I made a comment to Canvasback about shooting that beautiful Lindner over some ancient decoys a month or so ago and couldn’t shake it. SOOOO

I believe I will try out my Lefever over these. I bought all the reasonable factory decoys on flea bay that I could find, patched, sanded and started painting. Here are couple pics.
I’m sure some of you guys have done this so please share some pics of your guns with your dekes.

I worked up some 9k psi 1 1/8 bismuth loads for the old girl. Just need to finish all 15 of these dekes, rig and make sure they set well in the water,

I remember the comment. It was/is a great idea and I’m really glad to see what’s you’ve done. Dare I say it?? A bit inspiring!

I am surprised how well these old rough turned factory decoys look with new paint, those guys new what they were doing. Here in Kentucky I have always hunted( not to much) with hen mallard decoys, they seem to work for all our puddle ducks. So most of mine will look like that.
I also found carved wooden dove decoys


Guess in my older age 50 now I will strive for quality hunting not quantity.

Everyone should hunt over a set of carved decoys just once. I use to shoot over 10 Ward Brother decoys I had. Would mix them into a spread of other working carved decoys. Did this one time with a guest Doctor from Easton MD. He was a self proclaimed expert of carved decoys from the Chesapeake Bay. Well you know I put the decoys out in total darkness and waited as light improved. Just about shooting time I made the simple remark to not shoot low into my decoys as I often do with guest. About ten minutes later my new Doctor friend made the remark that the canvasback decoys were a fair copy of a Ward decoy. They should be I said, they carved them.

He was a pain in the ass all morning long about them. Wanted to hold them, see them up close, find out how I came into possession of them and of course sell them to him. So while he was holding a hen canvasback I told him the truth. I found them at the trash dump. Somebody had cleaned out a garage and threw them out. In fact they were about to burn up when I saw them. Back then fires were common at the dump. I wanted the weights they still had on them and did not have a knife on me to cut the weight off. So I put them into the back of the truck and took them home to cut the weights off. Only after I took them home and washed them off, with a garden hose, did I see they were fairly nice looking. Wife gave me Hell for bring trash back from the dump.

A hunting buddy said he thought they were Ward brother decoys. I had heard about them but did not know much about them. Both Ward brothers were still alive back then, so I rode down to see if they knew who carved them. They had that high head style, that they used, but others copied that style. Sure enough I was told they were their work. Lem said if I wanted he could repaint them for me. I did get a pair repainted but left the rest as is. Price for the "new" paint was a silly $20.00 each with signatures. Some days I wish I had them all repainted and other days none. That is how it is.

Now I am nearly as old as they were back then and many carvers who were still alive and working like Delbert "Cigar" Daisey and a host of other Chincoteague VA carvers are gone. Lem and Steve were the only Chrisfield carvers I knew of, but there were others. I met them when they were old men and I too young to understand their true greatness. For a man, to take a block of wood and shape it into something which will fool a black duck is a truly marvelous thing. By the way the Ward Brothers were barbers by trade and they hated cutting hair. Family business but not their first love by far.

Ky, that is one marvelous story.

Great pictures Jt. I'll admit to only plastic out in the field for me. It's not too interesting, but I have to carry them, now and then for a good way. I'm still at the point that I just enjoy getting out. I'll borrow an autoloader and beater waders rather than skip field time waiting on my favorite gear, and that doesn't mean big harvest numbers for me, though I do like to see lots of birds work the area.

Please check your private message board, Jt.

SRH

Jon, Great story about the Ward Bros. blocks. I can imagine the look on the man's face when he saw them for the first time. The circa 1936 Canvasback decoys were some of their finest. Depending on condition, I don't need to tell you of their value. Fire was the nemesis of numbers of old decoys. When the shorebird hunting ban was enacted, I've read accounts that many shorebird decoys were fed into carver's pot-bellied stoves for heat. JTP, neat old dove decoys. Someone spent some time doing the relief work. As for your wooden duck decoys, I recognize the Animal Trap/Victor decoys on the right side of the photo with their distinctive lathe marks. I believe they were made in two locations: Lititz, PA and Pascagoula, MS. Here's a pair of dove decoys I carved from tupelo gum butt swells. They are made to sit on dove field dummy powerlines. Simple but effective. Gun is a 1949 Ithaca M37R 16 ga. Gil

I love hunting doves over decoys. Wish I could find some old wooden ones for myself.
Years ago a guy ran ads in Shooting Sportsman selling a decoy set of wooden dove decoys. But they were not in my budget in those days.

Thanks
Awesome dove decoys and obviously effective.
I have some old mason Blue bills I display in my book case that my father in law gave me. He found 10 rigged in a burlap bag at his fathers house. I kept 2 of the best and gave the rest to my wife’s siblings since they were family items. I would never hunt those 2.

I hope none of these old gunning decoys weren’t collectors items, they were very inexpensive.

Here are a couple of photos of my dad out hunting on the Delta Marsh over some of the decoys he and I carved. I think he was around 80 then. He is 91 now but no longer hunting. He did though up until he was 88.

Very nice! Dekes look awesome

I still kick myself for not buying a pintail decoy from Cigar Daisey but back then. $300.00 seemed like the world. Worse I later found out that was for a pair not just one. Still, $300 back then was as big as a few grand is today, maybe more then. Oh to be young and poor(er) again.

Honestly, modern factory plastic decoys are ultra realistic and better than hand carved in many ways. Not so much in rough water perhaps but I no longer hunt in rough water. I still admire the talent to carve a Block of word into anything that can fool a Black Duck. I can think of no higher proof of carving skill.

Nice story about the Ward brother decoys KY Jon. I used to listen to stories from my dad and an older uncle (both deceased) hunting over wooden decoys, with the uncle telling stories about hunting with wood decoys and live English calling ducks.

Would have been fun to experience that!

I have read a couple good accounts of the Armistice Day Storm of 1940. Both my parent remembered it as we live near the Mississippi River. More than one party survived the night by burning their decoys.

I've yet to see a shotgun photo on this site of a shotgun that has sold at auction for as much as some old gunning decoys sell at auction. Gil

Here's what's left of my first decoy rig. Somehow none of the drakes remain. I carved these through the summer when I was 15 then shot over them that fall. Some were painted by my brother who would have been 10, so that's 43 years ago. Kind of dodgy-looking but we had no experience, patterns, or even electricity. We did have live models though because we fed wild mallards through the summer. The dekes worked well and it was pretty satisfying hunting over them.

I've hunted over a few reconditioned wood decoys, but never have had a full rig of them. One sunk.

Taking valuable antique duck decoys hunting is about like using a Cadillac Escalade for a woods truck. Too much depreciation...Geo

My father being the pragmatic type, gave away a couple of dozen carved wooden decoys when plastic or rubber decoys came into vogue. I couldn't tell you who carved them, but I remember them laying around collecting dust, unless us kids were playing with them for some reason and cleaned the dust off them. As was his MO, he also had 3-4 WW 1 era McClellan saddles he gave away, that "took up too much space and weren't needed or used."

I use a pigeon grade model 42 as my first choice for dove and most sporting clay shooting. It is still high condition but not mint. So I understand about depreciation by using it. Not as extravagant as your example but close to many. But I don’t abuse it and bought it to shout. Not sit in some safe as a safe queen. This one is real but I know that there are many that are nit. There are a large number of upgraded 42’s that are all now mint condition pigeon grade guns. So the end is not net for them.

I remember that ad PALUNC. I think they came in a nice dovetail wooden box, if I recall correctly. I coveted those decoys but they weren't in my budget either.

I've got about a dozen wood dove decoys that Dale Dalrymple made for me a few years ago. He does nice work and is reasonably priced.

Ky.Jon, I shoot my finest guns too. Just like I wouldn't have a Cadillac and not drive it. But, just as I wouldn't use an Escalade for a woods truck, I don't drag my best guns through a swamp to get to a beaver dam where the woodies are ganged up either. I don't have any valuable decoys so it doesn't matter to me if I want to use mine to hunt over. If I owned a collection of Wards or Crowells the answer would be different...Geo

I knew a Doctor who bought A Mercedes station wagon years before they were common place and did use it as a hunting vehicle. Dog box in back, hunting gear and decoys just loaded in like it was a International Scout. Well he did have fancy bags for all his gear and decoys. His gun of choice was a couple Browning Superposed O/U. Then again he had more money than I ever will have to play with.

Great stories and photos, thanks for sharing.

I have a few old wooden decoys, cork, paper machete decoys, etc. In all types I have found that a good cleaning, often just soap and water have perked them up significantly. I do not hunt over them but most of them would be fine for that. all of the wooden decoys have stories.

I have four generations worth of decoys. Back to my great grandfather's from around 1900 or so. Mostly factory but some local carvers too. Later decoys are mostly cork or balsa with white cedar heads. I like to keep a few oldies in the rig and have some old wooden boats too. No motors, just a push pole and oars. All of this stuff was used on the south jersey marshes along the Delaware River. Now it resides on the eastern shore of Maryland and I will use it as long as I am able.

Hey hammer gun, what kinda gun do hunt with when you get nostalgic? Any pics

Wildfowler made some nice factory blocks, mostly balsa bodies, from 1939 for about 70 years. It had several owners who moved the company from place to place. Not highly collectible but had great lines and nice paint. Company made the Old Saybrook line of decoys. One owner of the company would hunt here in the lowcountry at a friend's place years ago when we had ducks. Gil

I've been supplying a grad student with blocks of basswood to use for teal decoys. With a little luck, we will shoot over them this fall. Not too long actually.

My cabin, in the area where I was born, produced a number of decoy carvers over the years, most notably Duncan Ducharme. He used to cut my hair when I was a very young lad. I think he charged 25 cents. There were numerous wealthy and well known people who hunted the Delta Marsh in by gone years, hunting over what are now considered prized wooden decoys. My dad guided many of those hunters and became friends with several over the years.

Brian, I think I recognize some of those trees!

Nice pics BTW!

Those photos were taken by my dad's friend that he guided that morning, a retired wildlife biologist who spent most of his life in the Yukon studying woodland caribou. He was on a quest to hunt every legal species of bird in North America using an antique Scottish damascus hammer gun. One of his desired hunts was to hunt canvasback on the Delta Marsh over a rig of hand carved decoys.

No pics but lately been using a heavy, tight choked Fox. I have others I've used. Greener, Baker , Ithaca. Sometimes an A-5 or grandpop's Savage auto. I like to exercise all of them.

I love shooting ducks over my carved decoys.

Gorgeous Labrador

ddog, nice work on the mallards. Did you do the carving and painting? Gil

Me too. Have lots of old wood decoys, some I made, some found walking shorelines as a kid, and some given to me by old hunters. Many have been hunted over at Oak Point north of Delta, up near the Narrows, and up in the Saint Lakes. And on many of the best diver lakes in North Dakota. Used to put out 44 divers including canvasbacks, redheads, scaup, and buffleheads. Lots of work bringing the lead-keeled, long-lined "carrylites" in, especially when iced up in strong winds with the lines and anchors full of sago pondweed. I've been donating the birds to Wildlife Society fundraisers. Oh and yes, shot over exclusively with doubles including muzzleloaders.

No. I had them made for me by Rick Brown in New Jersey. He once owned the old Wildfowler decoy factory.

For those of you that make or restore old wooden decoys, this grad student carving his would be interested in you prefer to rig them (shallow water), and where you find your lead keels - or the mold to cast them. And some other questions I can pester you about, but those two are good to start. Looks like I might get a hunt over wooden dekes after all.

Jtplumb, what grade is your D.M. Lefever crossbolt gun? And was it made in Syracuse, Bowling Green, or Defiance?

1905-6 9f it’s the one 6 months ago I was trying to figure out what imperial steel was. I just shoot less than 10k psi in it, has plenty of thickness, fluid steel and weighs 7.75 lbs.

I used to duck hunt quite a bit before I bought a plumbing company now not so much. Hope to retire soon, hunt with my boys till I expire.

Unfortunately I sold that boat to a friend and I ceased to duck hunt for about a decade. With a heater I could hunt in a tee shirt

Brent I used to cut keels from sheet lead and cast anchors in an old adjustable wrench handle so it makes a hole for the line. Rather than knots I crimped lines on birds and anchors with a split piece of copper tubing. Never had one let go. Remember to cut your lines so the last figure 8 wrap lets you bend the anchor around the head, leaving no loose line. That way you can bag your decoys and don't need individual pouches. Fifteen life-size or slightly larger decoys will fit into an old GI seabag. Situation and boat type determine whether to empty bags to bottom of boat and leave ashore or bring full bags and use for camo or dog comfort when out in the blind.

Great stuff Hal and I have always used military bags both sizes in my boats.
Thanks

I like burlap bags for my decoys because I can use them to camouflage the boat. Anyone else ever note that when you cut your lines so that the last figure eight leaves just enough line to wrap the weight around the decoy neck, if anyone else does it it never comes out even like when you do it?...Geo

Back when we had the ducks, one of the most common of the big ducks, was the black duck. Late season the red legs would show-up. My favorite decoy was the oversized Bean Coastal made by George Soule. Cork bodies with wooden heads. A few in the brackish water marsh pot holes was all it took to have them cautiously circle and drop in. They weren't easy, but when you were successful it was worth the effort. Gil

Hal, we will crimp lines and he will have to choose his anchor style first, but what I was asking about was the lead keel to keep the decoy upright. Maybe they are not always used, but he believes they are needed. I'm just a plastic deke guy with a lot of basswood, lead and a furnace and ladle.

I'm sort of an enabler I guess.

I've got an old cast iron strip decoy anchor mold around here somewhere. I could pour 4-5 strips at a time. The strips were wrapped around the block's neck. They were good for ponds and still water. For river currents, I used a spade bit to cut a 1.5" hole into wood. I'd make an Omega symbol shaped piece of 100 lbs. test solid stainless leader wire that I'd place in the cast lead while still melted to attach the line. I'd cut rings from a bicycle inner tube and attach them to the anchor to secure the anchor to the block's neck. Gil

Pretty neat trick building the duck boat, Jt. Looks a lot like a Banks boat.

SRH

GLS,
The "Do It" moulds sold on ebay in many configurations for sinkers and decoy anchors include the strips style as well as various sizes of mushroom, and other shapes. I just bought a mushroom style mould from them.

I really like the idea of using a tool handle mould if I have one that works. That's genius.

Still looking for a source of decoy keel weights.

I'm still trying to figure out how the adjustable wrench handle "mould" makes a hole in the lead strip. I've moulded lots of round balls and decoy weights, but I'm drawing a blank on this. There's a hole in the end of the wrench handle, but that won't create a hole in the lead you pour into it, the lead will just run down into the hole in the handle.

What am I missing?

SRH

Sorry. On most old adjustable wrenches there is a thinner area in the handle; there to reduce weight would be my guess. This is where the brand name appears, e.g., Crescent. Anyway, pour molten soft lead into that area with the wrench level. Plug the hanger hole with a dowel and remove it when lead cools. Do not use wheel weights as anchors will be brittle and hard to bend.

Lots of great ideas! Two schools of decoy design...flat or round bottoms. I made mostly the latter and tried to duplicate factory Masons. They are much lighter and smaller so more per bag and no sharp edges; some say their flashier rolling action can be a plus. But many great hunters and carvers like the flat bottoms with generous wood keel, striving for stability. I made some flat bottom Buffleheads with scrap freezer cork. A dowel through the basswood head and into the pine bottom makes them very strong.

Pictures Hal!

And not just of the portrait profiles. Lets see those bottoms too. Interesting.

I admit I'm coming to this thread late....I've been carving for 27 years now, first with basswood, then brown cork and finally white cedar. My early season gun is a Citori and my late season gun is a Rem 1894 in 10 ga with 32" barrels.

With the time and effort I put into carving and touch up painting, its killing me to see someone advocate wrapping a strap weight around a decoy neck. Years ago I went to H style weights. Wrap the lines around the ears on the weight, give the line a half hitch to secure it to the weight and drop it into its own pocket in a bag.

Your kids/grandkids will thank you.

I wish I was a little more computer savvy so I could post picks of some of the decoys I've carved....

Mergus

google John Bourbon Jr and duck decoys to see some pics or the next time you are on Tilghman Island in Md, stop by the Tilghman Island Country Store to see some for sale.

Mergus, if you send pictures by email to me, I'll be glad to post them for you. brent@iastate.edu. If they don't show up in a day, email me again. Somehow email has gone missing lately, but it's still 98% effective anyway.

Guilty. C'est la vie. Gil

Working decoys get damaged in so many other ways. I used to repair annually and touch up the oil paint every few years.

It's hard to baby a bagged spread of several dozen diving duck decoys while they ride in a boat over a chop. Gil

Agree. I made them to use, not baby. When you are out in a canoe in the dark in a wind, I'm not concerned that I might put a scratch in them. That's why they make paint and brushes. Touch them up when needed and keep using them. Been doing it for 30 years. Actually, we used to sell quite a few decoys. You would be surprised at the number of buyers who wanted decoys that looked like they had been used!