A Reminder of Seasons Past (Pics added)

[Eric Patterson]

This weekend Thomas and I spent some time getting ready for the season. Much of the time was used to renew decoys looking a bit tired. Included in that batch are 6 canvasback decoys. Thomas asked where I got them and it occurred to me they were the first decoys I ever bought. My high school trig teacher was a hard core waterfowler in the 70s but by the early 80s was selling his stuff. He and some friends had regular decoy boiling parties and turned out numerous Decoys Unlimited eps foam decoys. I bought a dozen from him my sophomore year. I killed my first Canada goose over them. It was a St. James Bay migrator, not the golf course geese we have today. That same season my outboard motor dumped gasoline that got on the decoys. Four turned into a pile of goo, napalm so I'm told, in front of my eyes. Over the years a couple more were lost and I'm down to a half dozen. Tom Tschabold burlapped them for me about 8 year ago and prevented their retirement. In need of new paint Thomas and I reworked them together and they have that new look again which is always satisfying. Hard to believe they've been in my rig for something like 32 seasons. With Thomas destined to be a life long waterfowler I can easily see these decoys being used for many more years. Seems like most decoys are decomissioned when they need paint or a new model comes out. These fellas will easily see 50 years of service, probably more. Wish I could have afforded more than a dozen. I never really gave it much thought until the paint was drying and Thomas was rigging them. Wow, how time flies and here we are ready to start another season.


How about you guys. Anybody have a decoy rig or other item that hs been with you since the beginning of your hunting career?

Thomas liked the simple head paint job (primer), so we went with it. I preferred the cranberry color head but figured he worked hard enough to make the decision.

 

[Steve Sanford]

Eric~

Great post - and great-looking Cans!

I, too, am a big fan of using stuff that has stood the test of time. I still use so many things - thanks to my Dad - that pre-date even my earliest gunning days (like my 1925 Model 12). I savor the process of refurbish/rehab/restore and dwell there long before I go to replace.

These Cans - which I showed here earlier this year - were some of the original Herter's Model 72s - were bought by my Dad in the early 50s; they were part of our Broadbill rig. I had probably re- painted them twice until this winter when I gave them the full epoxy-sawdust-paint treatment. (I am doing all the Broadbill, too, a few at a time.)

These Model 72 Mallards were the first decoy I ever bought - with my stockboy earnings from a local department store when I was a sophomore in high school. I use them every year on the rivers once the smaller waters ice up (as they probably did last night - it was 18 degrees when I got up today). The hen has a low-head thanks to my Bernzomatic torch - I wanted to mix up the postures in the rig a bit.

The real focus of this post is the folding stool I bought from LL Bean's when I was 14 - I am 60 now. It originally had a seat with a zippered pouch beneath - in brown cotton canvas. When it gave up the ghost, I sewed another seat (without the pouch) - again out of cotton canvas. Cotton only holds up so long, so last winter I sewed another - this time out of Sunbrella Marine Fabric (Tan). I also gave it a new shoulder strap out of nylon webbing. I expect it will serve me on walk-in hunts for the rest of my days afield.

I look forward to seeing others' "durable goods"......

All the best,

SJS

 

[Paul Meisenheimer]

Great posts guys.

I recently retired four plastic standard sized mallard decoys that I used for close to 40 years. They were all I could afford when I was fifteen and I carried them into flooded timber and sat on the beaver hut or on a downed tree to hunt alone. I still remember taking my younger brother there on his first hunt, when he killed his first duck. Over the years I used them whenever I wanted to use decoys that were light and didn't take much space. Fun to think of how many birds decoyed to those cheap old aquakeels. Over the years I have used hand carved, commercially carved, "premium" plastic, cork, foam, burlapped and every other type of decoy but I still smile when I think about the first decoys I bought and how long I used them.

 

[Yukon Mike]

Nice. Where I grew up in S MB no one I knew used decoys - everyone was a pass shooter, or for us kids, we would stalk and sluice on the water. When guys would come up from the States to hunt they went for snow geese and used shells and rags. It was dryland hunting because no one had retrievers that I knew of. Mb has a long tradition of big water hunting, it just wasn't done in my area. Why hunt in rubber boots when you can hunt in running shoes?

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My first ever shotgun is the middle one in the picture - a Stevens Model 520. My grandpa had bought it new in the 30's, my uncle borrowed it for many years and then lent it to me. Now its mine I guess. I love that gun and have had a lot of good shoots with it over the years. I bought that A5 a few years ago to retire the Stevens, but still take the old gun out now and again. Mac and I got some Ruffies with it on Sunday.

That single shot is a Hopkins and Allen 16 ga that was my grandpa's as well. Its a nice little gun and I use it from time to time on grouse hunts.

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When I was a teenager Fur Fish and Game was my favorite magazine. There must have been an article on how to make your own knife from a file, so I made this one. I probably owe my dad a file still actually. The handle was made from the finest wood I could find - a Sherwood hockey stick.

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I wish I'd done a better job of keeping track of my old duck stamps, but this is the collection. I started shooting birds in 1980 when I was 12, so I guess that makes about 30 seasons so far. I think my first duck was a teal with a .22.

Great idea for a thread Eric,

Mike

 

[Eric Patterson]

Mike, I have saved every license from year one. Problem is our state now sells a stamp with the license that isn't a stamp, just a line item you pay for but don't actually get anything. Luckily the fed stamps are still real.

Excellent pictures and stories. Keep them coming.

Below is one of the few hunting pictures I have from my high school days, circa 1984. I'm in the middle. I think we took it with one of those cardboard disposable cameras. Funny thing is I have worn face paint exactly one time in my life. This picture was taken that day. I seem to recall I tried to wipe it off after the hunt but didn't all of it. I've told the story about the pet mallards in the picture before but may have to revisit it. We were all kids whose dads did not duck hunt and had to teach ourselves. Our parents gave us a lot of freedom and we spent countless hours on the water. I hunt many of the same areas each season and Thomas knows many of them now. I figure he'll make his own discoveries as time goes on and the river habitat changes. I've come across many hunters over the years. Some are gone after a few seasons and some are there every year. What memories.

 

[Yukon Mike]

Great old photo. I love the cammo, the youthfulness, and the guy on the left wearing bowling shoes.

In 1984 I was in Gr 10 fir that opening day, and my friend and I planned on going out early and still making to class, but then we got into the ducks pretty good and missed the whole day. I'd never played hooky before and was feeling pretty good about it. Until my dad, the vice principal of our one and only high school, came home for supper. Why couldn't I have had parents that didn't value education, like everyone else I hung out with? : )

 

[Al Hansen]

Great old photo. I love the cammo, the youthfulness, and the guy on the left wearing bowling shoes.

In 1984 I was in Gr 10 fir that opening day, and my friend and I planned on going out early and still making to class, but then we got into the ducks pretty good and missed the whole day. I'd never played hooky before and was feeling pretty good about it. Until my dad, the vice principal of our one and only high school, came home for supper. Why couldn't I have had parents that didn't value education, like everyone else I hung out with? : )

I enjoyed that, Mike. In October of 1957, Tuck picked me up at the house one hour before season opened. This, by the way, was on a school day. The ducks were landing in the cornfields and trading back and forth to the slough that we were in. We, too, had a great morning. I kept looking at my watch because I knew we couldn't be late for school. Both of us were in the high school band and practice was always 1/2 hour before school started. I'll never forget the look that I got when I sheepishly walked into the band room and sat down with my trumpet. My father had that way of conveying his thoughts with just that little bit of eye contact. Nothing else was said until he came home that evening.
Al

 

[gdriscoll]

Evolution of my carvings... mid 80s, Hen red head, made while in HS/early college. I cranked out 3 dozen, Broadbills and Cans mostly. Often went hunting with the paint still damp from the night b4.
early 90s, Hen mallard, I was a lil too creative, not the best blocks for a NorEast blow. Late 90s. Back to being practical. I don't think I have carved a bird since the kids. Still have the tools/cork/supplies.
Funny story of my first duck hunt with out an adult. In HS. Just bought my first sneakbox. Mostly borrowed/gifted decoys from older hunters. So nervous/excited, Forgot to put the plug in the boat (i think it was the only sneakbox with a plug) After that opening day ramp debacle. We run a mile to a tidal island.. Immediately after settling in a bird is decoying. I say to my buddy... "Dont....'BANG'... shoot" "that was a black duck, 100 point bird" "you are done for the day" Then I notice he doesn't have his federal stamp on him. Crap... I am done for the day.

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