history of herters decoy ?

B

Bill Ferrar

Well-known member
Does anybody have a link to the history of herters decoys. It seems like at one time everybody had them. I would like to know when they started, why, I have knowest the older decoys some were plastic, some were cork, some foam had no keels but had weight inside the foam. Some foam is white some foam is pink. ect. when were the changes made...I would be interesting to know how many decoys were made.
 
Pick up the book Collecting Antique Bird Decoys and Duck Calls by Carl Luckey and Russell Lewis. I saw it on www.abebooks.com rangeing from $4-$13. I'd reccomend the later editions over the first. It has a good writeup on Herters and can point you towards more information about them.

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i have a good book that has what your looking for. north american factory decoys by kenneth trayer. tons of pics and info.
george herter started his sporting goods business in the mid 30's , started selling decoys around 36. herters was sold in 1977.
 
Good question. It would be neat to know. I have some without keels, most with small internal weighted keels. Mostly white foam, a few pink. I've picked most of mine up used along the way. Some have seen more birds than I can even imagine! I have some other plastics and A corker but the Herters are where I put most of my money and faith. I think they are the best compromise of cost, durability and effectiveness. I do repaint most of them though.

Gene
 
Back in the 1960's, Herter's mail-order catalog had an absolutely incredible array of hunting, fishing and outdoor items. It was as thick as a JCPenney or Sears catalog of the era. Decoys were a small but important part of the business.

The Herters business name has been sold many times. If I remember correctly, George sold the business in the 1980's but I can't remember to whom. It was then sold to Northern Hydraulics (now Northen Tool) in the late 1980's/early 1990's. Cabelas bought the name in the early 2000's and now mostly just sells decoys and a few clothes under the Herters name. As far as I know, they are still making decoys in Beaver Dam, WI.

I tired hard to love Herters original all-foam decoys, but unless you leave them out all season, in my expereince they are just too fragile to pick up and bag after each hunt. The only way you can keep them from getting dented and scratched was/is to use slotted bags. Not worth it IMHO.

The plastic-coated and burlapped Supremes and Ultimates are a huge improvement, but also add considerably to the cost and weight. Still, they take shot almost as well as cork and they are great for diver hunting. Using Herters adds a touch of history and nostalgia to our sport, but I can't advise using the plain foam version unless you can leave your decoys out all season.
 
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I had one of the Herter's grandchildren buy some Herter wood duck decoys off me on Ebay a few years ago. He was interested in buying a lot of what his grandfather sold.
I'll see if I can find his email and PM if you want it.
Let me know.
JD
 
My diver spread is exclusively Herters and my hand carved decoys. I just recently sold two dozen of them on Ebay. They were one and two year old Bluebills. The main reason is I like older Herters beter and I was given some older ones up in Manatoba this year as a thank you for helping a guy out and taking him and his wife on a hunt with us. I also picked up two dozen older style herters with the internal weights and no keel. I hunt 4.5 dozen herter 72's all divers in my big water rig and 2.5 dozen 63 black ducks and a few malards. Then add in a few hand carved ( going to be many more this year) and the spread is complete. I prefer the older herters look. They are yellowed a bit and just look beter to me so I will contunue to ad some as I can. Mostly the plan now is to add in my own carved decoys though. I am working on the first 3 of a dozen buffies right now. After that I think I will work filling out the rest of a string of Bluebills but a whim may take me in another dirrection as well.

I dont baby mine at all they are long lined and stay on the lines and go into barrels after every hunt. I dont have to many problems with them holding paint or denting. But then again I dont worry about the diver spread to much either. Of course this first thing I tell people I hunt with is the decoys are foam so if they get shot no big deal but try not to shoot them if you can help it but if a bird is crippled in the decoys hit it again until its head isn't up. I hate to loose a bird.

This year at the duck camp one of the guys shot one of the black ducks two times because of a cripple. I made him pose for a picture. I wish it turned out better it had some nice marks on it.

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Here is a pic of the rig from this year.
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The result for the day.
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I have some of their miserable hollow plastic decoys. Has anyone ever found anything that will seal the cracks? I have tried tar, PVC cement, and about five types of epoxy. Please email me at halka@hughes.net as I don't get on these boards too often. I have 15 of the damn things to patch.
 
Thanks for all the replys.
I am surprised that with all the years and all the decoys made that nobody on this site is has worked or new somebody that worked at herters factory has chimed in.
 
Hal, What I have done with Plastic decoys when some one accidently shot one is fill them up with foam. No worry about them leaking and it doesn't add much weight.
Crack filling foam you can pick up at any hardware store.
 
since Herters went out of business in the early 70's, (due to heavy debt but mostly because he refused to bargain with the Fed's after being nailed by them for importing illegal fly tying componants-as in feathers from endangered birds), you'd have to find a group that, on average, is much older than most of us here....granted we have a great, and highy valued old codgers that creak when they walk roster, but for the most part we're in our mid-fifties and younger....that would have made MOST of us under 20 when they went under and most of us weren't trekking around the country looking for casual employment in the summers in decoy factories......

In reality there are very very few people on the site who would have been of the right age, and lived in the right part of the country, for them to have ever even had the opportunity to visit the store much less work in there, or where the decoys were made.....

The last I heard George's wife was still alive....might be a good person to run down, interview and write a "history of" article........Since you're the one to ask I'll assign that task to you...please report back as soon as you get taht done as I know anyone who ever "ordered out a dozen or so" of their decoys would love to know the answers as well...

Thanks in advance for your hard work....

Steve
 
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Ryan:
You may be right on the first Herters but I had been stopping in the Herters in Beaver Dam since the 70's. This past year I stopped on my way North and they had moved to Milwaukee??
When in Beaver Dam I enjoyed watching them make the decoys although it was off limits to the general public. It would be interesting to hear the complete story of the company.
wis boz
 
Thanks for the tip on foam. I will try it. Do you drill a hole first?

I am 70 and used to order from Herter's in Waseca. Mostly their shotcups and decoy paint. I thought they moved to SD towards the end, but could be thinking about another company. I still have some of their old catalogues.
 
I used to live about 20 minutes from the Factory in Beaver Dam and would stop in the store on a regular basis. Loved the disount bin in the back for buying heads and bodies. I still have 4 dozen of the old internal weight magnum size bluebills in the pink foam that my grandfather and great uncle used on Puckaway years ago. When I was a kid I would always read my grandfathers Herter's catalogs. They were dream books. Bought a reprinted copy of Herter's 1969 catalog at the store, still sits on the shelf at home. It is about the size of a Gun Bible only more fun to read. George was quit an author by the titles of some of his books.
 
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