Jim Schmiedlin decoys

K

Ken Z

Active member
This past summer, Debra Schmiedlin exhibited a display of her late husbands decoys at the July "Copley" decoy auction in Plymouth, MA. Kudos to the Schmiedlin family/friends for continuing to share Jim's legacy. Debra is also an advocate and fundraiser for the ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) foundation (LIVE LIKE LOU). For those who don't know, Jim passed away from ALS in 2015. I never tire of viewing and admiring Jim's decoys.


Ken Zaborski



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Good morning, Ken~


Thanks so much for posting these photos. As I worked my way through each one, the word that kept popping into my brain was "rich" - not in the financial sense but the artistry and style. I have never seen one of Mr.Schmiedlin's birds in the "flesh" - but admire the depth and, yes, richness of his carving and painting. A tremendous contribution to the art form!



All the best,


SJS

 
Steve, what I note is the dedication to decoy maintenance, since the birds pictured were hunted routinely, and repaired each off season as evidenced by the redhead drake on the table corner. Who would willingly shoot one of Jim's decoys among his collector base?
 
Ken - thank you for posting. He was a gentleman and a great friend. In my humble opinion, one of the best decoy makers ever. Jim truly gunned his decoys and maintained his rig. He kept detailed records of every hunt beginning in 1974. And, Jim enjoyed hunting everything including predators.

Rick - for those of us that got to hunt with Jim, several of us swatted a decoy or two. Mine was a ringneck drake. I had a goldeneye hen come over my back in the layout boat, I swung on her and, right at the last moment, she dropped. I was sick to my stomach but, I will never forget the grace Jim gave me that day. He was a gentleman, told me to be more careful next time that, it was just part of it. He swapped out the decoy for the following day and, we continued hunting. Like Vince said, not a day goes by when we don't miss him... Godspeed Captain!
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I love the style, form, painting and patina. Would love to see them floating in front of me, especially the canvasbacks, redhead, scaup and the brant. Spectacular birds. I promise not to swat them.
 
Thank you for posting the pictures indeed.
I can't pick a favorite, but that Brant is talking to me.
Jim sounds like a great guy, and you guys are lucky to have known him.
 
Pat, My hat's off to you for actually hunting over Jim's birds. There's another Duckboats member, Dennis Hays, who was a friend of Jim's, and includes Schmiedlin decoys in his gunning rig. Jim would be pleased with both of you.

Over the years, I've been following the steady rise in auction prices that his decoys have been selling for. In 2012 when one of his geese sold for over $20,000, I sent him a note of congratulations. He humbly responded that he was not personally consigning any of his decoys to auction houses. He stated he only sold a few birds every now and then to friends/collectors to cover his hunting expenses and that he was very happy to see that his long time collector base could turn a profit returning his decoys to the collector market. A couple years later at auction that record goose was eclipsed by Jim's preening wood duck drake! Photos from Guyette-Deeter auctions.

Pat, do you know if Jim left any wishes/provisions for Vic and crew to continue gunning over his decoys?



Ken Zaborski



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Jim's drawing, and flat art, are of the same high quality as his decoys, and everything else he did in life.

His penmanship is second to none.

The copy of his drawing, was included in one of the many letters, and cards that came to our home.

We looked forward to them as much as his frequent phone calls.

After he said hello, he would always ask. "What are you carving?"

Can you imagine. It was never about him.







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Vince - Call me a dreamer, but I'd like to think that Jim left some type of provision to let his crew continue to gun over his decoys after his passing. To him his decoys were just tools for the sport. Jim's passion was layout gunning, and he had a great bunch of guys supporting him.


Ken Zaborski
 
That photo was taken in my back yard. Unfortunately three of the seven guys have passed. It was our decoy lovers get together, everyone had to bring their decoys, we would cook out then talk and look at decoys great times. At one gathering we had Canvasback decoys in my pond spanning over one hundred years in age including Jim's. To tell you what a humble guy he was would be hard to express. No later than three days after our get together I would get a thank you from Jim. Remember one said "thanks for letting us ruffians into your home".
I remember taking my wife to his home the first time. Jim gave her the grand tour. Starting with the Glacier boulders he collected as a hobby. My wife said you must have a backhoe. Jim said I have a pry bar and a van. Each boulder was lettered by him as to where he got it and the date. Then it was on to his pond where he hand fed fish. Then into his home which was jaw dropping.
What a guy.
Ken
 
Pictured in the photo are L to R Vic Sutek, Ted Alastis (D), Ken Yacavone, Ky Kraus, (D) Vince Pagliaroli, Jim (D) and John Linn.
 
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Ken's July get together was always very much looked forward to, and a very good time.

I can recall at the one of the posted photo (taken by Ken's wife Ann), it was a hot day.

Jim remarked "We better get the decoys out of the hot vehicle."

He was well aware of what hot summer weather can do to hollow carved decoys. He was always on top of the situation, no matter what.


Years down the line more decoy lovers were invited, and our group grew.

I can recall when John Sharp showed up with his work, and Jim had his work.

My Gawd, here we are with two of the best waterfowl artists of our time, and of all time.

Good friends, good art work, good food & drink, plenty of quality conversation, BS, and fun.

All because of ducks, decoys, and our meeting each other at the ODCCA Westlake Show back in the day.



I do believe that we have photo's, thanks to Ken and Todd, of every get together while Jim was still with us.


Those were the days...

Thanks Ken.



Best regards
Vince
 
Pat Gregory said:
Brad - maybe one day I'll bring one. I generally float one of Jim's decoys every season to honor his memory. Here are a few I've gunned over the years...
Click to expand...

Any time Pat, bring them all and we will rinse them in the healing waters of the mighty Columbia.
 
I never tire of seeing pictures of Jim?s decoys, rigging, etc... What a craftsman. I wish I could have met him.

Does anyone have any pictures of his tender and layout boat? Some action shots would be nice to see.
 
Tom: Pat Gregory hunted with Jim and his crew. There are a couple of past posts by Pat with pics of their hunts. If you do a forum search for "Jim Schmiedlin decoys", Pat has 2 posts of his layout gunning experiences with Jim's crew: 1) Layout gunning - Dec 29, 2008 and 2) My Mentor - Sept 13, 2015 . Lots of photos. I think you'll enjoy.

Ken Zaborski
 
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