Have you ever wanted to kill 90 birds simultaneously? Well you’re in luck!

This is the punt gun, a 19th century invention made to harvest large numbers of waterfowl. This thing was basically a piece of artillery mounted on small boats. A hunter would quietly sneak up next to a large group of bird’s and fire. Each firing would dispense more than a pound of shot through the guns 2 inch diameter barrel.

It was not unusual for such a band of hunters to acquire as many as 500 birds in a single day.

Unsurprisingly, using punt guns had a very negative impact on the number of birds in the ecosystem. By the mid-19th century, a majority of U.S. states had outlawed the use of punt guns — but they continued to be used in Britain.

Check out more photos of the punt gun here:
http://mashable.com/2015/06/02/punt-gun/

Post by: Nicholas Graham Platt