Beach Hunting History

scotto

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#1
I had this bit of Beach history sent to me by a hunter friend of mine.
It comes from a book titled "Waterfowl Decoys of Southwestern Ontario"
Many thanks to the author, Paul Brisco :tbu:for allowing his work to be posted on the site.
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Burlington Beach

In 1823 the first narrow canal was punched through Burlington Beach to the bay to allow schooner access, a substantial canal being completed by 1832, the year before Hamilton became incorporated as a town and the year Burlington Beach founders claimed as their inaugural. The Fletchers, Coreys, Hazells and Dynes were some of the original resident families, with the Dynes having a mill before establishing their famous hotel. Burlington Beach was originally a seasonal resort establishment for the city folk, with the locals referred to as "marsh dwellers" by the Hamilton aristocracy. The Radial was not operative until 1896, when it brought the city folk out on a more regular basis, both for recreation and to purchase fish and fowl. The Dynes Tavern, established in 1846 by John Dynes on Crown-granted land, was famous for whole duck dinners right up until the legal clamp down. In the 1890s a duck dinner was 25 cents and in 1902 whiskey was 3 cents a glass. As late as the thirties Dynes had orders for 300 ducks at a crack for their famous dinners, often asking Harry Kretschman or Red Weir to send'em over. The picture in bwl 32 shows two of the Dynes along with other locals outside the old Gun Club (?) boathouse which was on the beach, circa 1890. This picture is probably on the bay across from the Dynes Hotel, near Dynes Wharf, looking northwest towards Crooks Island.
Interestingly enough, there did not develop the significant hunt clubs in Hamilton that there did in Kent. The "well to do" took advantage of the rails west and many of them were early members of the Long Point Company (1866), the Canada Club (1874), the Big Point Club (1875) and other Kent County clubs. For example, Sam Barker, K.C., was a lawyer and MP for Hamilton from 1900 to 1908 and an early member of the Big Point Club in Kent from 1885 to 1917. One of Sam's decoys, the hen redhead in cp44, is a beautiful bird. It looks like a JRW, and with heavy underbill carving, eyetooth and mandibles, and with old crackled paint and Sam's brand on the bottom, it is a majestic bird There were organized pigeon shoots on the Dundas Marsh at least as early as 1874, according to a Toronto Globe report. The only club I am aware of in the Hamilton area is the Wild Mallard Gun Club or Wildfowlers' Gun Club. Founded in 1882 and operating originally on the Dundas Marsh west of the Desjardin Canal, they shot live pigeons at first, soon switching to the more economical glass traps. As in most of the early trap clubs, most of the members were avid and effective waterfowl hunters. I have heard rumours of an ancient decoy with a brass ring inscribed "Wild Mallard Club" and I dream of the prospect of finding one. Early members included the Crooks, Tom and Jim, H. (Dusty) Granham, Morley Fletcher, W. Langhorn, John Morris and H. Dynes, and over the next few years Jim Barr, George Beattie, Harry Kretschman, Clarey Shaw and Harlowe Truman. A breakaway club in 1892, which included Sam Meiler, maintained the name "Mallards" and the new club became the Hamilton Gun Club. The shooting prowess of Hamilton Gun Club members such as George Beattie, Harry Kretschman, John Milne, Cy McKim, Reg Stone and many others is legendary, being widely respected throughout Ontario and internationally.
In any event, both the Dundas Marsh and the beach developed as small community pockets about the same time, the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The city proper shooters generally gravitated in one direction or the other; the east-enders like the Weirs and Morrises, with their boat works at the end of Wentworth Street, frequenting the beach strip and screen shooting; and the west-enders more inclined to the marsh and hide shooting. Although there was some co-mingling, it is surprising how isolated the pockets seemed to be, with certain names being known only in their "end."
The origin of the "screen shooting" associated with Hamilton and practiced primarily off the beach strip is uncertain. One story has it that it was introduced by a "dark man" who came down from Toronto on the train in the late 1800s. It could be that English-bred "punt gunners," finding the prevailing southwesterly winds unfavourable to the Toronto Harbour and Ashbridges Bay, sought out the appropriate attributes of the windward beach strip and customized their methodology from there. In any event, for 50 to 60 years the beach strip was lined with screen shooters. On good days they would be spaced a scant 100 feet apart, all vying for the multitude of wildfowl that frequented the "head of the lake."
In 1896 the Hamilton Electric Radial Company constructed lines over the beach, through Burlington and on to Oakville.20 For the next 25 to 30 years this served not only to transport non-local shooters and the city crowds that attended the famous Dynes Hotel dinners of fish, wildfowl and game, but its "stations" became the reference points for screen shooters, with stations 12 and 14 near the canal generally the most sought after (although opinions on this seem to vary, and of course weather and other environmental conditions would affect the choice). The map herein shows the beach strip and bay and the particular points of interest, including the general location of the stations.
For those not familiar with "screen shooting," it went like this: when the wind was favourable, offshore plus or minus 20 degrees, the rig of decoys, 50 per shooter, therefore usually a 100, were put out "not more than 200 yards" from shore. The game warden, and likewise most screeners, had a marker spool, the warden coming along regularly to check all the rigs for distance and count the blocks. Experienced shooters offset the tether leathers on their decoys so that the block would drag downwind, offering a greater profile to oncoming birds. The skiff or screening boat was pulled up on the beach and had a thatched "screen" attached to the bow to prevent the birds from seeing approaching shooters and spooking. The shooters would "relax" on shore, watch the rig, and when a bunch dropped in, they would quickly shove off and, with the benefit of the wind and sculling, as well as pushing off the bottom until too deep, get down on the birds as quickly as possible. As the boat "quietly" approached, the birds sensing danger would often swim to the rear of the set and bunch up before jumping into the wind in flight. Proficient screeners would be down on the birds quickly and line up their shots, often pulling the boat across the wind to offer a better shot for both shooters and also screening hard upwind on the approach to improve the downwind angle and eventual shot. The challenge and excitement of screen shooting, coupled with the significant bags of those proficient at it, made it the most popular form of waterfowling where it was appropriate. As the auto became more common, trailers to hold a rig of decoys with a screening boat flipped over the top became a familiar Hamilton sight, and Red Weir and Gordon (Mucker) Green can be seen in bwl 52 with theirs.
Thus Burlington Bay's surrounding communities naturally focused primarily on the water, the focal point for all its developing industries and transportation, its food and recreation. In 1875 there were 17 "Fish, Game and Oyster Dealers" listed in the city directory, an indication of the extent of the local water-based market. And the three boatbuilders shown in the 1875 directory had grown to seven by the 1890s. There were also a multitude of carpenters, masons and other skilled tradesmen, many loyalists and others newly arrived from the British Isles, a number of whom applied their talents to decoy making. Hamilton was a virtual waterfowler's mecca, with a multitude of ducks and ready access to markets.
All too soon, however, development and progress took their toll, with growth and industrialization overpowering the bay, landfill reclamation and pollution, the Dundas Marsh and Coote's Paradise becoming a Crown game preserve in 1927 and the anti-shooting laws relative to the bay being enforced fully after the war in 1946.21 22 Thus, we are really looking at about 70 to 80 "glory years" of waterfowling in Hamilton, on and around the lake, bay and marshes, from about 1860 to 1940 - those were the days!

Photo #1- bw132 In front of the boathouse? Gun Club, 1890 (L to R) John Hazell Sr., Harry Dynes, Dusty Grayham, Perc Dynes Sr, Jim Crooks, William Langhorn.
Dynesfisherrman.jpg

Photo #2- bw130 The beach strip from a biplane, 1919, looking northeast. Note Crookes Island in foreground. (Ontario Archives S5826)
Bi-Plane.jpg
 

Crawfish

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Dec 1, 2004
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Longueuil, Quebec
#2
I wonder if anybody still screen hunts ducks off the beach? I remember that during the 40's and 50's duck hunting was quite common and I used to hear the shooting early in the morning and rush down to the shore to watch. I was always impressed by the silent way the paddlers used the paddle to approach the decoy set. I think that both men started out paddling but as they neared the set the bowman would take up his gun in case the birds got off too early. The paddlers would never take the paddle from the water and used a special stroke using one hand as a pivot on the gunwale and rotating the blade parallel to the skiff to bring it forward for another stroke. The birds were usually plucked while still warm and the feathers left on the beach.
 

scotto

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Feb 15, 2004
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#3
I do see a couple of hunting boats along the blvd. but I never see them in the lake.
With the waters that the ducks visit around here, I wouldn't want to eat them anyway.
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#4
One view of duck hunting on the Beach

Before I start I'd like to clarify something I found very funny. Another member of this site, who I have gone to meetings with, thought Drogo (my handle) was an old man. He thought my stories and writing sounded like they came from an old man. I had a long hard laugh over this because I am the storyteller of the family but I am female and short of being able to collect my pension. I spent every minute I could listening to my father and grandfather's "stories" so I guess that's how they sounded.

On to duck hunting. I am relating this from first hand experience. First off duck hunting on the beach was a "religion" to those who took part in it. What I say might not apply to other boats because every outfit had it's own unique "rules" and "taboos". These duck hunters didn't like to vary what they did and you certainly didn't tell the competiton what you were doing. My father Bob Drew and my grandfather Les Drew were really good at it. My memory fails on the station they preferred but I think it was 10 or 11. It was Dad's job to take the outfit on Friday night and claim the spot to be ready for the morning. If someone new was trying to get it he might have to be there very early on Friday. They were both excellent skullers so they took turns in the back of the skiff. Only one was needed to put the skiff out on the decoys. I started at a very young age accompanying them however I wasn't allowed in the skiff when the guns were in it. Their method was to never take the guns out of the boat and never put the safety on. My father gave me the demonstration by shooting a full can of tomato juice to show me what would happen if I ever stood in front of the barrel. I did however go with my grandfather to set and retrieve the decoys. He did this in a set pattern when putting them out. If you held the decoy by the head then threw the weight the line would unravel in seconds. One to the left and one to the right. The lines were always 15' (adequate for anywhere along the beach) of parachute chord. It was the right colour so it would not look like spaghetti floating in the water to the ducks flying over and it didn't rot. The weights were always hand poured lead. The skiff was painted a colour called "dead grass" to match the dried grass screen mounted on the front of the skiff. Their "outfit" consisted of a wooden trailer (painted to match the skiff-because ducks are very discerning:cool:) with a flat wooden top that the skiff tied to. In the trailor was a raft of 50 hand made decoys, skulling paddles also hand carved, oars for setting and picking up, a scranbox (food consisting of steak and eggs), coleman stove, extra line and weights, guns, ammunition box, containers for the ducks and some other repair materials in case there was a problem. Every outfit was unique and you could tell who was down the beach just by looking at the hunting outfit.

With the skiff back on shore it was time to wait for the ducks. Dad in particular had excellent eyes and would spot a raft without binoculars before anyone else and correctly identify the species. They both had bluebill duck calls. This was a bamboo-like two piece caller, clamped together, with a reed to simulate the sound of a Bluebill duck. Kind of a purrrrrrrr sound. Once the ducks were in and that round of shooting over it would be real noisy. They argued constantly over who was the fastest skuller (believe me if you were good at it the boat moved like it had a motor on it, at a consistant pace and absolutely no sound) and who shot the most ducks. If they brought back 15 one would claim he hit 10 and the other would claim he hit 9. The math never worked. There were so many ducks that you were over your limit after two trips so birds were always stashed.

If there was a lull in the birds I would get some shooting instruction. Dad had a trick shooting eggs. You throw the egg as high as possible then shoot it. If you hit it dead on it totally disappears. If you hit it with the wider shot pattern you could powder the shell and break the yolk that would run like yellow paint in a line all the way to the ground. I first started shooting when I was too small to reach the stock on the barrel. My father held that for me. I was just comfortable with getting to the trigger. I got bigger and the next hurdle was having enough reach to work the pump. My favourite gun was Dad's Remington pump.

In 1969 my grandfather died and I got married. I think Dad would have packed it in but my husband was a hunter and more than willing to learn the new technique. They became a team and I was still going along. After I decided to get my license and took the bow of the boat. My first trip out was just with my Father. I was in the front ready to shot and he was kneeling down skulling but his gun was standing beside him. There was one bird in the decoys and I fired once and it dropped. I quickly turned around to see him beaming. He asked what was wrong and I said "how many did you get" to which he answered "I never touched my gun". I really was waiting for the arguement but saw he was very pleased with me. For me I might have felt more a part of the family tradition if I'd had to argue over my shot all the way back.

At about this time it was becoming a problem shooting on the beach and they were really closing it off. My husband and I bought a small converted cottage on Fifty Point on the lake. The lake was still open there so for a few years we walked out the back door, put the skiff in the water, and continued to hunt.

My grandfather was born in 1899 and lived most of his very young life in Hamilton but the Drew family had the old Corey cottage right beside where Eagle Bridge is now in Confederation Park right at the opening of the gap near Grey's Road. Scotto has put a picture of that cottage up on the gallery. He was a commerical fisherman and was hunting way back then. He was a member of the gun club.

Here's a story from long before I was born. My grandfather was one of the hunters who supplied the Dynes Tavern. After my father was old enough to hunt with him they liked to have fun at the Dynes after hunting. My grandfather would sit at a table near a window and engage strangers in conversation about how many ducks they shot that day. Then he would bet them that there were so many he could shot them from the window. My father was on the roof over the window. When he would get a bet he would throw open the window and blast a shot through it and Dad would drop a duck.

My grandfather's decoys were recognizable. He made them in a similiar fashion to Red Weir's decoys but they were noticably his own. He also made some nice Canvasbacks. After Dad died in '93 Mom was left with my grandfather's last raft. Dad had kept them and we had still been using them. She wanted to sell them so we went to a decoy show in Burlington and I was walking around with one under my arm. I was confronted with by two men who asked "where did you get that decoy?". I thought I was about to get accused of stealing it. I said it was one of my grandfather's and I was looking to get a price on them. One man asked who my grandfather was and I told him. He asked for the decoy and I handed it to him. He looked at it for five seconds and asked how many I was selling. I told him 48 as I was keeping one and my Uncle wanted one. He called right away and took the 48. These men were two very well known hunters from the beach (I'm not comfortable using their names) and the one who bought it had bought up my grandfather's other raft. Nice they went to someone who really wanted them.

If you read this far I thank you and hope you enjoyed my insight into hunting on the beach.
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#5
PS Scotto

I have a picture of the outfit with some of the day's catch laid out if you want it for the gallery.
 
Dec 1, 2004
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Longueuil, Quebec
#6
Hey Drogo, very nice stories. I remember the name 'Drew' from when I lived on the Beach but can't remember where you lived and can't identify you either. I do remember going to the shore in the fall and watching the hunters and marvelling over how skillfully they skulled the boat and surprised the ducks. That was a special time! We used to live at 757 (between stations 9 and 10) so maybe I was watching your Dad and Grandpa doing their thing.
 

scotto

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#7
Hey Drogo, very nice stories. I remember the name 'Drew' from when I lived on the Beach but can't remember where you lived and can't identify you either. I do remember going to the shore in the fall and watching the hunters and marvelling over how skillfully they skulled the boat and surprised the ducks. That was a special time! We used to live at 757 (between stations 9 and 10) so maybe I was watching your Dad and Grandpa doing their thing.
Yes Drogo, very well done. As you can see, I have added the the picture of your father and the Corey house from the Gallery.
We will add the picture of the "outfit" right in this post if that's good with you.
Thanks again.
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#8
Duck hunting on the Beach

Crawfish

I lived at 814 when I was born. We were living with my grandparents then my parents rented the little grey house on the bay beside it. There is a red house in front and the Bell family owned both. Red Bell was my Dad's best friend. Thank you for the nice comments and I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. If you lived in the area of Station 10 you were probably watching them. You might remember Pete Townsend. He often was the third man in their boat. Their arch rivals for the spot were Glen Thomas and Lou Lambshead.
 

David O'Reilly

Registered User
Dec 15, 2012
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#9
Drogo

"Before I start I'd like to clarify something I found very funny. Another member of this site, who I have gone to meetings with, thought Drogo (my handle) was an old man. He thought my stories and writing sounded like they came from an old man. I had a long hard laugh over this because I am the storyteller of the family but I am female and short of being able to collect my pension. I spent every minute I could listening to my father and grandfather's "stories" so I guess that's how they sounded.

On to duck hunting. I am relating this from first hand experience. First off duck hunting on the beach was a "religion" to those who took part in it. What I say might not apply to other boats because every outfit had it's own unique "rules" and "taboos"."

Drogo, that is a really interesting story of duck hunting on the beach, and so beautifully written. Reading it, I felt as though I was right on the beach myself waching everything unfold before me. You obviously learned the art of 'story telling' verry well. Unfortunately, in today's world 'story telling' is a lost art and the world is the worse for it.

Have you ever considered writing your memoirs? I'm sure that you have lots of your own memories, as well as other stories handed down from your father that are very rich and would be of great interest to others.
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#10
David
Thanks for the kind words. I do family history and tend to put these stories in with the relative they are about. Never thought, other than family, anyone would find them readable.
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#12
Fantastic. Something is very familiar. The guy on the far left is where Hazell was on the one I had. This could be it. One of the men in the middle group was Dynes.
 

scotto

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#13
The pictures that should be attached to the first post are on the missing list, if it is the same picture then this would be the list.

"John Hazell Sr., Harry Dynes, Dusty Grayham, Perc Dynes Sr, Jim Crooks, William Langhorn."
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#14
We are one name short that that is how I remember the names from the other picture. Nice to keep this stuff together.
 

Drogo

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Feb 8, 2005
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#16
Looky what I found

After seeing the names of the two missing pictures I went hunting (pardon the pun) in my OLD OLD files and came up with only decoy1a. Don't know why I don't have decoy 1 but I don't. So with a big drumroll (you can send flowers later) here is one of the missing files. :yay:

For my book, I was just writing this section, I would like to use the station 9 photo and decoy1a from this site. If I quote can I please use them? Actually my father would have flipped over just the piece of wing showing.
 

scotto

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Feb 15, 2004
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The Beach Strip
#17
After seeing the names of the two missing pictures I went hunting (pardon the pun) in my OLD OLD files and came up with only decoy1a. Don't know why I don't have decoy 1 but I don't. So with a big drumroll (you can send flowers later) here is one of the missing files. :yay:

For my book, I was just writing this section, I would like to use the station 9 photo and decoy1a from this site. If I quote can I please use them? Actually my father would have flipped over just the piece of wing showing.
I really don't know why I don't have them, I have a stack of discs, but it takes too much time to go through them. It is a lot easier to search old hard drives.
As for most of the oldie pictures in here, they don't belong to me, I usually just credit the library.

I should get you to look for a few more that are on the missing list.
 

Drogo

Moderator
Feb 8, 2005
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#18
I really don't know why I don't have them, I have a stack of discs, but it takes too much time to go through them. It is a lot easier to search old hard drives.
As for most of the oldie pictures in here, they don't belong to me, I usually just credit the library.

I should get you to look for a few more that are on the missing list.
Send me some names. If they were of interest to me I probably pulled copies of them.
 
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