Through my old partner Morris Whitfield, I became acquainted with a wildlife biologist named Phil Crutchfield. Phil had a very impressive set of credentials and had the reputation to be granted a Federal Collector's Permit. The NC State Museum of Natural History endorsed his permit here in North Carolina and he collected things for them. Well, he didn't actually do much of the collecting. He arranged the trips, but Phil was a Korean War veteran who suffered from Polio and had a bad leg. He could limp around the banks of marshes and spot exotic species that the Museum needed or wanted, and then have his gunners finish the deal.
I was invited to help him fill a couple of shopping lists for the Museum. They would give him a list of what they would like to have and usually a list of other species that were killable, in order to lure us in to going on a collection. I recall one time they wanted some Coot. Not worth my time and trouble to set out on an expedition just to kill a couple Coot in their March breeding plumage. Another time they wanted some drake Shovelers. A very colorful bird when in peak plumage, but again, not hardly worth making a special trip. So each time they would grant a little allowance to keep us going back for the 'special birds they needed'.
One weekend the allowance was all the Teal we could shoot, in hopes of getting a few drake Blue Wings in prime late March plumage. Morris and I volunteered for the "dark and lonely job". I happened to get lucky and kill a Cinnamon Teal on that trip. First and only one ever confirmed in North Carolina. It currently resides in the MNH in Raleigh. Was pretty neat when my kids went on school field trips to the Museum and could show their friends the duck that I had so generously donated.
Another day we had along a friend of someone, who was a non-hunter all the way. He borrowed a pair of waders from Whit and jammed his oversize feet and insulated booties into a pair of size 9 waders. About the time we got set up he started complaining about cold feet. Morris shot the first duck of the morning; a banded BW Teal. Well, the guy finally climbed out of the blind where we were hunting and sat there practically crying about his cold feet. Whit felt responsible for him and walked him back out of the marsh. Well more accurately, he carried him. The guys feet were completely numb by then. I was stuck there alone, to shoot 24 Pintails. Took about an hour to finish that terrible chore.
Crutchfield was in the process of writing a book on Black Scoters. He had even been funded by somebody to travel the Arctic and attempt to find their breeding grounds. Didn't find it, by the way. But with his reputation, and with the foundation of his book being very sound, he had been granted a green light by the USFWS to harvest all the Black Scoters he wanted in the name of research. I only got involved in that a little bit, but Whit had a lot of 100 Scoter days as he and Phil gathered data. Phil died a couple years back, with his book still unpublished.
Not all the trips were exciting. Wading the swamps of Cumberland County in search of a nesting colony of Anhinga, and instead finding the largest Coral Snake ever found in North Carolina was one of the assignments. I wasn't involved in that one at all.
All in all, having an accomplice with a Federal Collector's Permit is a good thing. You should try and find one right away :-)
I was invited to help him fill a couple of shopping lists for the Museum. They would give him a list of what they would like to have and usually a list of other species that were killable, in order to lure us in to going on a collection. I recall one time they wanted some Coot. Not worth my time and trouble to set out on an expedition just to kill a couple Coot in their March breeding plumage. Another time they wanted some drake Shovelers. A very colorful bird when in peak plumage, but again, not hardly worth making a special trip. So each time they would grant a little allowance to keep us going back for the 'special birds they needed'.
One weekend the allowance was all the Teal we could shoot, in hopes of getting a few drake Blue Wings in prime late March plumage. Morris and I volunteered for the "dark and lonely job". I happened to get lucky and kill a Cinnamon Teal on that trip. First and only one ever confirmed in North Carolina. It currently resides in the MNH in Raleigh. Was pretty neat when my kids went on school field trips to the Museum and could show their friends the duck that I had so generously donated.
Another day we had along a friend of someone, who was a non-hunter all the way. He borrowed a pair of waders from Whit and jammed his oversize feet and insulated booties into a pair of size 9 waders. About the time we got set up he started complaining about cold feet. Morris shot the first duck of the morning; a banded BW Teal. Well, the guy finally climbed out of the blind where we were hunting and sat there practically crying about his cold feet. Whit felt responsible for him and walked him back out of the marsh. Well more accurately, he carried him. The guys feet were completely numb by then. I was stuck there alone, to shoot 24 Pintails. Took about an hour to finish that terrible chore.
Crutchfield was in the process of writing a book on Black Scoters. He had even been funded by somebody to travel the Arctic and attempt to find their breeding grounds. Didn't find it, by the way. But with his reputation, and with the foundation of his book being very sound, he had been granted a green light by the USFWS to harvest all the Black Scoters he wanted in the name of research. I only got involved in that a little bit, but Whit had a lot of 100 Scoter days as he and Phil gathered data. Phil died a couple years back, with his book still unpublished.
Not all the trips were exciting. Wading the swamps of Cumberland County in search of a nesting colony of Anhinga, and instead finding the largest Coral Snake ever found in North Carolina was one of the assignments. I wasn't involved in that one at all.
All in all, having an accomplice with a Federal Collector's Permit is a good thing. You should try and find one right away :-)
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