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A more detailed account of Irish Tom by the restorer Allen Owens.

http://www.mlagb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/201302_irishtom.pdf

There was a story in, I believe, Sporting Clays Magazine something like 20 years ago about an old punt gunner on the eastern shore who claimed to have killed 1000 ducks with one shot in a bay, as a big nor'easter was approaching. As the story went, the gun jumped loose from it's mooring and recoiled into the old man, throwing him into the icy water in the bay, at night. A young game warden heard the shot from shore and went out and looked until he found the man clinging to his skiff, nearly dead. He got him home and revived him. Bay froze over that night. Two days later, as the ice was melting, the game warden went out and picked up over 700 dead ducks. It was a wonderfully written story ........... I wish I could read it again.

SRH

MARVELOUS !!!!

Slaughtering hundreds of birds on the water with a single shot. Certainly a tale of killing and sportsmanship to cherish!

And I know what market hunting was about. You may celebrate it any way you like, but it was nothing more than killing as many birds as possible with as little effort as possible. Please don't bore me with the "heroism" of the gunners. Going out into the cold and wet to work is still commonplace in a multitude of professions.

have another day
Dr.WtS

Who said anything about heroism? I said it was a wonderfully written story.

I've got an idea to release you from that boredom. Stop reading posts about topics you dislike, Charles.

SRH

I had a friend in the UK who built his own punt gun, had it proved and used it to hunt once a year, yes it was legal. His favorite duck gun was an 8 bore Greener, it also was legal! He gave me a unfired 0 bore shell, it looks to be 1.25 x 10 inches long an eley of course. He said they were bringing 125 pounds 25 years ago.

bill

that one place the British show more sense -

there is a limit to the ducks you can shoot

why does is matter what you shoot that legal limit with

a punter seems to be a lot of work to shoot a limit with - and I would think its extra work to make sure you don't hit too many, might be fun to try once - if you do it a lot- my hats off to you

is a duck in the USA relieved it was shot with a 10 or a 12 and not an 8

since no one makes an 8 repeater- isn't being limited to two shots a bit more sporting than three from an auto 10 magnum which throws about the same load per shot?

IMHO -

Hi Birdog, thanks so much for the link to Irish Tom. Whatever about the politics or morality of hunting with punt guns, for the market or otherwise, I find the subject very interesting. Even in my salad days I would never have dreamed of laying in a cold, wet and dangerous punt in an attempt to murder multitudes. Still, I admit to reading tales of such with great enjoyment. Wentworth Day, et al were the masters at that kind of writing.
nial

At the Waterfowl Hunters Conference in Wisconsin a few years ago a guy brought a punt gun for display. It was really well made. In addition he had several copies of a current article
about punting I think in the ocean of Great Britain. It was very detailed about this guy's punting adventure. Paddling the boat ,loading, aiming, firing all, equipment all covered. While I sure in the days of "waterfowl darkening the skies" it was probably used to great effect. The story sounded like this type of bird shooting is more difficult than it would seem on the surface. Maybe George Rieger wrote the story. Does anyone recall?

Hi nial,

My father told stories of some lad who used to float a punt in the Shannon estuary (Kildasyrt- Foynes) area if I am not mistaken. Dad shot geese down there, (with a Tolley 8 bore double hammer gun which he won in a shooting match ), he would hear a mighty report of a big gun sometimes and he had to investigate.
Next time I am in Limerick I will have a look in the museum.

"This is the law I quotes,
For the flats where the sea-grass roots:-
"Where the tide flows .......I floats,
and where I floats..........I shoots".
Landed gentry may claim rights on the foreshore mud,
But ownership's all the same with a spring tide on the flood.
Mallard are reared under hens,
They guard the teal on the lake,
And it's all private ground in the fens,
But the wigion are mine to take.
Out of the dark I come towards the growing light,
The lanyard under my thumb the gun laid straight and right.
Bird watchers stretch their throats uttering dismal hoots,
But where the tide flows.......I floats,
And where I floats.........I shoots. "
- Anon

I'm pretty sure the stories of punt guns killing dozens of birds in one shot are just that: stories.
You could spend hours quietly paddling into position, maybe trying to herd ducks together for just one shot before they've all lifted and gone and you have to reload. Those one shot bags I've heard of are typically in single figures. Thinking about the range of shot, and the type of pattern such a gun might throw, superimposed over how a raft of duck might look at 50 yards at low elevation, that makes sense to me. A shooter with an auto, a few hours on a good flight path and a steady supply of cartridges to hand will do more damage.