Funeral services were held Tuesday for a 57-year-old Belcamp man who died Saturday after his boat overturned while duck hunting in the waters off Talbot County.
Brian D. Durham was in a 10-foot "sneak boat," a small boat that sits low in the water to lower a duck hunter's profile when near a flock of ducks, which overturned as he was hunting with two friends at the mouth of Eastern Bay, Candy Thomson, the spokeswoman for the Maryland Natural Resources Police, said Tuesday.
His fellow hunters were in a larger boat about 150 yards away. Thomson said waterfowl hunters typically use a larger boat as a base of operations for their groups, and then they will get in the sneak boat individually to shoot at the ducks.
Thomson said the three hunters left the boat ramp on the shores of Crab Alley Bay around 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Mr. Durham was the second member of the trio to use the sneak boat after the first hunter killed his limit of ducks.
They were in the water between Bodkin Island to the north and the town of Claiborne to the south. Thomson said the water is 26 to 35 feet deep in that area, citing depth charts.
She said Mr. Durham got in the sneak boat around 10 a.m. He shot at a flock twice, but he did not hit anything, and his friends called him on their two-way radio to tease him.
He shot three times at another flock that came in, but he again did not hit any birds. Thomson said Mr. Durham's fellow hunters called him on the radio, but they did not hear anything.
She said they became "alarmed" when a third flock came down and they did not hear any shots.
"His friends became alarmed, because not only did he not answer their last call, now he's not shooting at the ducks," Thomson explained.
She said they looked through a pair of binoculars, and they saw the sneak boat was upside down. The hunters sped over to Mr. Durham, and they found him floating in the water.
Thomson said they called 911, and they held onto Mr. Durham until help arrived. She said a Maryland State Police helicopter circled over the hunters' boat while they waited for water rescue. A Talbot County fire and rescue boat then arrived.
Mr. Durham was taken to the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton, where he was pronounced dead at 12:25 p.m., Thomson said.
Foul play is not suspected in his death.
"There's no reason to suspect anything happened, other than it was a tragic hunting accident," Thomson said.
She said an autopsy was performed Sunday.
"The cause and manner of death in the case of Mr. Durham are still pending," Bruce Goldfarb, spokesman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, said via email.
The funeral for Mr. Durham was held Tuesday at Bruzdzinski Funeral Home P.A. in Essex, according to an obituary posted on the funeral home's website.
Mr. Durham was also a member of the board of directors for the Maryland Taxidermists Association.
"He was a long-time member of our association and dedicated so much time to helping others in the industry," according to a notice posted on the association's website. "There are no words to express our sadness and Brian will be missed greatly by many."
"Brian was a great friend to many and played a huge part of our association for many years," Jess McLean, secretary of the Maryland Taxidermists Association said in an email. "He will be greatly missed by many people. Brian had a love of hunting and was always willing to try something new."