Waterfowl Hunting

Waterfowl hunting has been a popular winter sport on Ocracoke for more than a century. In 1910 the "Book of the Royal Blue," a magazine published monthly by the Passenger Department of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, ran an article titled “Winter Sport in Virginia and North Carolina.” It was an excerpt from an article in “Field and Stream,” by H.C. Herring, M.D., an avid hunter.

“What about geese and ducks? You always bring back a lot. Where do you go?” was a question put to Dr. Herring by an acquaintance.

Dr. Herring's answer: "I told him there was only one section which would completely answer all demands of the amateur and professional sportsman, and that was on the Island of Ocracoke. To supply the necessary information  I turned to a map of North Carolina and placed my finger on a little island, midway between Capes Lookout and Hatteras, where could be found more fowl from November until March than at any other point in America."

You can read the entire article here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/hunting-ducks-geese-1910/.

If you are interested in modern-day waterfowl hunting on Ocracoke do an internet search for "Waterfowl Hunting Ocracoke." There you can find web sites for a number of Ocracoke hunting guides.

Setting Decoys in Pamlico Sound

And if you are a successful hunter, you might want to use this recipe from the 1950s and 1960s Ocracoke Cook Book:

Stewed Wild Goose

1/4 lb. salt pork
1/4 cup flour
8 potatoes, halved
Corn dumplings or drop pastry dumplings
Cut-up goose
Salt & pepper
Pod of red pepper

In large pot fry out salt pork until light brown, add flour slightly browned, add cut up fowl. Add salt, pepper, pod red pepper, and enough water to cover. Cook until tender then add potatoes and corn dumplings. Lay dumplings in top or add drop dumplings when nearly done.

-- Mrs. Eva Williams (1892-1972)

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is Lachlan Howard's essay about the Fresnel Lens and its use in theater, solar ovens, cameras, and industry, as well as lighthouse illumination. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-fresnel-lens/.