayor of Quincy, IL) and Clayton Gaylord...
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And, here is a picture of Pat Chartrand from the early 1950's. As far as guides go, his name appears the most. Harry Chartrand is also photographed and mentioned several times but mostly duck banding.
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And, here is a picture of Pat Chartrand from the early 1950's. As far as guides go, his name appears the most. Harry Chartrand is also photographed and mentioned several times but mostly duck banding.
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Jeff Churan
Member
Great stuff, Pat. I passed these along to our lodge manager, seeking his comments.
Thanks for scanning these.
Thanks for scanning these.
Steve Sutton
Well-known member
Pat and Jeff....I'm loving this thread....so much neat stuff.....when I was young Sports Afield was my magazine of choice because of it line up of writers...John Jobson and Russell Annabel made me dream of Alaska...Homer Circle and Erwin Bauer taught me to fish...Zack Taylor instilled an overwhelming need to gun Brant and Black Ducks in the coastal marshes of N.J.....but foremost it was Jimmy Robinson who made me want to travel the country and hunt ducks......for a kid that had a half dozen Trend Wigeon and Bluewing Teal decoys and a couple of dozen Herters Tenite Bluebills, (order out a dozen or so and see for yourself that these are the finest decoys on the market today), the pictures of Duncan Ducharme Canvasback Decoys floating on the famed Delta Marsh were the things of dreams....
Not long after I graduated from High School, (1970), I made my first trip to New Jersey where I fulfilled a longtime dream of hunting Blacks and Brant out of Barnegats, though not an equally compelling dream to spend the night in one of the duck shacks in the marsh....spent a lot of time from the 70's traveling to duck hunt but College and first jobs and "where does the money come from to pay for airline tickets" stood in the way of long trips....so my trips to the Delta Marsh where all thanks for Mr. Robinson and David Maas.....
Moved West to Washington in 1984 and had the three prairie provinces in my territory with Winnepeg as one of those places that was a perpetual problem from an employee standpoint....(thank you Lord for these hidden perks)......this was back in the day when a weekend lay over saved you more money than the Hotel and the Rental Car so the bosses were more than happy, and mightily impressed, that I was willing to stay over a weekend to save the company money....they had no need to know that I was spending those weekends fishing or hunting and I definitely wasn't about to tell them......on one of the first trips to Winnepeg I visited a Customer to talk about a billing problem and as I walked into a large, very nicely appointed office, (not common in the trucking industry), I was distracted by the David Mass painting, JIMMY's POINT, hanging on the wall....Maas, F.L.Jacques and Harry Adamson were my favorite Waterfowl Artists so I had to tear myself away from it long enough to shake hands and introduce myself and while doing that told the customer I liked his taste in art.....he said thanks and before he could say anything else I blurted out something that included Delta Marsh, Jimmy Robinson, the Sports Afield Lodge, Ducharme decoys and the fact that I knew that that painting was JIMMY's POINT....I was young and very green at that point from a Business standpoint and I'm sure I sounded like some star struck kid......
The customer smiled and said "you're the first person that's ever known the painting" and that opened the discussion on duck hunting....the non-hunting Sales Rep I'm sure was bored....I'd have fired him on the spot if he had opened his mouth....we talked for over an hour, him about the Marsh and hunting there and me about Florida and Texas hunting.....we eventually got around to resolving the billing issue, (that took all of about a minute as I recall), and since it was too late for lunch and too early for a drink I reluctantly started closing the meeting.....as I was standing the customer said...."too bad you aren't going to be here this weekend I'd be happy to take you out to the Marsh for a hunt".....I grinned and said..."as a matter of fact........"....and then added that I had nothing in the way of equipment.....he told me not to worry about anything and where to meet him on Friday night.....
It was early October and I'll be honest and report that the gunning wasn't anything to get excited about but short of spitting snow and a big push of "Seeelver Cans" I could have cared less....I've long since forgotten the name of the man that rowed us to the point that we hunted, (sadly not Jimmy's Point though I did get to hunt that on future trips), but I will never forget that my host, as a result of what must have been my incessant blathering in his office, had swapped out his modern foam rig for a rig of local carved birds which included several Ducharme birds...(at the time I thought all Ducharme birds were carved by Duncan but didn't know then and my host didn't correct me).....
I didn't travel with a camera at that time so no pictures but its a hunt I'll never forget.....I hunted there several times over the next few years....always hoping for those "employee issues" to pop up in the Fall so I could be there during the season and eventually had one of those "late season, sleet rattling off my Herters Camoflauge Duck coat, (with the sewn in game pocket), and the Cans arriving from the North, up high, late in the afternoon, losing altitude on each circuit of the Bay I was in, to spend what would be the last day of the season due to ice up that night.....no Ducharme decoys in the water that day but that hunt made me NEED, (I had always wanted), a Ducharme decoy.....took me awhile to find one that I could afford but it did happen eventually......
So....Thanks to both of you for jump starting those memories....they are some of the finest in what has been 50 incredible seasons.....
Steve
Not long after I graduated from High School, (1970), I made my first trip to New Jersey where I fulfilled a longtime dream of hunting Blacks and Brant out of Barnegats, though not an equally compelling dream to spend the night in one of the duck shacks in the marsh....spent a lot of time from the 70's traveling to duck hunt but College and first jobs and "where does the money come from to pay for airline tickets" stood in the way of long trips....so my trips to the Delta Marsh where all thanks for Mr. Robinson and David Maas.....
Moved West to Washington in 1984 and had the three prairie provinces in my territory with Winnepeg as one of those places that was a perpetual problem from an employee standpoint....(thank you Lord for these hidden perks)......this was back in the day when a weekend lay over saved you more money than the Hotel and the Rental Car so the bosses were more than happy, and mightily impressed, that I was willing to stay over a weekend to save the company money....they had no need to know that I was spending those weekends fishing or hunting and I definitely wasn't about to tell them......on one of the first trips to Winnepeg I visited a Customer to talk about a billing problem and as I walked into a large, very nicely appointed office, (not common in the trucking industry), I was distracted by the David Mass painting, JIMMY's POINT, hanging on the wall....Maas, F.L.Jacques and Harry Adamson were my favorite Waterfowl Artists so I had to tear myself away from it long enough to shake hands and introduce myself and while doing that told the customer I liked his taste in art.....he said thanks and before he could say anything else I blurted out something that included Delta Marsh, Jimmy Robinson, the Sports Afield Lodge, Ducharme decoys and the fact that I knew that that painting was JIMMY's POINT....I was young and very green at that point from a Business standpoint and I'm sure I sounded like some star struck kid......
The customer smiled and said "you're the first person that's ever known the painting" and that opened the discussion on duck hunting....the non-hunting Sales Rep I'm sure was bored....I'd have fired him on the spot if he had opened his mouth....we talked for over an hour, him about the Marsh and hunting there and me about Florida and Texas hunting.....we eventually got around to resolving the billing issue, (that took all of about a minute as I recall), and since it was too late for lunch and too early for a drink I reluctantly started closing the meeting.....as I was standing the customer said...."too bad you aren't going to be here this weekend I'd be happy to take you out to the Marsh for a hunt".....I grinned and said..."as a matter of fact........"....and then added that I had nothing in the way of equipment.....he told me not to worry about anything and where to meet him on Friday night.....
It was early October and I'll be honest and report that the gunning wasn't anything to get excited about but short of spitting snow and a big push of "Seeelver Cans" I could have cared less....I've long since forgotten the name of the man that rowed us to the point that we hunted, (sadly not Jimmy's Point though I did get to hunt that on future trips), but I will never forget that my host, as a result of what must have been my incessant blathering in his office, had swapped out his modern foam rig for a rig of local carved birds which included several Ducharme birds...(at the time I thought all Ducharme birds were carved by Duncan but didn't know then and my host didn't correct me).....
I didn't travel with a camera at that time so no pictures but its a hunt I'll never forget.....I hunted there several times over the next few years....always hoping for those "employee issues" to pop up in the Fall so I could be there during the season and eventually had one of those "late season, sleet rattling off my Herters Camoflauge Duck coat, (with the sewn in game pocket), and the Cans arriving from the North, up high, late in the afternoon, losing altitude on each circuit of the Bay I was in, to spend what would be the last day of the season due to ice up that night.....no Ducharme decoys in the water that day but that hunt made me NEED, (I had always wanted), a Ducharme decoy.....took me awhile to find one that I could afford but it did happen eventually......
So....Thanks to both of you for jump starting those memories....they are some of the finest in what has been 50 incredible seasons.....
Steve
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Pat Gregory
Well-known member
Steve - What can I say but, wow! I think it's incredible that the people of the Delta Marsh and your time there not only touched you but, shaped you as a waterfowler. Much like you, the decoys are really only objects that trigger memories that we truly savor.
I think for the waterfowler, it's those memories that...
- get you through the summer until next season...
- make you smile when you see a lab pup thinking of the wonderful years you had with yours long gone...
- keep you from pulling the trigger in hopes a novice takes the shot...
- help you enjoy the experience not the number of ducks you shoot...
- help you realize that duck hunting is actually about the people and, not the sport...
Be well my friend. Thank you for sharing some of your memories with us. I look forward to creating some more. Come to Illinois and, I'll have a good black cup of coffee ready and, a short walk to a duck hole...
BTW, congrats on the Ducharme Decoy, they're a real keeper...
I think for the waterfowler, it's those memories that...
- get you through the summer until next season...
- make you smile when you see a lab pup thinking of the wonderful years you had with yours long gone...
- keep you from pulling the trigger in hopes a novice takes the shot...
- help you enjoy the experience not the number of ducks you shoot...
- help you realize that duck hunting is actually about the people and, not the sport...
Be well my friend. Thank you for sharing some of your memories with us. I look forward to creating some more. Come to Illinois and, I'll have a good black cup of coffee ready and, a short walk to a duck hole...
BTW, congrats on the Ducharme Decoy, they're a real keeper...
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Pat Gregory
Well-known member
Love all you closet Delta people...
Steve Sutton
Well-known member
Pat...one of these days...ONE OF THESE DAYS....I'm going to show up on the boat landing and take you up on your offer....
I'm continually amazed at the hospitality of those that pursue Waterfowl who are what I would consider "Waterflowlers".....I've been obsessed with a good many other things in my life in addition to waterfowling and I've not experienced the overwhelming desire to "share" that I've seen in the group of men, and women, who spend their time afield for reasons beyond the bag....makes me proud to be part of that group....
So watch for me on the shingle....I'll show up one day.....
Steve
I'm continually amazed at the hospitality of those that pursue Waterfowl who are what I would consider "Waterflowlers".....I've been obsessed with a good many other things in my life in addition to waterfowling and I've not experienced the overwhelming desire to "share" that I've seen in the group of men, and women, who spend their time afield for reasons beyond the bag....makes me proud to be part of that group....
So watch for me on the shingle....I'll show up one day.....
Steve
Pat Gregory
Well-known member
Will do brother! Other than time with my family, the times I spend in a duck blind, a goose pit or a tender boat with my friends hunting are most precious to me. Look at these faces. To me, this sums it up...
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No wonder why we love this sport! You are welcome anytime my friend. Pat
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No wonder why we love this sport! You are welcome anytime my friend. Pat
Pat Gregory
Well-known member
Was reading more in The Lores and Legends of Waterhen Lodge. Wonderful book! Extremely well done! It makes references to conservation work being done by Peter Hanson of Ducks Unlimited at Waterhen Lodge. They also referenced some interaction with Al Hochbaum of the Delta Waterfowl Research Station. In addition, it also makes reference to some outreach to surrounding neighbors specifically to Robert Gaylord of the Red Lodge. To cross reference to the Gaylord Hunting Log Book, here are pictures at the Red Lodge from the early 1950's of duck traps also being used...
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Harry Chartrand in a trap with a bag of ducks...
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Peter Hanson and Harry Chartrand at the Red Lodge Banding Ducks...
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I appreciate the good work these men did back then, not only hunters but, as conservationists. I'm sure we are direct beneficiaries today of the good work they did back then...
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Harry Chartrand in a trap with a bag of ducks...
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Peter Hanson and Harry Chartrand at the Red Lodge Banding Ducks...
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I appreciate the good work these men did back then, not only hunters but, as conservationists. I'm sure we are direct beneficiaries today of the good work they did back then...
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Brandon Yuchasz
Well-known member
Very cool history Pat. Love that boat.