In This Place...

In This Place.... Hunting and Trapping Traditions.
Waterfowl Wonderlands
THe plentiful and productive Duck Creek marshlands have supported a long tradition of waterfowl hunting. Quoting Jasper Danckaerts, from his 1679 Delaware expedition (Lunt 1968):

"I have nowhere seen so many ducks together as were in the creek in front of this house. The water was so black with them that it seemed when you looked from the land below upon the water, as if it were a mass of filth or turf, and when they flew up there was a rushing and vibration of the air like a great storm coming through the trees, and even like a rumbling of distant thunder, while the sky over the whole creek was filled with them like a cloud..."

Duck Creek Hunting and Trapping Heritage
THe quality of habitat for ducks and geese led to establishment of several local hunting clubs and lodges in the 1900's, attracting waterfowl hunters from far and wide. During the heyday of goose hunting in the 1970's-80's, upwards of $1000 per person per day was the standard for guided hunting here.

The council hunting lodge (below left) - site of Boondock's restaurant today - was a mid-1900's waterfowler's haven. A new venue was added with the 1968 purchase of the Kinsey farm and its conversion to the M&M Hunting Lodge by the Mararese family.

With boom geese hunting in the 1970's, the Mallard Inn (photo right) was added. In the early 1990's the state bought and remodeled the Lodge for use as an aquatic education center.

Muskrats in the Marshes
For thousands of years, trapping of animals for fur, food and other uses had been part of the way of life for people living around these marshlands. Along with beaver, mink, otter and raccoon, by far the most long-sought after and sustainable animal targeted for local trapper trade has been the muskrat.

During depression days and other hard times, people relied on these coastal marshes for survival, feeding their families on muskrats, snapping turtles, and other wild fish and game.

"Proggin' for Turkles"
Harvesting turtles for "snapper soup" using a hand-made, metal-tipped, hooked-end "progging" tool is another local living-off-the-land tradition.