In Memory of Manson Meekins

Manson Meekins (1916 to 2018) was always a true gentleman who will be remembered and above all respected. He was mild mannered but when he spoke, you listened intently to see what he had to say. Growing up on the North Carolina Outer Banks in the village of Avon gave him a perspective of the outdoors involving hunting fishing, boat building and living in a coastal environment. By the time Manson was eight years old he was hunting, fishing and making decoys on his own. Not only was he exceptionally inquisitive and bright but had almost total recall of his experiences in life. This eventually made him a very talented story teller.

At the age of ten, Manson was introduced to hunting the reefs out from the Outer Banks around Avon. These reefs wintered large rafts of waterfowl that fed on the eel grass and other vegetation during their southern winter migration. During Mason’s childhood, the older market hunters took out northern waterfowl hunters to hunt the reefs where so many ducks and geese were feeding. They were using curtain boxes and other laydown and sit-up sink boxes that were used earlier during the market hunting days. These seasoned market hunters were experts at hunting waterfowl and Manson idolized them for their knowledge of hunting and the outdoors. When he was 15 he was allowed to shoot from the sink boxes and sometimes assist in setting up for the hunters to shoot. The process of setting up the blinds was dangerous and required skill, often done on windy, nasty weather days in the dark. These market hunting professionals from Avon, like Wilse and John Farrow, Richard Hooper and Nace Gray were idolized by Manson and others in the village of Avon. They had mastered the art of market hunting, the most prosperous occupation of their day and were legendary. Manson could describe in great detail in several newspaper articles, the three kinds of battery blinds used on the reefs around Avon. They were; stationary curtain boxes, lay down floating batteries and sit-up floating batteries.   

Manson joined the Coast Guard in 1935 and had many assignments during and after World War II. Manson married his hometown sweetheart Vera Williams in 1943 while he was on a short leave. He continued to pursue his hunting and fishing interest during his spare time during his service days since he truly enjoyed the outdoors. Manson retired as a commander in 1972 after 37 years in the Coast Guard. He returned to Avon, building a nice home on the waters of Pamlico Sound near his home place. Manson was a great shot with a shotgun before joining the Coast Guard but during the service career he also became a distinguished competitive marksman with a rifle and pistol. When he retired he traveled coastal North Carolina giving pistol and rifle shooting demonstrations.

I first met Manson in the mid-1990s during a trip to his house to look at his decoy collection and talk about decoys and hunting in general. I didn’t know much about Manson’s background at the time but quickly realized I was talking to a very intelligent and unimposing man. I bought a few decoys to include to include a George Washington O’Neal brant from the Gooseville Gun Club that originally belonged to his father, another ardent hunter. Manson invited me to stay for lunch with he and his wife Vera, fresh fried mullet which was delicious and the conversation turned to hunting. He accepted an invitation to hunt with me at Lake Mattamuskeet at the Wing Spread Club. There was 30 years difference in our age but his mind and hunting skills were remarkably sharp. During our hunt at Mattamuskeet I noticed that he was having trouble picking up the incoming ducks due to a cloudy and foggy day. I told him he could shoot the singles and doubles by himself and I would let him know where they were coming from. He quickly limited out, never missing a shot. I finished my limit so back to the lodge we went to talk about hunting and decoys in North Carolina for hours.

Several years later I called Manson and asked him to help me identify the local hunting and carver’s families on the Outer Banks from Rodanthe to Hatteras village for interviews for my new book Gunnin’ Birds. He suggested that I stay with Vera and him for several days during the scheduled interviews. My only request was that they be my guest at dinner each night during my stay. Each restaurant owner immediately came over to our table to talk to Manson and Vera. It was apparent that Manson was a local celebrity who was greatly admired by everyone. I took good notes during each interview and always sent Manson the initial interview text for him to review and edit. He made some important additions and really enjoyed getting into the old hunting history in the area about the old hunters and decoy carvers. He was immensely helpful in gathering and writing the information on this part of the Outer banks.

After my book was published in 2008, I occasionally called Manson to talk about hunting, decoys and the Outer Banks in general. He continued to maintain several blinds out from Avon and served on the Dare County Game and Wildlife Commission that licensed duck blinds and oversaw local hunting regulations. I was always amazed at how sharp his mind was as he was rapidly approaching and passed the 100 old year plateau.

In 2013, Phillip Harvey and I were writing our book on North Carolina shorebird decoys entitled; Shorebird decoys of North Carolina. I asked Manson to write the introduction for shorebird hunting on the Outer Banks area around Avon when he was a young boy. He immediately said you better take good notes and started talking. After 30 minutes I had several pages of notes. His mental recall of his childhood days hunting shorebirds was so detailed that I was astonished. I quickly converted the information to text and sent him a copy. He made a few changes but essentially the introduction was done. Manson was also quite a story teller due to his ability to accurately recall things from the past in great detail. He truly loved his early hunting as a young boy. You see, he was always an Outer Banker from his early childhood to several years over his 100th birthday.          

— Kroghie Andresen