Guns For the One Armed
"Dear Mike and John - Maybe this old book of mine will be some interest to you during your future shoots, thanks again for the good time. Sincerely Walter---"
I may never know the last name of the fellow (I'm ruling out fellowess) who wrote this is, or how he came across the book "Duck Guns, Shooting and Decoying" by Howard M. Salisbury (1947) to write this message that now resides in its front cover. In fact, I may never know who the author, Mr. Salisbury even is - the only internet reference to him seems to be on eBay for this same book (though I still couldn't actually find it). What I do know is that I didn't have a book on duck hunting, but now, I do - and that is all that really matters.
The story of this book could be very mysterious and interesting, it could also be very boring. The front cover tells a thousand words...it's just that we don't know which words they are. Here's the top half of the cover, including the linen print that is just awesome. I assume the ducks in the water to be decoys, and the birds to be geese that look like flying penguins. If anyone can come up with an appropriate colour description of the cover, they shall win a prize yet to be announced.
Apart from its slightly shredding cover, the book is in great condition considering that it's old enough to be my father, or even grandfather if you use your imagination. The pages give me the sense that they haven't been read much, neither recently nor in the 50's. There is nothing to indicate whether it was bought in America, its country of publishing and printing, or anywhere for that matter. The price in the front cover was slashed to 90 cents from $1.50, which means that if bought in Australia, it would have to have been after 1966. It was given to Mike and John in 1973, and reached me for $2.00 (though I got it for less).
So what of the duck hunting? The opening lines of the book are;
"The thrill of hearing the eerie call of passing geese or the sight of great skeins of ducks is deeply inborn into the very soul of the American gunner. So great is this interest in our great heritage, the love and ability to hunt, that to mention the word ducks at the proper time and place will cause the tired business executive to improvise some lame excuse for taking a few days from his busy office, or the gun-minded schoolboy for playing hookey from his classroom. The rest of us are inclined to apply the old adage, "When business interferes with duck hunting, forget business".
Did he say "gun-minded schoolboy"? This pretty much sets the tone of the book, at least the push underneath objective facts and hunting tips. Mr. Salisbury goes on to speak of how duck hunting was a crucial part of early American life providing everything from pillows to brooms. And "while the early settler unquestionably enjoyed duck hunting to a certain degree...today duck hunters take their sport seriously". Right. I'm not out to do any stereotypical America bashing, you can go watch Bowling for Columbine for that. But this is a very cultural book. Australians such as myself may find all that is in the book rather hard to comprehend. Around here, you can't just walk into a shop and buy any of the guns explored in the 62 page dissertation on gun varieties, let alone own one without very very strict licensing. Hunting of pretty much anything is illegal in the eastern states. I don't really understand the joy of mindlessly taking down migrating birds with powerful lead shooting equipment. I'm not going to go out and protest about it, but in my culture, this seems so pointless it's ludicrous. The book spends many pages turning the death of something into practical maths.
There are many diagrams throughout the book, all hand drawn (not by Salisbury, by Bline or similar). Some show the layouts of decoys that are popular an successful, others, like below, graph bird flight patterns or show when to shoot the fast moving bird. The simplicity amazes me - that the mind of something is reduced to predictable dotted lines.
All this aside, the facts and figures and tips tell us very little about the author or the sport. The most telling parts are the final two chapters the first of which is 'Hunting Safely'. The first line here is;
"Few, if any, sports take a greater toll of human life annually than does duck hunting".
Who would have thought? Going out, often alone, into cold marsh lands with unpredictable weather, nothing but the clothes on your back, explosives and weapons that can kill people. It simply begs belief. "Make your gun safe by keeping its muzzle pointed in a direction where an accidental discharge is nothing more than an annoyance and not a catastrophe". Of course, pointing at the overflying geese is fine and highly recommended. "The fool who purposely points his loaded or unloaded gun at you or others in the party, while making a not so funny 'wisecrack', is a good fellow to leave at home on the next trip. His humor may result in a gruesome tragedy". Rather than the glorious victory over the evil geese which is the real goal at hand.
The final chapter is 'The Future of Duck Hunting'. Again, the first line sums many things up.
"Frankly, it is none too bright. With the steady decrease in the number of fowl greatly overbalanced by a steady increase in the number of hunters, the duck and goose population are fighting an uphill battle".
I actually would have thought they were fighting a rather one sided battle, but there you go. It's amazing how his environmental research is only concerned not with the duck population, but how the duck population will allow duck hunting to continue. He advocates for us to "get behind organizations that promote conservation and betterment of our wildlife".....(forgot the last word there) ...."resources". How unfortunate it would be for the hunter, the poor soul, were the ducks to run out. So go help the wildlife live! At least for a while before they get shot.
I have no idea how the future of duck hunting actually turned out after the 50's. Frankly, I don't care. But cool old books can teach you alot. This moral has been learnt once more. Take note!
posted by Acevedo Williams at 3:50 PM
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