Stanley Duncan Wildfowler

[moongeese]

I have just been reading on the internet, "Following In The Footsteps Of Famous Wildfowlers, a page shown by www.shooting.co.uk, which makes some interesting reading, more so for me as I know the Uptons very well.

In my punting collections, I have two interesting bits of memorabilia from Stanley Duncan, a signed copy of his book , The Complete Wildfowler, and The Name Plate that came from the ammunition box from his punt ,  would love to see any other items ,  anyone has. 

[mudpatten]

A local wildfowling club still has, to the best of my knowledge, a number of letters from Duncan in it`s archive, some preceeding the clubs formation and dating back to the 1920`s and 30`s, being correspondence with one of the clubs founder members.

In themselves they are nothing special but they give an insight into the sheer volume of his output, something that I find very impressive. At the height of his enthusiasm he had a prodigious work rate and was totally dedicated to wildfowling.

I wonder if other clubs have undocumented Duncan correspondence?

 

 

 

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, moongeese said:

I have just been reading on the internet, "Following In The Footsteps Of Famous Wildfowlers, a page shown by www.shooting.co.uk, which makes some interesting reading, more so for me as I know the Uptons very well.

In my punting collections, I have two interesting bits of memorabilia from Stanley Duncan, a signed copy of his book , The Complete Wildfowler, and The Name Plate that came from the ammunition box from his punt ,  would love to see any other items ,  anyone has. 

Very interesting brass plate moongeese , must be a holy grail to a collector of wildfowling memorabilia I would have thought , I have got the book but sadly not signed by the great man himself .

One of my regrets was not buying Kenzie Thorpes wooden decoys from a auction I went to at Kings Lynn a few years back , they didn't make that much money , if I remember rightly they made about £150 for 10 , a fairly crude decoy with a nut and bolt through the neck to put them in a standing or feeding position , also at the sale was a signed copy of Kenzie The Wild Goose Man that made £35 plus fees .

[moongeese]

 

6 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Very interesting brass plate moongeese , must be a holy grail to a collector of wildfowling memorabilia I would have thought , I have got the book but sadly not signed by the great man himself .

One of my regrets was not buying Kenzie Thorpes wooden decoys from a auction I went to at Kings Lynn a few years back , they didn't make that much money , if I remember rightly they made about £150 for 10 , a fairly crude decoy with a nut and bolt through the neck to put them in a standing or feeding position , also at the sale was a signed copy of Kenzie The Wild Goose Man that made £35 plus fees .

Yes Marshman the plate is a bit of a rarity , I have the letters, and photographs as provenance. Back in the 80's I met Kenzie when he had a stand at a game fair in Scotland, he was demonstrating  calling, and had a stand selling paintings, if I remember correctly they were Peter Scott's, and were priced at £100 each. A £100 then was a lot of money for me, and all I came home with was photographs of him with the paintings.

[London Best]

Back in the 1970’s a friend of mine had a Stanley Duncan punt gun. Being a mercenary type he sold it for a good price and had a modern gun made.

As a young teenager in the early ‘60’s I got to know Kenzie Thorpe and would go and spend a week at a time with him on his houseboat.

[marsh man]

7 hours ago, London Best said:

 

As a young teenager in the early ‘60’s I got to know Kenzie Thorpe and would go and spend a week at a time with him on his houseboat.

That is something I would have loved to had done , I did see him at one of the game fairs we went to on the W A G B I stand , he done all the bird calls and sucked or blew on the back of hand to call in Hares , what stood out on his 3/4 wax jacket  was Kenzie The Wild Goose Man painted in large white letters , 

I once took out a party of blokes sea fishing who also shot wildfowl from the Sutton Bridge area , to mention Kenzie Thorpe to them was like holding a Red rag up to a bull , they never had a good word for him , I could imagine he did upset a few people from time to time .

[London Best]

Unfortunately, the ‘fame’ from the book went to ‘Kenzie’s head a bit. If I remember right, it was around 1970 when he started painting his name on the back of his Barbour. Certainly, after that date I also never met a ‘fowler with anything good to say about him. I don’t remember him being like that when I first knew him, but as an impressionable young teenager I have to admit to a certain amount of hero-worship.

My Dad used to drop myself and a school mate off at Shep Whites and his Dad would pick us up a week later.

I once said to ‘Kenzie that I had never actually seen him call hares. “Get yor gun then,” was the reply. He led me over the creek, along the wall and up a dyke to the corner of another dyke, where we stopped and he began to call. Hares immediately ran toward us from all over the field. I shot five as fast as I could load. “Do you want any more, boy?”  “No, no, I,ll never carry ‘em Kenzie.” Then it was back to the houseboat for a brew.

Edited December 22, 2019 by London Best

[moongeese]

 Great little stories, that are our wildfowling history, keep them coming.

Bill

[steve0146]

I grew up on a farm in the area around shep whites and Lincolnshire marshes. My dad bought a hammer action 12 bore from one of kenzies shooting partners. He used to tell us stories of their trips out. I remember having to get rid of the gun when they tightened up on licensing lol.. The year I got my first gun, and got a police check, dad sold all his. A different era. 

[dodgy dave]

i remember when he was on one off his wagbi demos out on the grass he used to shout shoot em with a camera boys poor ole boogers shoot em with a camera that was before he died

[dodgy dave]

yea well it woudnt have been after would it

[Grandalf]

On 22/12/2019 at 18:08, marsh man said:

 

I once took out a party of blokes sea fishing who also shot wildfowl from the Sutton Bridge area , to mention Kenzie Thorpe to them was like holding a Red rag up to a bull , they never had a good word for him , I could imagine he did upset a few people from time to time .

You are so right Marsh Man.   I started my fowling in the Sutton Bridge area back in the fifties.   Kenzie was giving talks for RSPB, RSPCA and anyone else who would pay him a few bob.   No doubt he was a fantastic fowler and his book sits large in my study.   BUT, and it's a big BUT, he was playing the reformed character and telling everyone we were terrible people to be out on the marshes shooting birds.   Scott started as a fowler and ended as a conservationist and was always an artist.   I don't think he ever slanged the fowling community very much. 

Sid Wright, my mentor, Mr Harrison, the other full time Wash Guide, didn't have much good to say of him and they had both lived there all there lives.  

Really sad to be thought of like that when he started out as a hero figure in fowling circles, especially after Colin Willock's book came out. 

Edited January 1, 2020 by Grandalf

[bishop]

I often say to my mrs and  her adult kids  that you dont have to like someone to be able to still respect them for the whole of or even just part of their personality neither do you have to dislike them due to a perceived flaw in their personality.None of us are what we think we are .The gift to see ourselves as others see us comes to mind here i feel.He seems to have  been a bit of a show off but mind he was a working class fella with a dubious education  with nothing else really to be proud of other than what was really a stage show for a very critical following

Edited January 1, 2020 by bishop

[SuperGoose75]

3 hours ago, Grandalf said:

You are so right Marsh Man.   I started my fowling in the Sutton Bridge area back in the fifties.   Kenzie was giving talks for RSPB, RSPCA and anyone else who would pay him a few bob.   No doubt he was a fantastic fowler and his book sits large in my study.   BUT, and it's a big BUT, he was playing the reformed character and telling everyone we were terrible people to be out on the marshes shooting birds.   Scott started as a fowler and ended as a conservationist and was always an artist.   I don't think he ever slanged the fowling community very much. 

Sid Wright, my mentor, Mr Harrison, the other full time Wash Guide, didn't have much good to say of him and they had both lived there all there lives.  

Really sad to be thought of like that when he started out as a hero figure in fowling circles, especially after Colin Willcox's book came out. 

That is very interesting about Kenzie. However I don't think it is all that uncommon for Wildfowlers to mellow with age and take a different perspective on things. Especially by people who have done a lot of fowling early in there life's. I've known quite a few and to be honest I have been coming a bit disillusioned with it all especially after joining (FB) and seeing some of the things I see that pass as Wildfowling.

I would have no issue with anyone deciding to stop fowling for whatever reason.But to become hypocritical and critical of others doing what you once did yourself, is another thing altogether and I can't abide that. There is a few of them type local to me and it only spurs me on to continue and fight for our sport. Some seem to find their conscience troubled later in their career,but that is up to themselves to deal with and it should not be a case of criticizing others to help ones own conscience which seems to be the case in a lot of people.

IMO if Wildfowling is approached and and done in the true sense then nobody should have any issues with their conscious.

But there seems to be a pattern in the case of the fowlers of old and most have overdone it inland..Scott,Savory,Humphrey' s and possibly Kenzie comes into that bracket as well.

Apologies for the long winded response but I find all this interesting.

PS as to the OP! What a beautiful and unique piece of Wildfowling memorabilia to own.As Marsh Man has already put surely the ''Holy Grail'' maybe apart from Hawkers Puntgun!

Edited January 1, 2020 by SuperGoose75

[moongeese]

1 hour ago, SuperGoose75 said:

 

Apologies for the long winded response but I find all this interesting.

PS as to the OP! What a beautiful and unique piece of Wildfowling memorabilia to own.As Marsh Man has already put surely the ''Holy Grail'' maybe apart from Hawkers Puntgun!

Many Thanks Supergoose75, I am lucky enough that I do own the Holy Grail,   Unfortunately it is only a scale model, that is about as close as I can get. Lol

Happy New Year

Bill

[SuperGoose75]

3 hours ago, moongeese said:

Many Thanks Supergoose75, I am lucky enough that I do own the Holy Grail,   Unfortunately it is only a scale model, that is about as close as I can get. Lol

Happy New Year

Bill

Excellent! That is class! Cripple stopper and all. Did you build it yourself? 

I seen Hawkers gun in the first Chris Greene DVD in the BASC HQ in Wales.

I had a deep fascination with Puntgunning and have read most of the classics on the subject. I don't have the  actual Stanely Duncan book but have the a signed copy of (Stanley Duncan Wildfowler) by John Humphreys.

Edited to say! A happy New year to you and yours also Bill.

Edited January 1, 2020 by SuperGoose75

[SuperGoose75]

On 21/12/2019 at 19:39, marsh man said:

Very interesting brass plate moongeese , must be a holy grail to a collector of wildfowling memorabilia I would have thought , I have got the book but sadly not signed by the great man himself .

One of my regrets was not buying Kenzie Thorpes wooden decoys from a auction I went to at Kings Lynn a few years back , they didn't make that much money , if I remember rightly they made about £150 for 10 , a fairly crude decoy with a nut and bolt through the neck to put them in a standing or feeding position , also at the sale was a signed copy of Kenzie The Wild Goose Man that made £35 plus fees .

Not a lot of money you would think for such famous pieces of memorabilia!

Which leads me to the question! Are there much interest in such things by the younger generation of Wildfowlers.

I have a fairly good library of Wildfowling books with some special copies that I paid enough for! But apart from their value and importance to me! Would anyone in this day an age be willing to pay for what they are really worth.

I'd be sceptical enough that they would hold much value.

[Pushandpull]

Not long before Sid died he put a tray of ex-Kenzie folding decoys in to the Lynn auction. They never made much money but are now safe in the hands of a Wash fowler who has a lot of Kenzie memorabilia

[moongeese]

10 hours ago, SuperGoose75 said:

Not a lot of money you would think for such famous pieces of memorabilia!

Which leads me to the question! Are there much interest in such things by the younger generation of Wildfowlers.

I have a fairly good library of Wildfowling books with some special copies that I paid enough for! But apart from their value and importance to me! Would anyone in this day an age be willing to pay for what they are really worth.

I'd be sceptical enough that they would hold much value.

A good friend of mine, just sold his lifelong collection of wildfowling books, he said he was surprized he got £300 for them, but was not near what he had paid for them. Also being at an age of unloading , I put my books together in a large box, but have not been able to bring myself round to selling them yet. My friends son, also a wildfowler, had no interest in his dads books,  , and I also feel youngsters nowadays are not growing up reading books like we did, only playing on their electronic toys. 

All the things we took an interest in, WAGBI memorabilia, Wildfowling Club Badges, Old Loading Tools, Old shotgun cartridges etc are out of fashion with young people, I know my son has no interest in my stuff, only what they are worth !!!.

[marsh man]

33 minutes ago, Pushandpull said:

Not long before Sid died he put a tray of ex-Kenzie folding decoys in to the Lynn auction. They never made much money but are now safe in the hands of a Wash fowler who has a lot of Kenzie memorabilia

They are the ones I was thinking about , also with the decoys was a letter from Sid Wright to say he had been out with Kenzie when he had been using those ply wood decoys and were 100% genuine , every now and again at the auction was a painting up for sale by Kenzie , these were a bit crude by Peter Scott's standard and would normally make from less than £100 to 2/300 depending on there size .

Looking at moongeese replica gun punt reminded me of the one sold at the auction one night , that one was a work of art and I wouldn't be surprised if a wash fowler who was into punt gunning bought that one .

[Big Mat]

5 hours ago, moongeese said:

A good friend of mine, just sold his lifelong collection of wildfowling books, he said he was surprized he got £300 for them, but was not near what he had paid for them. Also being at an age of unloading , I put my books together in a large box, but have not been able to bring myself round to selling them yet. My friends son, also a wildfowler, had no interest in his dads books,  , and I also feel youngsters nowadays are not growing up reading books like we did, only playing on their electronic toys. 

All the things we took an interest in, WAGBI memorabilia, Wildfowling Club Badges, Old Loading Tools, Old shotgun cartridges etc are out of fashion with young people, I know my son has no interest in my stuff, only what they are worth !!!.

Out of interest,  have you always been into collecting the books and memorabilia or is it something you started later on?

I only ask as I'm 25, I own a handful of wildfowling books, not really any memorabilia,  but I've not enough room in my house to put it that would do it justice.

As regards to books, is it perhaps there being too much info available on the internet for people to bother having books around? I know when my old man died, mum cleared out all his books(none shooting related) and no one wanted them as they just took up too much space. 

I always keeps an eye out for any interesting books, particularly punt gunning and wildfowling on the wash. Theres one or two mentioned on here that I would like to add to the collection 

[Penelope]

The tinterweb is certainly the font of all trends, but doesn't have the romanticism of the written word of the days of old.

[moongeese]

9 minutes ago, Big Mat said:

Out of interest,  have you always been into collecting the books and memorabilia or is it something you started later on?

I only ask as I'm 25, I own a handful of wildfowling books, not really any memorabilia,  but I've not enough room in my house to put it that would do it justice.

As regards to books, is it perhaps there being too much info available on the internet for people to bother having books around? I know when my old man died, mum cleared out all his books(none shooting related) and no one wanted them as they just took up too much space. 

I always keeps an eye out for any interesting books, particularly punt gunning and wildfowling on the wash. Theres one or two mentioned on here that I would like to add to the collection 

No always had a love of books and reading, my bookcases are full of books on Wildfowling, and  History. etc  , purchased my first wildfowling book back in the 1960's , my last one about a month ago the book on the history of puntgunning afloat.

[Pushandpull]

Not the same decoys, marsh man. These are zinc sheet.

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Pushandpull said:

Not the same decoys, marsh man. These are zinc sheet.

I was sure the ones I looked at were ply , but they could well have been the zinc sheet ones you are talking about , what I remember about them were they had a single stake to push into the ground and a nut and bolt around the base of the neck to alter there position in either standing or feeding . when they came up for sale the auctioneer read out a letter from Sid Write to say he had been out with Kenzie and the decoys were 100% genuine .

Do you know if the owner of the decoys got a letter from Sid Write when he bought the decoys ? , the auction was at Gaywood , more or less near The Wildfowler P H. 

1 hour ago, Pushandpull said: