NORTH CAROLINA STATE LIBRARY 

 RALEIGH 



IM. C. 

 Doc. 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 



MAR 7 1979 



^(KMKlT(g©lLlL[ 



October, 1978 



Of ducks, geese 

 And guns 



On a crisp fall morning Watson Stuart and his dog 

 Red go down to the water's edge behind Stuart's 

 home. Stuart readies the boat, loads in his guns. Then 

 he drives a few miles by car to Caroland Farms where 

 he picks up two passengers who have drawn his name 

 from a hat. 



Back at the boat, they set off from Bell's Island. By 

 seven they are anchored, the boat is encircled with a 

 floating blind of juniper and pine, and Stuart has put 

 out 40 decoys. 



The object of their efforts is the abundance of 

 ducks and geese which pass through North Carolina 

 every year on their way south along the Atlantic 

 flyway. The flyway is one of several in the country. 



North Carolina has better shooting than any other 

 state on the Atlantic flyway, according to William E. 

 Hollan, past state chairman of the hunters' organiza- 

 tion Ducks Unlimited. There is more opportunity for 

 success, he says, and the setting is unique. Unlike 

 most other states, waterfowl hunting here is done 

 over large stretches of open water, primarily sounds. 



While waterfowl are hunted all along the state's 

 coast, Currituck County is considered a prime 

 hunting spot. Hunters come from all over the coun- 

 try. Ralph Barco, who owns a hunting lodge in the 

 county, says his clientele comes from areas as far 

 flung as Connecticut, Illinois, Texas and Florida. 



Hunters shoot from private blinds which often are 

 owned by guides. Stuart has been a guide in 

 Currituck County for four years. He and the hunters 

 will stay in the blind most of the day trying to "limit 

 out." At day's end, Stuart returns the hunters to their 

 lodging. For guide service, room and board, each 

 hunter pays $70 (based on double occupancy). The 

 guide gets half of that and must provide boat, blind 

 and decoys. The hunter provides his own license, guns 

 and ammunition. 



The actual hunting hasn't changed much since 

 Blanton Saunders, Stuart's neighbor down the road 

 at Poplar Branch, began hunting and guiding in the 



105 1911 Building 

 NCSU, Raleigh, N.C. 27650 Tel: (919) 737-2454 



Stuart and Red in hunting boat 



1920s. Except, he says, there are fewer birds and 

 more hunters now. Saunders remembers flocks of 

 birds that looked "like a squall, they just darkened 

 the sky." 



While the birds are no longer plentiful enough to 

 darken the sky, they still rely heavily on the 

 Currituck area. It was, according to Tom Massengale 

 of the North Carolina Nature Conservancy, "the most 

 important unprotected area on the Atlantic flyway." 

 Since 15 to 17 percent of the ducks on the Atlantic 

 flyway winter there, the Conservancy, a private con- 

 servation group, acquired land on the Currituck 

 Outer Banks to provide a home for the birds. The 

 Conservancy now owns Monkey and Swan Islands, a 

 total of 5,000 acres of marsh and 1,500 acres of high 

 ground. ^ ^ ^ 



