Decoy Wish List

Chris Toy

Chris Toy

Active member
I got to thinking about this last night and thought it would be a neat topic for discussion.

If you could own any five decoys you wanted, with price not being a consideration, what would you get?

For me they would be:
Jim Schmiedlin Wigeon
Keith Mueller R B Merganser
Sean Sutton Gadwall
George Strunk Teal
Lee Dudley Ruddy
 
You have good taste :)

Strunk - Wigeon
Mueller - Eider (wings out)
Wheeler - Black
Furia - frond Pintail
Schmiedlin - Old Squaw

I could really have filled up about 20 spots....
 
Kieth Mueller - Eurasian Wigeon
Patrick Gregory -- Hooded Merganser In which I already have
Grant Werdick -- Barrows Goldeneye They are on there way.
Mali Vujanic -- Wigeons In which I already have
Bob Furia-- Redhead In which I hope he comes out to hunt with me to tradefor that decoy. Hehe

Gary March
 
This is a tall order, but with no price considerations

1. Crowell Preening Canada Goose

2. Bill Bowman Curlew

3. Gus Wilson Eiders

4.Tie for this one
Ward Standing Blue-wing Teal or
Bill Cranmer Swan


5. English-Dawson Drake Pintail

Do we have to stop at five? It's easy to spend fake money! LOL.........
 
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Keith Mueller-Eider
Tom Newell- Red Breasted Merganser
Sean Sutton- Shoveler
John Lawrence- Canvasback
Bob Furia- Widgeon
 
All from a time when people were actually making decoys.

John "Daddy" Holly Canvasback, iron keel, branded "reckless"
John Graham Canvasback, iron keel, branded "J.B. Graham"
Ben Dye redhead, iron keel,
NC redhead pre 1900
Yellowlegs Shorebird pre 1900
 

Keith Mueller Vest Pocket Willet he posted not long ago
Frank Peeters Wigeon
Hank Garvey Goldeneye
Bob Furia Pintail or Wigeon or Woody or.....
Jim Schmiedlin Anything
 
Don Mintz Flocked Drake Widgeon w/ river keel

Michael Braun LZ Mallard Drake

MLBob Furia Palm Frond (ANY)

Gary March Canvasback

Last but not least, Tod Osier Spinning Wing (Wind Powered of course)
 
Dudley mallard
Dudley ruddy
Ned Burgess can (has to be mint)
Ned Burgess Pintail
George Crosson canvas Swan

(if i can't have all, i'll take five of either of the above.... if necessary ;)
 
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Dang I guess I need to post more of my work, nobody mentioned my name once! :)

But really, it would be
John Lawrence - anything
Keith Mueller - anything
Micheal Braun -anything
Jeoff Vine - anything
Pat Gregory - anything

And finally (I know it's six, but stand by for "why")

Tom Modin - Widgeon head cutouts (he's sending me some that's why)

Mike
 
Well, any of Jode Hillman's decoys will top my list!

Oh, and a Hurley Conklin goose and a Nathan Rowley Horner brant.
 
There are a lot of good replies here. A lot of the carvers that I expected to be mentioned, but a few I had to look up because I was not familiar with their work.
 
Good topic, since I dream of these things often. It was mentioned in one of the Ward Brothers books that they made dozens of green winged teal decoys and shipped them in barrels to someplace in South or Central America. I want to find one of those (unopened) barrels! - Jim B1
 
Chris - Great post...

1. Jim Schmiedlin - Red Breasted Merganser (his favorites)
2. Perry Wilcoxen Bluebill - Classic Illinois River Folkart
3. Bob Furia Blackduck - Incredible!
4. Ben Schmidt Can Drake - Michigan Classic
5. George Root Lesser Scaup - Awesome!
5. George Williams Shoveler Hen - Sweetness! (Tim Speight has this bird. What an incredible sweety!!!)
 
I'll limit myself to modern day living carvers because there are too many legends like Hudson and Crowell and Strunk to choose from.


Jim Schmiedlin - Canvasback drake or Old Squaw drake

Bob Furia - Blackduck or pintail drake

John Lawrence - Gadwall drake or Pintail hen

Geoff Vine - bufflehead pair

Keith Mueller - Eider pair

Bonus choice: Willy McDonald ringneck drake

I could easily add another five.....or ten
 
NOTE: I am not a grammatical geniuous so if any words are misspelled please use e-phonics!

My first choice would be the same described by others before me, as wells as a plethora of others....

I would like to have the first decoy each of those individuals carved...Back when their desires to carve a bird was a hot as a teenage boy chasing women...

Over the years they all have perfected the art of carving a bird in their ideals of the birds form, with the addition of painting in their own unique styles...Some might have had a knack on the first try...But still it was the first...

That first decoy to me would be worth millions if I had it...Because they too spent many of days in the field throwing that first bird out to hunt over...When the birds were not flying they probably glanced at that bird with humility but with a comfort of knowing "I made that bird"...Because when all is said and done, the ribbons they have earned in their careers didn't attract the birds...That first decoy did!

Regards,

Kristan
 
I'll limit myself to modern day living carvers because there are too many legends like Hudson and Crowell and Strunk to choose from.
Click to expand...


George might be suprised to learn that he's no longer a modern day living carver. ;-)
 
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