Odcca Show

K

ken yacavone

Active member
At the ODCCA and the GLDA show you will be able to vote to see if you would like the two shows at the same venue same time. A new venue near by has been scouted out. This would take place 2021.
The new hotel offers some enhancements like live steaming the pool contest to each room. Many people are talking about returning the pool contest to what it was.
Look for the ballot box.
Thanks
Ken
 
Good morning, Ken~


Sounds interesting. I plan to head west one of these years. These shows are always right after our Long Island show and I am not ready to jump in the car again....


More important. Please tell us more about "the pool". Others mentioned it - wistfully for days gone by - in earlier posts.


All the best,


SJS

 
Hello Steve,
Originally the pool contest held on Sunday morning was a hunting decoy contest. Some of the guidelines were four hours to make deke, simple paint that could be touched up by the average hunter, dekes tossed in the pool and must self right. no detailed bill carving, must be able to endure normal hunting conditions Etc.
The contest had changed over the years as different people oversaw it. I'am not the person who has all the information on it as it is today. Hopefully someone will fill everyone in.
thanks for your interest
ken
 
Ken,

What do you mean when you say, "returning the pool contest to what it was"?

As an ODCCA member and an attendee of the show for 19 straight years, I understand what the show was like back in Westlake and how and why it transitioned to Strongsville. What do you think makes the pool competition that much different today? Number of entries? Rules? Prizes for winning decoys?

I am not trying to challenge, I just want to make sure I understand when I cast my ballot in a couple of weeks. The pool rules have changed some over the years, but the concept seems to me to be pretty much the same.

Interested in your thoughts.

Brad
 
Brad,
My opinion is some highly painted decoys have made their way into the pool. Touch up by average hunter? Four hour decoy?
Some decoy makers who make a true hunting decoy may feel there is no where to compete at the show so they quit coming.
Some of those decoys should have competed in the tanks.
Just my opinion
I don't speak for the club.
Thanks
Ken
 
ken yacavone said:
Brad,
My opinion is some highly painted decoys have made their way into the pool. Touch up by average hunter? Four hour decoy?
Some decoy makers who make a true hunting decoy may feel there is no where to compete at the show so they quit coming.
Some of those decoys should have competed in the tanks.
Just my opinion
I don't speak for the club.
Thanks
Ken
Click to expand...



Tell it like it IS Bro!


Best regards
Vince
 
I will not be casting a ballot, the same for a group of us who WERE NOT given a voice regarding the change of time for the pool comp, among other things.
Until the petty politics and backbiting cease, I can only hope that those now involved will see the error of their ways, and return to what they had before the iwca camel stuck its nose under the tent.
Hopefully, they can figure out that a tree cannot survive without its roots.[ninja][angelic]
 
Ken,

Thanks for the response and I agree with your sentiment and have heard others saying similar things. I am not trying to debate with you personally, but as one way of thinking vs. another. I also do NOT speak for the club. There are countless others with more "clout" than I that can weigh in, but I think the biggest conundrum with that competition is the varying skill level of entrants. (True of most competitions, though) What many others can do in 4 hours may take me 20. Touch up by the average hunter..... some of the guys I hunt with couldn't "touch up" a black and white bleach bottle decoy. I don't have the answers either, but I remember back when I started coming to the show in Westlake, I was in awe at the level of decoys showing up in the pool....or at least compared to what I could turn out. I don't know how to write the rules to "level" the playing field so all are welcome. Most people who frequent this forum and others I visit have forgotten more about carving and painting than I have ever known, but I still enjoy cranking out a couple of birds to get wet in the pool. It's more of a social event for me and if I never earn a blue ribbon, I'll sleep just fine tonight.

For a lot of people, I think combining the shows again would be a good thing. I know it is tough on a lot of the vendors that have to choose between the shows or make two trips back to back weekends. I have great memories of visiting all the rooms and seeing some of the great old decoys at the Westlake show that just aren't around the show in Strongsville. I'm not sure how the issues that drove the clubs apart will be resolved to bring them together again.

Thanks again, for your thoughts.

Brad
 
I have been going to OHIO for over 20 years and the pool contest unfortunately is not the same and the same holds true for the show itself. I also believe in the case of the show as a whole that splitting the two groups and changing the venue was that start of a down hill slide. In Westlake things were more consolidated and a visitors could get a real flavor for things.

Having kids painting in the lobby and demos both upstairs and down were great for capturing peoples attention and sharing the craft of both decoy making as well a bird carving. The head carving contest which no longer exists was a great talking point and the first stop for folks walking through the door that were not really there for the show.

The rules in the pool and the whole idea of it being a gunning decoy contest aimed at a block the average hunter can use and maintain has gone out the window. I think this is in part the result of people not giving a s#%* about the rules, and some folks over seeing things not want to throw stuff out that didn't follow the rules for fear of losing contestants. Back in the day if you pushed the limit you got tossed, it was part of the game and you took your chances. Having had blocks thrown out on one or two occasions, I know.

But no hard feelings and it reined people back in to comply with the spirit of carving a HUNTING DECOY. This was the heart and soul of the pool contest.

I will not be in OHIO this year since I have no desire to be involved in a pool contest at night in a pool that is disconnected from the rest of the event. IMHO things need to take a step back and have the two clubs back together if for no reason that to stop competing for the same vendors and quests. The gunning decoy and rig contest need to step back and take a hard look at what things were all about. The rules as ken has laid them out we be a great start. Just my two cents
 
Head carving contest was suspended after a contestant severed an artery in his thigh. Luckily an EMT was walking into the lobby and helped. Contestant went to hospital and had surgery to stop the pumper.
Ken
 
Oh I remember that very well the person that was attending to him claimed to be an ER nurse so I went and got my med kit out of the truck and gave it to him. But is everyone quit carving because we got cut there would be no carvers. A well crated Liability release would take care of things, and it was a poor excuse to stop this potion of the show IMHO
 
My dealings with the club has shown everyone involved wants to see the 42 year tradition go on. They are working very hard to see that happen. It's good to get input from as many people as possible.
Do we make changes as the world changes? Do we keep things the same? Keep in mind it is impossible to be everything to everyone.
Two good thoughts are... no one is as smart as we all are. And do on to others as you would have others do on to you.

Is a show that doesn't please everyone better than no show at all?

Bomber thanks for your help in that crazy medical emergency.
Thanks
Ken
 


From the first ODCCA show at the Westlake Holiday Inn, until the show moved to Strongsville. I looked forward to, and attended the show each year

Even though I attended other shows, Westlake was the high point each and every year.

It had the magic, and you could feel the electricity in the air soon as you walked in.


John Sharp working on one of his master carvings, right there as soon as ya walked in the front door...

Just one of many incredible memories, over many years.

Friendships that last until today.


IMO the split between the collectors and the carvers, ruined the best decoy show in the country.


Way back when, the collectors and the carvers had common ground - Gunning Decoys, old and new, from every flyway in North America.

Then the flood gates opened, and there were/are contests of every kind, offering lotta $$$$$.

Specialization, instead of generalization took over, and excluded more folks than it included.


Gunning Decoys, the kind people make just to hunt over, and not win prizes got left WAY Behind, and looked down upon.

Things got convoluted, and animosity began to build, and then it all boiled over.


Mary Lee and I attended the Strongsville show, just once, to see old friends.

For us the magic was gone, and it was like attending a decoy show at a truck stop.

As Easton MD is to the Easton Show, Westlake, is to the Ohio Show.


The old times are past, and will not return.

How we get the magic back is a major concern, if not sole purpose.



just my 2 cents
VP
 
Seems to me that over the years, since the camel stuck its nose under the tent, folks have forgotten what a HUNTING DECOY is all about.
As stated earlier, kill the roots, the tree will die. That's a fact, Yac.[;)]
 
"I will not be in OHIO this year since I have no desire to be involved in a pool contest at night in a pool that is disconnected from the rest of the event."

It's been a few years since I attended...they changed it to night?

Y'all need to get this figured out, my oldest whos 11 wants to go, I've just been putting it off til he was old enough to know what was going on and what its all about. Hate for him to go once and then not want to go back.
 
A few people want to air their dislikes about the show. That's ok. Last year's show, rooms were sold out, auction was great
, club had a good show and made money.
Sure I miss 1991 and the good old days but those days are gone Need to work on making today's shows better.
GLDA is working to leave the Westlake facility because of poor service. Nothing stays the same.
Ken
 
It's not like folks were unaware of all this crapola. It's not that we want something new for the sake of "newness", we just got tired of being treated like red headed stepchildren.!
Hope the board learn that it is not a good idea to poo in your own kennel![ninja]
 

I have no skin in the game.

As we do not go to either show.

When and if the clubs do get back together, that could be of interest.

Good luck with the endeavor, and the future.


VP
 
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