Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Duck shooting Punt

Well this was a real thing when we fished on the Broads as kids and although the fish took off we loved watching the old boy fire the cannon as the flash and bang took place his boat would travel backwards at a hell of a lick. No fish for an hour or so though. Zero protection for him or us but we all lived it was exciting.

I remember the East coast wildfowlers from my childhood, particularly on Kingsfleet and around the Deben. It went on all along the coastal estuaries and provided an income for families, with a brace of good sized ducks making 5/- or slightly more.
No supermarkets back then, and all meat was an expensive luxury.
Most agricultural workers, away from the coast, managed to get a couple of rabbits or more a year. Poaching of game birds was rife.

What's he wearing on his nose ?

fock knows

Maybe it is a sighting device and the nose cover stops it poking his eye out on recoil, hazarding a guess.

Our old boy just looked over the barrel.

Looking again I'll bet it's one of those glowing wicks as if he lifted his hands out of the water the noise and movement would spook the ducks, that's why they had their small sculling paddles attached with lassy bands for running silent.

Think it's the hammer ... just happens to line up with his nose?

K

There is a Duck punt at Royal Armouries Leeds with cannon. Great place to spend a wet day .

You have to wonder how often they exploded in the face of the hunter.

A young guy near us lost an eye when his shotgun exploded. I think he had mistakenly put a smaller bore cartridge in the gun and then thought it was not loaded and then inserted the correct cartridge. When he fired both exploded 🤯

Good point Peter, we did ask him one day what he put down the barrel he said ball bearings and other bits of metal so I imagine you are right, a type of blunderbus really not a lot of science involved.

That is a very sad case locally for you.

Duck hunter says to his mate, did you have much luck today ? Naa, but it was worth a punt

My father was a puntgunner of the hunter-gatherer sort, it was his sporting passion. My blogpost contains in graphic detail how it almost cost him his life when his punt gun exploded . Further reading HERE

Very interesting, where I live they used to drive ducks into a large net using dogs the ducks then went to market in London.