Fowling is the
hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
of
birds by
humans, for
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
(
meat
Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
),
feather
Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...
s or any other
commercially value products, or simply for
leisure ("
sporting") or
collecting trophies. It is comparable to
wildfowling, the practice of hunting
waterfowls for food or sport. The term is perhaps better known in
the Fens of
Eastern England than elsewhere, but was certainly not confined to the Fens. The land margins of the north produced
down feathers from
eider duck for eiderdowns and quilted jackets without necessarily killing the birds. In the
Western Isles of
Scotland, seabirds were taken from their nests on
cliffs. In The Fens and other similar places, a
decoy was part of a landowner's well-equipped estate.
The epitome of fowling was, however, the
punt gunner. He had what amounted to a long,
small-bore muzzle-loaded
cannon. It was mounted along the centre-line of the forward half of a specially designed
boat which slightly resembled a heavy wooden
kayak
A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' ().
The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...
in form. The fowler lay in the after half with paddle blades strapped to his forearms. The skill was to stalk a raft of duck until within the rather short range required and to fire the gun from which small shot scattered. It remained to gather up the harvest and get it to market. In the winter, the punt gun might be mounted on a
sled and the procedure repeated on the same principles.
References
Notes
Bibliography
Sly, R. ''From Punt to Plough'' (2003) .
*For decoys, see pp. 131–133.
*For punt gunning, see pp. 125–130.
*For netting, see pp. 135–138.
Bird hunting
{{hunting-stub