294 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



towards perfection, by experiment and practice. Some punt- 

 gunners say it is impossible to propel gunning-punts by mechan- 

 ical power so as to meet all the requirements and circumstances 

 such craft are subjected to. Be this as it may, I have not the 

 least hesitation in saying that the day is not far distant when 

 we shall see the motor gunning-punts top of all, and the only 

 ones which will be able to secure fowl. At present well- 

 designed motor-punts far excel ordinary gunning-punts for 

 deep-water shooting. What is now wanted is effective me- 

 chanical means of propelling the punt over shoals. This 

 seems to be the great difficulty. For the moment I will leave 

 this, and content myself to give some few remarks on the motor 

 gunning-punt as it here affects us, allowing it to be not quite 

 suitable for working shallows, as has been previously hinted, 

 but more particularly for those persons who wish to have a 

 craft which may suit both the purposes of a motor-boat and 

 a gunning-punt. 



Perhaps it might be well to say a little about the many 

 difficulties to be overcome before the motor-punt can claim 

 to equal the ordinary duck-punt for wildfowling. Noise of 

 the motor is rather against it, but this, if reduced to a 

 minimum by using smooth-running motors, and employing 

 good silencer boxes, may be considered of little consequence, 

 especially when a slight "Upper" is on the water, or where 

 a quick run into birds can be taken. In the second place, 

 draught is a very important item, not so much because the punt 

 with a motor in it could not be made to draw, say, three 

 inches, and equal an ordinary punt, but chiefly because it is 

 necessary to have a moderate draught, so as to be able to propel 

 in half-shallows, and thus have a motor-punt as near an ordinary 

 one in its working as possible. Dipping propellers for deep 

 water, and feathering ones for shallow, suggest the best solu- 

 tion to the problem, I think. These, of course, would require 

 a complicated amount of mechanism to work them, though in 



