OUT!! #13: Wooden Waterfowl and Threadbare Hooks

Ever since I got my first book on the subject (a copy of Duck Hunting by Dick Sternburg and Jeff Simpson), I've been infatuated with the romance and practice of waterfowling. While I haven't gotten the chance to go yet, I hope I will be able to at some point. After getting my hunter education certificate almost two Octobers ago, I had hoped I would have gone by now, but something's has always been holding me back. Well, most things about the sport are holding me back, particularly the owning a shotgun, being able to aim at and hit targets, and having the means with which to hunt a particular area are all issues for me, but I have promised myself that it won't stop me now. Not while I still have a chance when I'm still young and have the time.

It's pretty fair to say that I idolize waterfowlers. This might seem like an overstatement, but they are, at least in my opinion, some of the most courteous, conservation-driven, and hard-working men and women in the sporting world. Within their sport exists a passion for quest and quarry that can easily be compared to other forms of hunting like deer, small game, and pheasant. But instead, it has the air of a distinctly American heritage that isn't seen in other sporting cultures around the world such as the private land shoots of European aristocracy or the safaris of Africa and India.

Hand-tied flies are always a joy to see and use.

What initially attracted me to the idea of going out waterfowling was the same thing that had attracted me to fly-fishing; it was the art and craft of making one's own tools for use in the field. In the picture to the left are three streamer flies, two nymphs, and three dry flies that I have tied within the last two years or so. The first thing that jumps to mind is their scruffy appearance which, to the eye of an expert, might put them off and refer to them as an amateur's attempt at trying to copy a natural form. But one has to keep in mind that fish, being wary but fairly simple creatures, tend only to care if they can eat something that fits easily into their mouths. The very earliest flycasters used hooks with barely any feathers and thread and still managed to catch fish, so I'm trying at the very least. Ultimately, when you see at something that you created, catching some finned denizen from a pond or stream, the pride that is felt is enormous. After catching a few panfish on my modified Brassie nymph (the small, brown, fuzzy-headed one with the thin, gold body), I caught a few more with my Fur Ant (the even fuzzier, black one above it). Such good times and yet, I want to go further.

A folksy sort-of attempt at a winter plumage Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

I want to make and hunt over my own decoys. I certainly have the ability and the means to do so. As the photos on the side attest, I have at least mastered the basics of carving and can paint a decent decoy, but I want to excel to something much trickier and that if put to proper use, would be way more rewarding.

A sleeping juvenile plumage Spoon-billed Sandpiper decoy.

Earlier this year I received probably two of the most important inspirations that have spurred my renewed interest in hunting waterfowl. The first was the discovery of Jeff Coats' channel on YouTube. The man has an immense passion for hunting sea ducks and Brant (Branta bernicla) in Maryland, as well as other waterfowl in other parts of the country like the southern bayous or the Pacific coast. After watching his documentation of Pat Vincenti's method of making Susquehanna Flats style Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) decoys as well as his own videos on how he makes working decoys for his guiding business, I was blown away by the dedication the man had to his sport and to his craft of decoy making. Seeing someone willing to put the time and effort into building and maintain their own "blocks" was a real inspiration to me. With that spark, I set out to look for other sources of inspiration. I'm pleased to say that I wasn't disappointed.

Earlier in the summer, I got the opportunity to visit the Ward Museum of Waterfowl Art in Salisbury, MD, a museum dedicated to exhibiting the craft and art form of working and realistic waterfowl decoys, as well as other bird carvings. Some of my favorite pieces came from the namesake of the museum, the Ward brothers themselves, in an exhibit which contained a detailed replica of their workshop down to the paintbrushes, blocks of wood, and carving tools they used to make it all happen. Like most famous decoy carvers, they were originally hunters who carved their own flocks of birds to hunt over. Other famous area decoy makers include Robert F. McGaw, Samuel T. Barnes, and the revered R. Madison Mitchell, who with their own unique carving patterns and styles, maintained a presence in hunting culture within the area. Today, many of their works are considered to be collectables and are prized possessions to many a modern collector.

With all sorts of inspiration around, I recently got down to the how-to of decoy making. After recently finishing of my Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) decoy (needs eyes however), I'm feeling ready to start my flock of decoys. Turning to my beaten up copy of the aforementioned "Duck Hunting", I looked into what supplies I would need to start learning the right skills of the sport I have been reading about all my life. Because I'm interesting in hunting for food, I'm going for dabblers, with some of the better tasting divers like Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) in mind as well. As such, on the list of decoys to make are the following:

10 Mallards (6 m/ 4 f, 2 feeders)
4 Black Duck (2 m/ 2 f, 1 feeder)
4 Wood Duck (2 m/ 2 f)
8 Scaup (4 m/ 4 f)

I'll have pictures of my progress up as I go along, but for now I'm just planning. It's time to make this dream a reality and I will make sure that I achieve it. Let the good times roll. ^_^