A Hundred Years Of Texas Waterfowl Hunting

Download or read book A Hundred Years of Texas Waterfowl Hunting written by R. K. Sawyer and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-13 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The days are gone when seemingly limitless numbers of canvasbacks, mallards, and Canada geese filled the skies above the Texas coast. Gone too are the days when, in a single morning, hunters often harvested ducks, shorebirds, and other waterfowl by the hundreds. The hundred-year period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries brought momentous changes in attitudes and game laws: changes initially prompted by sportsmen who witnessed the disappearance of both the birds and their spectacular habitat. These changes forever affected the state’s storied hunting culture. Yet, as R. K. Sawyer discovered, the rich lore and reminiscences of the era’s hunters and guides who plied the marshy haunts from Beaumont to Brownsville, though fading, remain a colorful and essential part of the Texas outdoor heritage. Gleaned from interviews with sportsmen and guides of decades past as well as meticulous research in news archives, Sawyer’s vivid documentation of Texas’ deep-rooted waterfowl hunting tradition is accompanied by a superb collection of historical and modern photographs. He showcases the hunting clubs, the decoys, the duck and goose calls, the equipment, and the unique hunting practices of the period. By preserving this account of a way of life and a coastal environment that have both mostly vanished, A Hundred Years of Texas Waterfowl Hunting also pays tribute to the efforts of all those who fought to ensure that Texas’ waterfowl legacy would endure. This book will aid their efforts, along with those of coastal residents, birders, wildlife biologists, conservationists, and all who are interested in the state’s natural history and in championing the preservation of waterfowl and wetland resources for the benefit of future generations.

Download or read book Texas Market Hunting written by R. K. Sawyer and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-23 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its earliest days of human habitation, the Texas coast was home to seemingly endless clouds of ducks, geese, swans, and shorebirds. By the 1880s Texas huntsmen, or market hunters, as they came to be called, began providing meat and plumage for the restaurant tables and millinery salons of a rapidly growing nation. A network of suppliers, packers, distribution centers, and shipping hubs efficiently handled their immense harvest. At the peak of Texas market hunting in the late 1890s, Rockport merchants shipped an average of 600 ducks a day in a five-month shooting season, and in the last year of legal market hunting, an estimated 60,000 ducks and geese were shipped from Corpus Christi alone. Market men employed efficient methods to harvest nature’s bounty. They commonly hunted at night, often using bait to concentrate large numbers of waterfowl. The effectiveness of the hunt was improved when side-by-side double barrel shotguns and large-gauge swivel guns gave way to repeating firearms, with some capable of discharging as many as eleven shells in a single volley. Their methods were so efficient that, by the late 1800s, Texas sportsmen and others blamed the alarming decline of coastal waterfowl populations on the market hunter’s occupation. In 1903, after a long fight and many failures, the first migratory bird game law passed the Texas legislature. Though the fight would continue, it was the beginning of the end of the year-round slaughter. Most market hunters quit, and those who didn’t became outlaws. In this book, R. K. Sawyer chronicles the days of market hunting along the Texas coast and the showdown between the early game wardens and those who persisted in commercial waterfowl hunting. Containing an abundance of rare historical photographs and oral history, Texas Market Hunting: Stories of Waterfowl, Game Laws, and Outlaws provides a comprehensive and colorful account of this bygone period.

Download or read book A Hundred Years of Texas Waterfowl Hunting written by R.K. Sawyer and published by Eakin Press. This book was released on 2024-08-05 with total page 638 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The days are gone when seemingly limitless numbers of canvasbacks, mallards, and Canada geese filled the skies above the Texas coast. Gone too are the days when, in a single morning, hunters often harvested ducks, shorebirds, and other waterfowl by the hundreds. The hundred-year period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century brought momentous changes in attitudes and game laws: changes initially prompted by sportsmen who witnessed the disappearance of both the birds and their spectacular habitat. These changes forever affected the state’s storied hunting culture. Yet, as R. K. Sawyer discovered, the rich lore and reminiscences of the era’s hunters and guides who plied the marshy haunts from Beaumont to Brownsville, though fading, remain a colorful and essential part of the Texas outdoor heritage. Gleaned from interviews with sportsmen and guides of decades past as well as meticulous research in news archives, Sawyer’s vivid documentation of Texas’ deep-rooted waterfowl hunting tradition is accompanied by a superb collection of historical and modern photographs. By preserving this account of a way of life and a coastal environment that have both mostly vanished, A Hundred Years of Texas Waterfowl Hunting also pays tribute to the efforts of all those who fought to ensure that Texas’ waterfowl legacy would endure. This book will aid their efforts in championing the preservation of waterfowl and wetland resources for the benefit of future generations.

Download or read book The Ultimate Guide to Waterfowl Hunting written by Tom Airhart and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Waterfowling is one of the more challenging forms of hunting. Requiring an intimate knowledge of the quarry in specialized gear—from shotguns and ammo to decoys, calls, blinds, and boats—and taking place in a variety of terrains—from the fields of Manitoba to the flooded timber of Arkansas, it’s the type of sport that gets in your blood and stays there. In The Ultimate Guide to Waterfowl Hunting, all aspects of this sport are covered by three authors who have intimate knowledge of how to hunt ducks and geese successfully. Chapters within this book cover dozens of topics, with special attention devoted to: Identifying the many and various species of waterfowl Methods for decoying and calling in a variety of situations Advice on how to choose the best gear for the situation at hand Theories and practices of retriever training and handling Tips on hunting in different types of weather, from rain and snow to bluebird skies How to choose the correct guns and loading Plus tips on blind placement in water or on land With more than a hundred photographs expertly illuminating the realities of waterfowl hunting, The Ultimate Guide to Waterfowl Hunting is sure to help hunters of all skill levels bag their biggest catches yet.

Download or read book Modern Huntsman written by Tyler Sharp and published by . This book was released on 2018-02 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By design, Volume One is of an introductory nature, which will help lay the foundation for the path ahead, and explain a bit more about where we're going. Our contributor list includes Charles Post (Guest Editor), Chris Douglas (Guest Editor), Jillian Lukiwski, John Dunaway, Eamon Waddington, Travis Gillett, Camrin Dengel, Kaleb White, Tanner Johnson, Nicole Belke and Dusan & Lorca Smetana, Adam Foss as well as stories from our Creative Director, Tyler Sharp, and a column from Simon Roosevelt.

Download or read book Moby-Duck written by Donovan Hohn and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-03-03 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year A revelatory tale of science, adventure, and modern myth. When the writer Donovan Hohn heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. Hohn's accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive world of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories. Moby-Duck is a journey into the heart of the sea and an adventure through science, myth, the global economy, and some of the worst weather imaginable. With each new discovery, Hohn learns of another loose thread, and with each successive chase, he comes closer to understanding where his castaway quarry comes from and where it goes. In the grand tradition of Tony Horwitz and David Quammen, Moby-Duck is a compulsively readable narrative of whimsy and curiosity.

Download or read book A Hundred Years of Texas Waterfowl Hunting written by R. K. Sawyer and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-13 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The days are gone when seemingly limitless numbers of canvasbacks, mallards, and Canada geese filled the skies above the Texas coast. Gone too are the days when, in a single morning, hunters often harvested ducks, shorebirds, and other waterfowl by the hundreds. The hundred-year period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries brought momentous changes in attitudes and game laws: changes initially prompted by sportsmen who witnessed the disappearance of both the birds and their spectacular habitat. These changes forever affected the state’s storied hunting culture. Yet, as R. K. Sawyer discovered, the rich lore and reminiscences of the era’s hunters and guides who plied the marshy haunts from Beaumont to Brownsville, though fading, remain a colorful and essential part of the Texas outdoor heritage. Gleaned from interviews with sportsmen and guides of decades past as well as meticulous research in news archives, Sawyer’s vivid documentation of Texas’ deep-rooted waterfowl hunting tradition is accompanied by a superb collection of historical and modern photographs. He showcases the hunting clubs, the decoys, the duck and goose calls, the equipment, and the unique hunting practices of the period. By preserving this account of a way of life and a coastal environment that have both mostly vanished, A Hundred Years of Texas Waterfowl Hunting also pays tribute to the efforts of all those who fought to ensure that Texas’ waterfowl legacy would endure. This book will aid their efforts, along with those of coastal residents, birders, wildlife biologists, conservationists, and all who are interested in the state’s natural history and in championing the preservation of waterfowl and wetland resources for the benefit of future generations.