Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Good morning, All~
Once again, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time at the big gunning show in Tuckerton, NJ. I shrunk my participation from Exhibitor to attendee - no time to prepare - I brought along Washington County gunning partner Jamie Woods, Jamie grew up on Long Island and spent many years pursuing waterfowl on both the North Shore and South Shore decades ago. He also bought a sweet VanSant Sneakbox from Bill Simonson at last year's show (with me as "broker"
The night before the show we toured miles of saltmarsh, creek and flats on our way to a bayside eatery - thanks to our hosts Paul and Carol Castelli. Paul is another Long Island gunner - who grew up to serve as a duck biologist for the Garden State for many years. He will be retiring from the Forsythe NWR early next month.
We arrived early on Saturday to an already packed crowd. I will tell you up front that I took many fewer photos than I had planned. Throughout the 5 hours we were there, I kept stumbling into people I knew - from Long Island, from Jersey, from last year's show and from duckboats.net. So, I enjoyed many fine conversations, learned a lot, bought some Atlantic White Cedar, and all but forgot about my camera.
Nevertheless, one of my first stops was with Sean Sutton - who holds a place in my "pantheon" of great contemporary carvers. I had never met him in person, so exploited this opportunity to uncover his painting secrets,,,,
CLICK on any image to view full-size.
View attachment Sean Sutton 01.JPG
View attachment Sean Sutton 02.JPG
View attachment sm Sean Sutton 03.JPG
Dave Clark is my Unpaid Canvaswork Consultant. I knew he also built some sweet gunning vessels - like these 2 Estuaries - but did not realize he also carved some fine gunning stool. Jamie bought one of Dave's excellent decoy bags and I ordered yet another for my growing collection.
View attachment sm Clark 02.JPG
View attachment sm Clark 04.JPG
Paul - who may have more gunning vessels than I do - cannot help but consider adding an Estuary to his fleet.....Note the snippet of Homer Decoys' sign in the upper left....I had another fine conversation with Tony Homer about the finer points of his decoys. Again, too engaged/distracted for photos. He sent me home with a box of Homer Coat - a specially-ground walnut shell mix that I have since tried on one Model 63 Mallard. I will be reporting on that methodology in the near future.
View attachment sm Clark 03.JPG
I enjoyed a nice long chat with Bill Simonsen - but neglected to snap a photo. He had several traditional Sneakboxes on display.
View attachment sm Simonson Sneakbox 01.JPG
View attachment sm Simonson Sneakbox 02.JPG
END Part 1
Once again, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time at the big gunning show in Tuckerton, NJ. I shrunk my participation from Exhibitor to attendee - no time to prepare - I brought along Washington County gunning partner Jamie Woods, Jamie grew up on Long Island and spent many years pursuing waterfowl on both the North Shore and South Shore decades ago. He also bought a sweet VanSant Sneakbox from Bill Simonson at last year's show (with me as "broker"
The night before the show we toured miles of saltmarsh, creek and flats on our way to a bayside eatery - thanks to our hosts Paul and Carol Castelli. Paul is another Long Island gunner - who grew up to serve as a duck biologist for the Garden State for many years. He will be retiring from the Forsythe NWR early next month.
We arrived early on Saturday to an already packed crowd. I will tell you up front that I took many fewer photos than I had planned. Throughout the 5 hours we were there, I kept stumbling into people I knew - from Long Island, from Jersey, from last year's show and from duckboats.net. So, I enjoyed many fine conversations, learned a lot, bought some Atlantic White Cedar, and all but forgot about my camera.
Nevertheless, one of my first stops was with Sean Sutton - who holds a place in my "pantheon" of great contemporary carvers. I had never met him in person, so exploited this opportunity to uncover his painting secrets,,,,
CLICK on any image to view full-size.
View attachment Sean Sutton 01.JPG
View attachment Sean Sutton 02.JPG
View attachment sm Sean Sutton 03.JPG
Dave Clark is my Unpaid Canvaswork Consultant. I knew he also built some sweet gunning vessels - like these 2 Estuaries - but did not realize he also carved some fine gunning stool. Jamie bought one of Dave's excellent decoy bags and I ordered yet another for my growing collection.
View attachment sm Clark 02.JPG
View attachment sm Clark 04.JPG
Paul - who may have more gunning vessels than I do - cannot help but consider adding an Estuary to his fleet.....Note the snippet of Homer Decoys' sign in the upper left....I had another fine conversation with Tony Homer about the finer points of his decoys. Again, too engaged/distracted for photos. He sent me home with a box of Homer Coat - a specially-ground walnut shell mix that I have since tried on one Model 63 Mallard. I will be reporting on that methodology in the near future.
View attachment sm Clark 03.JPG
I enjoyed a nice long chat with Bill Simonsen - but neglected to snap a photo. He had several traditional Sneakboxes on display.
View attachment sm Simonson Sneakbox 01.JPG
View attachment sm Simonson Sneakbox 02.JPG
END Part 1
