A Waterfowler's Tale: For Those Who Like to Hunt Ducks: Stories of Family, Hunting, Dogs, Decoys and Other Odds and Ends

By Jay Gore

One person's love affair with duck hunting, and all things that go with the sport: guns, dogs, decoys, duck conservation and photography. Near the banks of the Missouri River in northwest Missouri is where Jay Gore spent much of the first 18 years of his life. At age 10, he hunted small game in woodlots on family farms. Millions of ducks and geese that used the Missouri River as a corridor for migration provided many opportunities to hone his waterfowling skills. Pursuing these waterfowl gave Mr. Gore the spark to pursue a career in wildlife management. He obtained BS (1963) and MS (1965) degrees at South Dakota State University and the University of Maine respectively. He was a senior waterfowl biologist for six years with the Tennessee Fish and Game Commission. He had a 30-year career with three Federal agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and USDA Forest Service.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jul 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781483471037

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GORE

Copyright © 2017 Jay Gore.

Photographs copyright @ James F. Gore, except photos 3, copyright @ Julius Stern Studio, and 29, copyright @ Dan Herrig

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-7102-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-7103-7 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 6/27/2017

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank Julie Uchida not only for her kindness but also for her timely review and suggestions on this book. Professional colleague, friend and hunting partner Jim Claar generously edited portions of the text. Thank you Jim for your time and input. Thank you Dale Burke, journalist/conservationist, for your review. Several hunting partners and friends are mentioned. Thank you to Avery Powell, Ashland City, Tn., Dan Herrig, Boise, Id., Wayne Melquist, St Maries, Id., Bill Ruediger and Jim Claar, Missoula Mt. for sharing wondrous Moments with the dogs and me. You folks made the times special.

I wish to thank my family, former wife Dee, and son Brook for patience and support. I give a heartfelt thanks to Bert Lindler, Missoula, for many hours of editing my stories. Thank you Bert for the editing and friendship.

DEDICATION

To Richard Hinderliter, teacher, superintendent, and mentor of waterfowl hunting traditions

This is a memoir. The stories are mine and events actually happened.

1. Labrador Retrievers. 2. Hunting dogs. 3. Waterfowl hunting. 4. Retrievers. 5. Conservation. 6. Ducks. 7. Waterfowl. 8. Pheasants. 9. Dog training. 10. Hunting stories. 11. Gore Family 12. Missouri. 13. Grumman Sport Boat.

E-mail: [e-mail]

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Photo 2. Jay Gore, Apr. 24, 2015, with Labs Francesca, Cameron and Jazz.

TABLE OF CONTENTS-A WATERFOWLER’S TALE

CHAPTER 1. Introduction And Background

Childhood and other Memories

Youth Activities

Memories and Recollections of my Dad

Memories and Recollections of my Mother

Young Romance

CHAPTER 2. Importance Of Place

Magical Crestview Lane

The Back Porch

Rattlesnake Wilderness—East to West

CHAPTER 3. Growing Life’s Passions

What is a classic?

Pheasants meet the model 17

Explanation of Hunting and Conservation

Time: Those Special Days Afield

CHAPTER 4. My Dog Stories And Experiences

Introduction

Life With Labs The Dogs: Cindy Lou,

Bicentennial Liberty Lou, Babe, Francesca, Jazz Whacker, And Cameron

A Mysterious Tale of two Tails

Marking: Sky or Barrel?

Sparkles

Never Underestimate the Power and Influence of a Dog

CHAPTER 5. Hunts

Does Consistency Have a Price?

On target

Jazz’s day

To Shoot A Duck: Or, What’s Do’n in Mexico

Bands

CHAPTER 6. Waterfowl decoys

What Is a Decoy?

My Special Decoy

The Old Decoy: Hand-Me-Downs

Old Wooden Decoys by John Glen (1876-1954)

CHAPTER 7. A favorite boat and motor

A Favorite Boat— The Grumman Sport Boat

Force 9.9 Hp Outboard Motor

CHAPTER 8. Tidbits and Other Stories

CHAPTER 9. Vitae

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Photo 3. Jay Gore Family, 1956, Jay (15), Faye (51), Marcia Leigh (25), James Jr. (50)

Photo Credit: Julius Stern Studio, Shenandoah, Iowa

Our lives take meaning from our stories.

J. F. Gore, Mar. 1, 2014

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

WHY AM I THE WAY I AM?

This is a memoir of the life of James (Jay) Gore, a lad that grew up in Rock Port, Missouri in the 1940’s and 50’s. Rock Port is a small agriculturally focused town in the northwestern corner of Missouri. Our County, Atchison, bordered Iowa and Nebraska. Our county at the time had about 9,000 people. Socially the town was focused on our school system and the four churches. It was common for most boys to hunt and shoot at an early age. This was long before mandatory hunter safety education. My book is composed of short stories and essays.

CHILDHOOD AND OTHER MEMORIES

Do you have a childhood event, activity or memory that shaped the course of your life? I do, and I’m going to tell you a story about it.

In 1951, I was 10 years old and started hunting. My Dad had an old Stevens bolt action .410 shotgun. After feeding our livestock at one of our farms in northwest Missouri, he would give me four or five shells and send me to our woodlots to hunt fox squirrels. Occasionally I would actually get one. Mom told me whatever I shot, brought home, and cleaned, she would cook up for the family. As I got more proficient at hunting, we ate lots of squirrels, doves, pigeons, cottontail rabbits, ducks, and geese.

Ah yes, the DUCKS. I remember Dad taking me over to the Missouri River across from Brownville, Neb. early one morning to hunt ducks (my first duck hunt). It was a cloudy, low-overcast day, what some folks would call a real ducky weather day. Well, a small flock of ducks came low, right over our blind just a little past daylight. I fired that little .410 at ’em and, well, nothing fell. I just knew it was that lousy, pip-squeak .410 shotgun Dad had me use. It couldn’t be that I didn’t shoot in front of the ducks, failing to lead them! Never have liked .410 shotguns since.

Well, an uncle of mine, Gratz Bartholomew, heard about this sad tale and offered to let me borrow a 20 gauge with a shortened stock, that his son, Billy Rupe, started hunting with years before in the 1940’s. It was a Remington Model 17 pump action shotgun with a short barrel and an attached Poly Choke.

My Dad was not an active hunter, but some of my classmate’s Dads were. In 1953, Dr. Ralph Curfman (town dentist) and town merchant Max McElhiney, along with their sons, Gregg and Johnny Mac, invited me to tag along on a duck hunt. We went to the Nishnabotna River near Langdon, Mo. Nothing too special about the morning, EXCEPT I shot at and hit a green-winged teal. That duck was so beautiful and I was so excited. From that point on, I was absorbed in ducks, decoys, blinds, duck calls, shotguns, reloading shells, duck boats and whatever else went with duck hunting. Later in life, black Labrador retrievers would be added to the hunting mix. But those dog stories are told in my 2014 book, Is Life Worth Living Without Labs?(ISBN-978-1-4834-0848-4)

An Aunt, originally from Denver, noted my early interest in the out-of-doors and hunting. She suggested I go to Fort Collins, CO, and study forestry, but I really was not too keen on forestry. Later I found out some colleges taught wildlife science. That would suit me better.

So in 1959, I was off to South Dakota State University for a B.S. degree in Wildlife Management (1963). Then off to the University of Maine, Orono, to work on an M.S. degree in Wildlife Management (1965). College is a great time in life, but unfortunately we mostly don’t understand that at the time.

After graduating from Maine, a short time was spent in the upper Midwest with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Federal Game Agent (game warden). That entailed too much travel away from wife and young son.

In 1966, we moved to the Nashville area of Tennessee where I was a senior waterfowl biologist with the Tennessee Fish and Game Commission. I managed three waterfowl management areas on the Cumberland River where water impoundments were built, waterfowl foods were planted and flooded, and a waterfowl-hunting program was administered. During this time I worked with a private game bird collector on his estate northeast of Nashville and his three pair of huge Canada geese to see if we could establish a home grown flock. Once I had these three pair nesting in elevated nesting tubs, their productivity flourished. When I left Tennessee in the early 70’s, approximately 125 geese had been raised from the initial three pair. In following years progeny of those geese were transplanted across the state in small flocks where they too flourished. Since the mid-1980’s, the goose population had grown large enough to support hunting seasons. This job also included a wildlife law enforcement commission.

In the early 1970’s, we moved to the St Louis area where I was a federal wildlife biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I developed and wrote some of the first-in-the-nation Corps’ wildlife management plans for lands surrounding reservoir projects in southern Illinois. We obtained funds, hired lake rangers with wildlife management degrees and implemented the management plans on the ground. I developed and conducted the first national Corps of Engineers wildlife biologists’ training conference in 1978. I also had a federal law enforcement commission for parks and land management regulations with the Corps.

I returned to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1978, when we moved to Boise, Idaho. I was the project leader of endangered species for Idaho and parts of nearby states. My team of biologists worked on recovery and conservation of bald eagles, peregrine falcons, Bruneau Hot Springs snails, Idaho ground squirrels, wolves, grizzly bears, and an assortment of rare plants. I was the Idaho point biologist for the wolf recovery planning team and in 1995 and ’96, I was one of the biologists that released wolves into the central Idaho wilderness. I worked 23 years on various aspects of grizzly bear recovery.

In 1987, I was the team leader of a group of biologists to review the status of the northern spotted owl to see if it warranted listing under the Endangered Species Act. My recommendations were to list the Olympic Peninsula portion of the population. Decision makers did not take our biological recommendations and the owl was not listed. Lawsuits followed, another listing team was assembled on which I was a member, and the owl was finally listed in 1991.

In 1991, I moved to the USDA Forest Service and its headquarters office in Washington, D.C. and worked on President Clinton’s Northwest Old Growth Forest Plan. The plan, which provided protection for the spotted owl, was completed in 1994. In 1993, I worked on a legislative assignment for the Forest Service with Congressman Norm Dicks of Washington dealing with the forest old growth issue.

My final federal biologist position was with the USDA Forest Service in Missoula, Mont. I was the national grizzly bear habitat coordinator. I worked with folks on 19 national forests that had grizzly bears, and/or suitable habitat. Work involved improving bear habitat by reducing road density to make habitat more secure, better management of human and livestock foods so bears would not get unnatural foods and need to be killed, improved livestock management to reduce conflicts in grizzly bear habitat, and other measures.

I retired from federal service in July 2001. AMAZING! Look what that little Remington Model 17 20-gauge shotgun of my Uncle’s did, along with that one duck hunt with that one little green-winged teal. A whole career of wildlife conservation evolved. Since retirement I have worked five years part time for the National Wildlife Federation in Montana as the coordinator for about 90 volunteers in the sage-grouse Adopt-A-Lek conservation program. We counted springtime male sage-grouse on their breeding leks and gave the data to the state wildlife agency for game bird management. I have also been on conservation issue Boards of Directors (Metcalf NWR, International Wildlife Film Festival, Big Sky Upland Bird Association, Montana Wildlife Federation) and Advisory Councils (Governor’s sage-grouse and Fish, Wildlife and Park’s Director’s Upland Game Bird Habitat Enhancement program).

Of course, my first love is waterfowl; I love those ducks. I have banded thousands of ducks with my work in Tennessee, on college summer-time duck banding crews in the Dakotas, and as a volunteer bander at Ninepipes National Wildlife Refuge north of Missoula. My Labs Francesca and her new partner, Jazz, and I enjoy long seasons of hunting ducks in Alberta, Montana, Idaho, and other states. A new Lab pup,