doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Shooting old guns over wooden decoys

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.