Stan Hillis
12-24-2021, 09:00 AM
For some 15 years I've been trying to find a copy of an article that appeared in one of the very early issues of Sporting Clays magazine, as I recall. I cannot remember the title, but recall the story very well. It was a fictional account of an old punt gunner who lived on the Outer Banks of NC. Punt gunning had been outlawed but, he practiced his trade occasionally, to the consternation of a local, young game warden who was determined to catch him and put an end to his punt gunning.
As the story went, the old man waited for a storm front to come through and congregate thousands of ducks on the bay near his home. At night, he took his punt and gun out on the bay and silently sculled up on a tremendous raft of ducks. He flushed them and just as they rose from the water the big punt gun roared, but it jumped from it's mooring and the recoil knocked the old man from his punt into the near freezing water. He couldn't get himself back in.
The young game warden was standing on the shore, fully expecting to hear the great roar of the gun in the dark, which he did. When the old man didn't come back in an hour or two the warden got a boat and went out. He found the old man nearly dead from hypothermia, got him back to the warden's home, and warmed back to life.
The few mornings later, after the ice melted, the warden took a young boy to help and went out and picked up over 700 ducks. The old man claimed until he died that he had killed over 1000 ducks with that shot.
If anyone here knows the author, or how a copy could be obtained, I would be very appreciative of any help.
Thanks, and Merry CHRISTmas!
As the story went, the old man waited for a storm front to come through and congregate thousands of ducks on the bay near his home. At night, he took his punt and gun out on the bay and silently sculled up on a tremendous raft of ducks. He flushed them and just as they rose from the water the big punt gun roared, but it jumped from it's mooring and the recoil knocked the old man from his punt into the near freezing water. He couldn't get himself back in.
The young game warden was standing on the shore, fully expecting to hear the great roar of the gun in the dark, which he did. When the old man didn't come back in an hour or two the warden got a boat and went out. He found the old man nearly dead from hypothermia, got him back to the warden's home, and warmed back to life.
The few mornings later, after the ice melted, the warden took a young boy to help and went out and picked up over 700 ducks. The old man claimed until he died that he had killed over 1000 ducks with that shot.
If anyone here knows the author, or how a copy could be obtained, I would be very appreciative of any help.
Thanks, and Merry CHRISTmas!