Lets SEE some decoys in your care

Vince Pagliaroli

Vince Pagliaroli

Well-known member

Decoy & Waterfowl Show season is upon us, and not a moment to soon.

Many of us will attend at least one, or more shows throughout the year. Greet old friends and make new friends.


For those of unable to attend shows for various reason.

This thread is for you. The more duckboats members that post on it the better.


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Black cork Bluebills from my rig circa 1985
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Chincoteauge decoys picked up while hunting there
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Long Island old timers, a few decoys from my Teal rig and aold Michigan Coot decoy, on wire stand with Made In the USA minnow trap

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Late 1970 Restle's I've flocked as gadwall using Steve's painting instructions as close as possible. No where close to his talents, but maybe will fool a few Gadwall. Steve thank you for sharing your knowledge!View attachment IMG_3138.jpg
 

Rick -

The teal are by my hand, and saw lots of use during the Ohio Sept.Teal Season. Do you mean the pinch breast drake BW?
 
RF thanks for your post.

Hope more folks decide to add theirs as well. Add a bright spot to the nasty weather many are enduring, until Spring decides to arrive.
 
Vince et al~

"in your care" could mean lots of things....

I take your phrasing to mean that we gunners only use and possess decoys for a certain length of time - we have custody of them. With any luck, they will be passed on to others for future use and enjoyment. Each "owner" is really acting as a "steward". This is the way I typically regard my decoys - and boats and guns and art and a bunch of other things.

Nevertheless, it could also mean any of the decoys others send through my shop for refurbishment. It is in that regard that I offer these photos of a Ken Harris Black Duck that has been in my shop for awhile. I completed it just an hour or so ago.

I have searched unsuccessfully for my BEFORE photos. They are lost on my hard drive - or never got taken. I believe this was a yard sale find - with several ailments. It was missing most of its bill, a big chunk out of it tail, and about a quarter of its original paint. In addition, some unskilled hand - perhaps a child? - had painted the specula with powder blue paint - and "scribbled" the white wing bars in the general vicinity of the blue. There were also inexplicable patches of grey scattered about the face and body.

The decoy was generally sound. It is headed for a life of leisure on the shelf and not hard labor afloat. My charge was to restore it to much of its original condition - but without erasing most of the original paint and hard-earned wear.

Ken Harris carved south of Watertown in northern New York. Woodville is south of Watertown - near the eastern end of Lake Ontario.

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One of the first things I did was to mortise in about a square inch of Balsa into the tail - on the starboard (passenger) side. Here it is faired, sanded and repainted.

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About a quarter of the body paint - and the feather edges - were worn away or painted over with the "mystery grey" . I reconstructed each speculum "from whole cloth" - and I'm not sure if Ken ever painted the trailing White border....

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The bill had been broken off close to the face.

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The new White Pine prosthetic bill was reinforced with "steel" (galvanized ring shank siding nail) and thickened epoxy.

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Ken painted his bills more Olive than Yellow - the difference between Fall migrants on Ontario and over-Wintering visitors on Great South Bay. In any event, he's now ready for many relaxing seasons on the shelf.

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(BTW: Lots more in my care and custody - one way or the other.)

All the best,

SJS












 
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