The New River is my favorite place to shoot ducks. Maybe not the best place, but I have some wonderful memories of gunning there. For those not familiar with the New, it is more like a bay or a sound. 5 miles wide, 15 miles long, and shallow enough to wade all over except the dredged channel in the middle. Flows out through the New River Inlet into the ocean. It can be very salty, full of all saltwater fish and shellfish or with a lot of rain it can freshen up quite a bit. But the channel out in the middle keeps the sea water moving and it always returns to salt water.
Before 1964-65 there was no channel and New River Inlet was sort of a mythical thing, sometimes open sometimes closed off completely by the sand so that you couldn't even tell there had ever been an inlet. The river was fresh water back then. Eel grass, wild celery, wigeon grass, cattails, lilly pads; just like any freshwater lake. Puddleducks, Canada Geese and Canvasbacks were the winter visitors. An old timer told me his Father hunted the New River for 50 years and never saw Bluebills there to speak of until the channel was dredged in the mid 60's and that was when he got too old to hunt.
When I first hunted there in the mid 70's there was still some bottom vegetation and more Cans than Bluebills, but that was coming to an end. Last time I saw Cans there in any numbers was the mid 90's.
Heard a couple different reasons for the dredging. Some say it was to allow for barges to move the timber being harvested locally, some say it was for the Marines to be able to run Landing Craft on the river for training and transportation back and forth. Corps of Engineers dredged the channel and still keep it open with periodic dredging. I have heard that they might lose funding for keeping New River Inlet dredged. They say that over time the entire ecology of the river would revert to how it was before they ever opened up the inlet and the channel. Maybe my grandsons will shoot Pintails and Canadas from my old Bluebill blind at Rhodes Point. Love
to see that.
I have a story to tell as sort of a sideline to the history of the New River. Back about 1973 there was a very serious duck hunter who lived in Sneads Ferry. His name was Nick Juvenetti. Everybody knew and liked him. He had blinds all over the river, including my Rhodes Point. Had a concrete sinkbox at Spring Point (I think). At least for a period of a few years he was the most widely known duck hunter on the river. A Canvasback killing machine. Well as the story was told to me, he and 2 friends were hunting the mouth of French Creek on Thanksgiving Day. When they quit they headed across the river to a landing (Rhodes Point?) They were in a 14 foot boat with no running lights and they were run down by a towboat and a couple barges. The towboat pilot apparently never even knew he hit them, because he didn't stop to help. So the 3 guys all tried to decide what to do and they each chose differently. One stayed with the capsized boat and eventually came to a dayboard off Gray Point and climbed up to safety until he was rescued. One headed back towards the eastern bank because he thought that was closer. He also made it to safety. Juvenetti swam for the west bank and never made it. They say he probably died happy because he had Canvasback for dinner the night before and was out doing what he loved the most. Sad story, but part of the lore of the New River.
Before 1964-65 there was no channel and New River Inlet was sort of a mythical thing, sometimes open sometimes closed off completely by the sand so that you couldn't even tell there had ever been an inlet. The river was fresh water back then. Eel grass, wild celery, wigeon grass, cattails, lilly pads; just like any freshwater lake. Puddleducks, Canada Geese and Canvasbacks were the winter visitors. An old timer told me his Father hunted the New River for 50 years and never saw Bluebills there to speak of until the channel was dredged in the mid 60's and that was when he got too old to hunt.
When I first hunted there in the mid 70's there was still some bottom vegetation and more Cans than Bluebills, but that was coming to an end. Last time I saw Cans there in any numbers was the mid 90's.
Heard a couple different reasons for the dredging. Some say it was to allow for barges to move the timber being harvested locally, some say it was for the Marines to be able to run Landing Craft on the river for training and transportation back and forth. Corps of Engineers dredged the channel and still keep it open with periodic dredging. I have heard that they might lose funding for keeping New River Inlet dredged. They say that over time the entire ecology of the river would revert to how it was before they ever opened up the inlet and the channel. Maybe my grandsons will shoot Pintails and Canadas from my old Bluebill blind at Rhodes Point. Love
to see that.
I have a story to tell as sort of a sideline to the history of the New River. Back about 1973 there was a very serious duck hunter who lived in Sneads Ferry. His name was Nick Juvenetti. Everybody knew and liked him. He had blinds all over the river, including my Rhodes Point. Had a concrete sinkbox at Spring Point (I think). At least for a period of a few years he was the most widely known duck hunter on the river. A Canvasback killing machine. Well as the story was told to me, he and 2 friends were hunting the mouth of French Creek on Thanksgiving Day. When they quit they headed across the river to a landing (Rhodes Point?) They were in a 14 foot boat with no running lights and they were run down by a towboat and a couple barges. The towboat pilot apparently never even knew he hit them, because he didn't stop to help. So the 3 guys all tried to decide what to do and they each chose differently. One stayed with the capsized boat and eventually came to a dayboard off Gray Point and climbed up to safety until he was rescued. One headed back towards the eastern bank because he thought that was closer. He also made it to safety. Juvenetti swam for the west bank and never made it. They say he probably died happy because he had Canvasback for dinner the night before and was out doing what he loved the most. Sad story, but part of the lore of the New River.
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