
The centre of punt gunning in Victorian times was Breydon Water, the Broad near Great Yarmouth, and the museum has on display the last gun punt specifically built for hunting there.

The hunter would lie prone in the punt and stealthily row towards the roosting birds.

After that it was a question of clearing up. The dog would fetch the dead birds, and the wounded would be finished off with a shotgun known rather bluntly as a 'cripple-stopper'.
Concern over the number of wounded birds led to a ban on 1.5in guns, after which only 2in guns were allowed.
The punt was found floating in the River Yare in the 1960s, probably simply cast loose by an owner who had no further use for it. It was eventually restored by prisoners at Blundeston as part of their NVQ in carpentry. They added a replica gun as the original was lost.
Although punt gunning is a thing of the past in the Broads, these unique and fascinating boats have a thriving family of descendents in the form of the Norfolk Punt.
Norfolk Punts have the same long, low, flat-bottomed shape as the gun punts but with the addition of an unfeasibly large sail. They go like slippy stuff off a shovel if there are no waves. The Norfolk Punt Club races them from a pontoon moored in the middle of Barton Broad. The museum has a splendid varnished example, unfortunately kept almost hidden under another boat.

i think you have made several errors in you article on puntgunning, to say that the gun would be loaded with scrap metal or nails is false - it would have been loaded with lead shot, nails or scrap metal would damage the gun, possibly with dangerous results,and a 1.5 inch gun wouldn't be firing a 2 pound charge, more like a pound or less. also there is no way the recoil would push the boat back up to 25 yards, 25 inches would be excessive, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, that gun would have been pushing a charge of at most a pound of shot, with perhaps four ounces of course black powder, consider the weight of the punt, the gun and the punt gunner laid in it, there is no way the energy released by the gun could be enough to push it back that far. you say that concern over crippled birds meant that only 2 inch guns were allowed - in fact the opposite is true, smooth bore guns with a bore diameter of over 1.75inch are no longer illegal. in fact 2 inch guns were made illegal and only smaller guns were in use - i'm sure no thought was given to the quarry when this law was passed. also it is not normal practice in punt gunning to slap the boat to lift the birds, in my experiance they are shot on the water or on the mud. The punt gunner would probably not have a dog with him, firstly due to space and secondly due to the difficulty of stalking with a dog in the punt with you. I know all this because i am an avid and active punt gunner and i hear a lot of misconceptions about the sport which saddens me.
ReplyDeleteAs a practising punt gunner I have never read such utter tosh. Who ever wrote this article on punt gunning should be ashamed of themselves there was obviously no research into punt gunning before this article was written.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous (2):
ReplyDeleteIt would help if you could be a bit more specific about the errors, as Anonymous (1) is. Also less bloody rude.