Decoy and Gunning Show in Tuckerton 9/25 and 9/26

[RednekF350]

The 22nd annual Decoy and Gunning show is taking place this weekend in Tuckerton, both Saturday and Sunday.
A lot of great duck hunting gear, boats and good food too.
I am glad to see that after 22 years it still has a strong focus on hunting.
Hunting is a heritage that is getting harder and harder to pass on from one generation to the next in NJ because of encroaching development and changes in attitudes.
My sons are the 4th generation of hunters that I can take credit for for on my father's side of the family.
Get on down to the show and enjoy it.
They have a skeet shoot from a sneak box over the lake and they have loaner guns for anyone that wants to shoot or you can bring your own. It's a lot of fun and they will help anyone with the shooting.
It costs $8.00 to shoot 5 clay birds and the proceeds support the Tuckerton Seaport.
Just think, if it wasn't for us hunters, you wouldn't be able to collect those overpriced hand carved decoys and other artsy crap at the show.!

 

[Lorun]

I have not gone to that show for many years. I remember the duck call competitions and dog competitions as my favorite. My uncle, Charles Siedel, would drive up from Virginia every year to sell his hand carved decoys.

Maybe I will make the trip next year.

I agree with you on the importance of hunting as a heritage that needs to be past on from each generation. Maybe it is just the crowd I hang with, but seems that those who due the killing themselves have the strongest respect for life and the natural word that supports life.

 

[wis bang]

Family Tradition

I grew up in PA in a family of hunters. We have a camp that was established in 1928 & the tent was replaced w/ a cabin in 1933. Today the youngest current hunter is in his 40's 'cause alot of today's kids don't have time to go afield like we did. I have a nephew that might be comming aboard; his dad bought his first shotgun when he was two weeks old.

I now live in central NJ and I see alot of hunting opportunities dying out due to the developments still springing up. There is a strong hunting tradition here but it is being fragmented badly. You can draw a line from Monroe, past Washington Twsp to Trenton. Then up 206 to Bridge Water & back east to Bergen county & you will surround a decidedly 'Non-Hunting' area. It would look like a wedge of Anti hunting...

Soccer Moms can't be bothered to slow down & let the kids walk afield & see what is out there in the natural world. Most families don't have any connection to hunting people & are too busy running the kids from soccer to Karate, etc. as life goes faster & faster...

It's time for the remaining hunters to reach out to ANY interested youth & show them what's out there b/4 North East Jersey bans guns & hunting altogether.

I can't describe the feelings I get when I use my grandfather's shotgun. It is more than just using an old weapon. I can see the wear from his lifetime of using this tool. Then I recollect his stories of using that gun, from a canal boat in the early 20's, to shoot his lunch/dinner as he drifted along the canal.

Alot of today's youth will never understand, let alone feel, what this means to me.

 

[RednekF350]

Amen Wis Bang.
I still use my grandfather's H&R single, made in 1905, for squirrel hunting. That gun was carried by him from 1908 until he died in 1971.
If that gun can't talk I don't know what can.
On Thursday, as a matter of fact, I bought a new H&R single in 16 ga. to use for squirrel and rabbit to give the old girl a break. The wrist of the stock is splitting a little more each year and I think its time to park it.
The store owner thought I was nuts for buying a $100.00 single and kept trying to sell me something else. I told him it was a personal thing.
You have to keep mentoring your own kids and even non-hunter's kids that express any interest in hunting.
The Pines have a rich hunting heritage and are a great place to hunt because you can get away from the suburban fringe and the conflicts it breeds.
Good luck this year and I hope your camp survives another 76 years.
Scott

 

[wis bang]

I first carried an Eastern Arms single, external hammer 12 ga. that my dad picked up used. It stands behind his front door w/ a selection of shot shells nearby from #8's to #00. Still shoots nice tight patterns.

My pappy's gun was a marlin over-under 20 ga. I still, vividly, remember comming to his home after what turned out to be his last small game hunt. He made Dad & I come in and he instructed me how to clean it, cased it & handed it to me...

Alot of our friends were shocked when I went deer hunting less than two months after getting married. Now my wife speaks up about 'family tradition' when explaining things to her city friends. Tomorrow we're married 25 years & I've only missed deer hunting for work reasons & child birth. She won't eat venison [knowingly] but puts up w/ me and our neighbor comandeering the crock pot for a venison roast.

You're correct; every hunter needs to talk up the sport any time someone else shows an interest...