Geoff Vine
Active member
Well, it's officially been more than twenty years since I headed down into the dank basement of my mother's hundred year old home determined to "build" my first rig of hand-carved decoys. I was armed with nothing more than a worn copy of Zack Taylor's "Successful Waterfowling" and a very brand new black and white copy of Grayson Chesser's "Making Decoys The Century-old Way". My tools were probably better suited towards tuning up the rusted '72 Chevelle I happened to be driving at the time. I quickly realized that changing the shape of the extremely hard wood I had was going to take a lot more elbow grease than I had anticipated. It took way too long to get through #1 and next five weren't that much easier. They all turned out different, and none of them turned out the way I planned. I won't even mention the struggles that painting pained me with. My vision vs. my skills and understanding of the craft of decoy making were as far aprt as you can get. But forward I went, because the thought of hunting Bluebills in Wisconsin with my own decoys made it all seem worth it.
The goods news is that after all these years I've learned a thing or two. Still, I haven't carved a Bluebill for six or seven years. With them on the decline, I decided it would be best to invest in Canvasbacks, Redheads, Goldeneyes, or even Buffleheads. Something that I thought I had a good chance of finding out on the water in early November. I forgot all about that old Bluebill obsession.
Well lately I've had few orders for Bluebills. I got kinda excited about sitting down and carving one of my all time favorites. The old drake Bluebill. What I didn't realize was that in the process I would re-live twenty years of carving memories. It was a joy to lean into my work with the efficiency and confidence of a veteran carver. I had the same vision for the decoy, but now have the ability to see it come to fruition. I can't tell you how satisfying personally it is to have most of those little things that you've struggled with all these years turn out. So many small things that add up to a decoy that is functionally sound and pleasing to the eye.
I'll be on a layout hunt for Scaup with my son (I hope he's the one that gets the big fat drake) in two weeks on a bay off Lake Superior. It's a gathering ground for Bluebills, and even Mr. President would say we picked the right week for Bluebills in northern Wisconsin. Having my son in the story is a new twist, but the rest of the story is still the same...
I hope you enjoy the photos.
The goods news is that after all these years I've learned a thing or two. Still, I haven't carved a Bluebill for six or seven years. With them on the decline, I decided it would be best to invest in Canvasbacks, Redheads, Goldeneyes, or even Buffleheads. Something that I thought I had a good chance of finding out on the water in early November. I forgot all about that old Bluebill obsession.
Well lately I've had few orders for Bluebills. I got kinda excited about sitting down and carving one of my all time favorites. The old drake Bluebill. What I didn't realize was that in the process I would re-live twenty years of carving memories. It was a joy to lean into my work with the efficiency and confidence of a veteran carver. I had the same vision for the decoy, but now have the ability to see it come to fruition. I can't tell you how satisfying personally it is to have most of those little things that you've struggled with all these years turn out. So many small things that add up to a decoy that is functionally sound and pleasing to the eye.
I'll be on a layout hunt for Scaup with my son (I hope he's the one that gets the big fat drake) in two weeks on a bay off Lake Superior. It's a gathering ground for Bluebills, and even Mr. President would say we picked the right week for Bluebills in northern Wisconsin. Having my son in the story is a new twist, but the rest of the story is still the same...
I hope you enjoy the photos.
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