Outlaw Gunner: A Journey from Hunting for Survival to a Call for Waterfowl Conservation

The Outlaw Gunner is the colourful story of market gunning in both its legal and illegal phases, particularly as it was practiced in the great Chesapeake Bay, the Outer Banks, and the tidewater regions of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. In more than 150 of the most unusual and rare photographs from the author’s collection, the men with their guns, boats, and traps are shown in action. The market-gunning paraphernalia looks strange and fearful - and well it might, for it was devastatingly efficient and deadly. He describes baiting practices, gunning with tollers, trapping, gunning lights, punt guns, pipe guns, the sinkbox - the whole bag of tricks the outlaws used. This is a fascinating account of a period and of practices long gone. Throughout the unspoken good ole days feeling, and the nostalgia, runs a strong between-the-lines plea for conservation in our time. The appeal, placed in this setting, is hard to ignore. AUTHOR: Harry M. Walsh was a native of Chestertown, Maryland, and one of the founders of Easton’s famous annual Waterfowl Festival. 183 colour and b/w images