I think every duck hunter should try to carve at least one decoy in his/her lifetime as it's a great way to appreciate one part of what it once took to hunt, before the days of mass produced blow-molded plastics. Imagine having to carve a half dozen to several hundred decoys depending on your location and style of hunting. You'll soon understand why there are so many styles of old decoys! Obviously the guys hunting Cheasapeake Bay or Lake Michigan, competing with thousands of birds on open water, wouldn't put much detail in a decoy as they had to make so many! However, a fella that wanted to hunt a slow moving creek or small river could take a little more time and put more thought/detail into a bird as he might not have as many chances and wanted to make the most of each opportunity. Then again, someone lucky enough to have a nice timber stand could just kick the water and forget about decoys all together...
I've slowed down the past few years as we keep adding family members in the form of screaming babies (which I'm learning are growing into screaming toddlers & 3 yr olds) but I just can't seem to put it down for too long without having to pick up a knife and chip away at a piece of basswood. Anyway, I've rambled enough, here's a pic of a few I've managed to get done the past couple of months. Still need to keel all the divers but I just got the woodduck back as he made a trip to The Chessie Challenge.
Keels ready to go... and by go, I don't mean a ride in the baby doll stroller that's waiting for a repair job.
