Not too long ago, I virtually gave away the final of my plastic mallard decoys. It was such a deal, that the man I bought them to nearly felt responsible. However I didn’t have use for them any extra. For about two years, I’ve slowly been build up a rig of all picket decoys. Most come from decoy carver buddies of mine, others are antiques, and one I even carved myself.
You may suppose that is silly, loopy, or simply one other hipster-hunter idiosyncrasy like taking pictures a side-by-side (and yeah, I try this generally, too). However for me, it provides one thing to duck searching I wouldn’t need to lose. It began once I hunted with a decoy carver over a very picket rig whereas on project for a narrative. Now, I spend a giant a part of day-after-day taking a look at outdated picket geese. It’s a little bit of an obsession and never for everyone, however listed here are a number of the explanation why and the way you may give it a strive.
Picture through Jamie Hand.
The Actual Query is, Why Plastic?
Earlier than the plastic decoy, everyone hunted over wooden. Some corporations made them, whereas many had been carved and painted by hand in small outlets throughout the nation. We would have a look at plastic decoys as being nearly disposable at this time, however a rig of carved picket decoys could be handed down from era to era, getting touched up with paint every time.
When corporations discovered how one can make dependable plastic decoys, they took over. Plastic decoys had been cheaper and simpler to provide—and corporations satisfied hunters that plastic decoys had been extra reasonable and, due to this fact, labored higher. However though plastic decoys introduced in geese, one thing received misplaced. And the argument for extra reasonable decoys bringing in additional geese is skinny at finest. (In reality, a hand-carved picket unfold is a positive approach to set your self aside from the gang when searching pressured birds.)
The sorts of decoys I wish to hunt over are extra the carver’s thought of a duck than a precise illustration of the animal. They’ve movement though they’re sitting nonetheless. They journey the water in another way than plastic, and so they’re loads nicer to have a look at than simply mendacity round the home. Extra importantly, conventional decoy carvers are retaining American people artwork alive via distinctive regional kinds. In case you’re into that type of factor, plastic decoys simply don’t lower it.
Picture through Jerry Talton.
You Spend a Lot Extra Time Decoys Than You Do Capturing Birds
I don’t have to inform you {that a} day of duck searching is a day of staring out over the water punctuated with simply seconds of intense motion. That’s one more reason why I want searching over hand-carved decoys. They’re simply extra enjoyable to look at on the water than plastic decoys. I get one thing out of setting every one, and I consider the one who carved it each time I’m going searching.
Sustaining and carving picket decoys additionally provides me one thing to do within the offseason. It’s means higher than simply hosing off a rig of plastic decoys and hanging them up within the storage. As a substitute, I get to show my searching decoys round the home year-round. Some may have to be touched up with paint, whereas others simply have to be cleaned. Not like chicken mounts, carved decoys solely get higher with age. I additionally get loads out of trying to find extra picket decoys at auctions, from carver buddies, or decoy festivals. I’m solely in a position to price range for about two to 4 decoys per yr, however I’ll have them for the remainder of my life.
Picture through Jamie Hand.
Able to Make the Change? Right here’s How
If you wish to get into picket decoys, there are a number of methods to go about it and some issues to contemplate. For one, there’s a robust collector market on the market. Vintage decoys will be outrageously costly, however you shouldn’t let that scare you. Whether or not you’re shopping for from a carver or an public sale, try to be conscious that you just’re going to spend within the hundreds, not lots of of {dollars}, to construct up a rig of a couple of dozen-and-a-half geese. There are some cheaper methods to do that, although.
I principally purchase new decoys from two carvers, Jamie Hand of Southern New Jersey and Jerry Talton of North Carolina. Every carve hollow-bodied decoys in regional kinds that look extra stripped down and glossy in comparison with what you’re most likely used to with a plastic decoy. I additionally like to select up vintage decoys at Guyette and Deeter’s on-line public sale home if the value is correct.
Typically, you could find decoys carved within the 80s and 90s that aren’t too costly and aren’t too helpful to tackle the water. The oldest decoys in my rig had been two pintails carved within the Fifties. I want hollow-body cedar or white pine decoys as they’re much lighter to hold and so they float higher than strong our bodies. Cork can be standard, particularly in diver rigs, however I’ve discovered it to be too heavy for the best way I hunt.
Carved decoys roughly fall into three classes: gunning decoys, slicks, and ornamental. Gunning decoys are constructed for searching. They’ve much less element and are supposed to get just a little beat up. They’re priced accordingly at round $100 to $400 every. Slicks are extra fancy and costly and might price upwards of $700 to $1,000 every. They’re the most effective a carver can produce, and most of the people purchase them to placed on a shelf. Ornamental decoys look loads like plastic decoys. They’re made to appear like actual geese, not in a selected fashion. Personally, I don’t get loads out of them. I really feel they miss the purpose relating to decoy carving as practical people artwork, and if I needed an ideal illustration of a duck, I’d simply go together with plastic decoys.
In case you can’t afford to purchase picket decoys, you possibly can all the time study to carve your individual. That is essentially the most enjoyable, however there’s a studying curve. Attempt to discover a good instructor (decoy reveals are good locations to look) or a very good e-book, like Grayson Chesser’s Making Decoys: The Century Outdated Method. So far as instruments, the most effective decoy carvers I do know nonetheless use the sorts of instruments you’d discover in a woodshed—a hatchet, a wooden carving knife, and a few sandpaper.
Some carvers use energy instruments, however as my good friend Jerry Talton Places it, “In case you’re working a grinder, you’re listening to a grinder and choking on sawdust. In case you’re utilizing hand instruments, you’ve received sweet-smelling cedar chips falling at your ft, and also you’re listening to George Jones.”
Picture through Jerry Talton.
Purchase at Least One
Modern and vintage picket decoys aren’t low-cost, so don’t go on the market anticipating to construct a rig of them in a single day. In case you’re a waterfowler, although, you must have not less than one picket decoy in your home. Decoy carvers are retaining an outdated waterfowling custom alive, and so they can’t do it except we purchase their decoys.
The best approach to get into picket decoys is to seek out one that you just’d wish to placed on the shelf. If it isn’t too helpful, you may even need to add it to your plastic rig for good luck. And earlier than you already know it, you’ll be as obsessive about them as I’m.
Characteristic picture through Jerry Talton.
