MARKET HUNTING
March 5, 2012. American Bird Decoys.
March 11, 2012. The Outlaw Gunner.
August 15, 2010. Market Hunting by Melinda Lukei
This information comes from an article called The History of Market Shooting in Currituck Sound by E. 0. "Jack" Baum.
Jack says that he had been told market hunting experiences from older hunters or tales that have been passed down by their fathers and grandfathers.
It is not known when duck hunting for the market got started in the area. There is no doubt that wild fowl was an important item for the table for many generations.
In 1700 John Lawson notes in Lawson’s History of North Caroline about traveling through the Albemarle area (now Currituck County) and telling how the Indians drove the deer and other small game into small necks of land where they killed what they needed for winter meat for their families. Small game such as turkey’s, ducks were commonly killed by bow and arrow.
Abraham and Josephus Baum were hunting when their brother Samuel was accidently shot and killed by a falling muzzle loader in 1827 in the marshes owned by Pine Island Club. All three of the Baum Brothers hunted for food well before the civil war but no records have been found where they shipped ducks north before the war.
Jack Baum stated that Edgar Burrough who lived on Long Island on Back Bay in 1856 hired twenty game hunters to shoot wild fowl in Back Bay for the market. The game that they killed was hauled to market once a week by horse and cart to a warehouse called Kemp and Buckey. (I believe that this was west of Kempsville on a branch of the Elizabeth River. The fowl was packed and shipped north each Wednesday.
Each of these 20 men used 23 kegs of gunpowder and about the same amount of shot from the beginning of the duck hunting season through December 20th.
The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal was completed in 1859 which connected Norfolk and the Currituck Sound and on through the Currituck Peninsula to the North River at Coinjock to connect with the Albemarle Sound. It is assumed that large quanties were shipped north after that date.
The Norfolk and Southern Railroad was built through to Elizabeth City and a spur to Munden Point a few years later.
Jack Baum states that Truxton Midgett who lived at Kitty Hawk told him of his father taking ducks for shipment in the sailing ship called sharpies through the canals before the railroad came to Elizabeth City. Truxton’s father Franklin Harris Midgett told him that due to the scarcity of materials for making and shipping barrels he often bulked the wild fowl in the hole below the deck of his sharpie. He said it was not uncommon for the entire hole of his boat to be covered with a layer of ducks, one of ice and another of duck until they reached the deck hatches. He would then sail to Buck Island in the North River between Currituck and Camden Counties where his boat along with several others from Popular Branch, Narrow Shores, Church’s Island and Knotts Island would assemble, sometimes as many as ten and all the sharpies would be hooked onto a steam tug and towed though the new canal to Norfolk. There the game would be packed iced and shipped to the northern markets. Later the fowl was shipped to Norfolk by two stern wheel shallow draft steamers or the railroad.
The game was mainly shipped to Baltimore and New York but some went also to commissioner merchants at Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Jack said that he understood that their best clients were swanky hotels and restaurants.
Jack states that the gunners were getting around $1.00 a pair for Canvasbacks and Redhead, about $.50 a pair for common duck, and $.25 for Teal, Ruddy and Bufflehead. Canada Geese for $.50 each. The best selling ducks were the canvasbacks.
Jack found that the largest kill of ducks for a single day was made by Russell and Van Buren Griggs. They killed 892 ducks. After the turn of the century canvasbacks sold for $2.00 to $5.00 a pair. Redhead $1.50, Blackhead $.75, a goose for a dollar to $1.50 and swans for $.75.
The most effective and popular blinds of the market hunters were the lay down battery or sink boxes. The battery box was a coffin shaped to fit the hunter when reclining. It was no deeper than necessary to hide the hunter when he was lying on his back. A cushion was used to support his head so he could see the ducks coming just over the rim of the battery. A four feet deck was permanently secured around the three sides with flexible wings made of light durable materials that would float. These were folded up on the battery boat at the end of the day’s shoot. Iron ducks were placed out to stabilize the rig and painted to conform with the wooden decoys used. The iron ducks weighed about 25 pounds each. One was used at each corner. Some hunters used 40 pound iron ducks on the battery box so they would lay lower in the water and be given additional stability. That would make the battery appear level with the surrounding water. 150 to 200 decoys were usually put out around the battery. The battery was also anchored in front with a large anchor to prevent dragging into the decoys and a smaller anchor was used in the back to prevent the battery from swinging from side to side. The battery was hauled out to the site on a canoe type 40 ft sail boat, hewed out of several logs and doweled together into a heavy boat. Later around 1904 the shad boat came along with the sails removed and a gasoline engine installed. They heavy deck decoys constructed of wood were loaded on a skiff and towed behind the shad boat. It was a two man operation. One man laid in the battery while the other along with dogs picked up the dead game. They took turns laying in the battery.
It was not a sport marketing hunting. It was hard, dangerous and back breaking means of supporting their families. That’s how most of the men on the island made their living. Market hunting was seasonal from September to January and it was only a partial source of the income to support a family. Fishing and farming were also used to support families.
There were almost a hundred batteries throughout the Currituck Sound says Mr. Jack Baum. They were licensed after 1916.
I thought you would enjoy the facts that Mr. Baum told in his article on how market hunting was done on the Island.