Like Yogi Berra said, " You can observe a lot just by watching."

MLBob Furia

MLBob Furia

Well-known member
A few months back there was a discussion about a picture of a black-bellied whistling duck that had been posted by John Hitchcock. The bird in the photo had its neck stretched high, and in the exchange of comments Hitch made this statement:

"Most often you will see the Blackbellies (here) in the giant smart weed with their heads up feeding from the plants. I have photos of this which I will post. A very effective way to hunt them is to place the decoys in the high smartweed so that some of the heads are "peeking" over the tops. This works the best to bring them in. So the high head decoys serve a utility when used in this fashion, and IMO, is one of the most effective methods to get them to decoy, if not the MOST effective method."

That statement got me thinking about the use of "pickleweed decoys." For those who have never seen one, it's a head & neck silhouette on a dowel. They derive the name "pickleweed" from the salt marsh plant they are normally used in. I remembered seeing a Dave Hagerbaumer painting depicting pickleweeds in use; but, for the life of me, couldn't locate it anywhere with a net search.....

So, I did the next (first?) best thing. I e-mailed Sutton. Within an hour, I had a reply letting me know not only what book the print could be found in, but also what page it was on. Not too long after that, Steve was good enough to send this scan of the Hagerbaumer print (...with a note telling me that he knew what I was up to - and that he was calling "first-dibs"):

View attachment Pickleweed decoys (590 x 540).jpg

In Hagerbaumer's painting, you can see the "pickleweed" stick-ups being used in conjunction with regular decoys.

I like the whole Form & Function thing when it comes to decoys, so that print became the inspiration for "The Pickleweed Project." : A couple of sets of pickleweed-head decoys in remarqued, wooden gunners' boxes. One a set of blackbellies, and a second set of pintails.

Had lots of fun over the past month doing both sets, and I did get the chance to take some pictures of the pintails that gives an idea of how they look (pretty convincing): View attachment Suttonpwgunning 007 (600 x 399).jpg

View attachment Suttonspickwd 16 (600 x 399).jpg

View attachment Suttonspickwd 4 (600 x 380).jpg

View attachment Suttonspickwd 6 (600 x 383).jpg

More pics to follow....
 
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Those are so nice. The box is awesome too.
Two things I have learned on this forum. If you are making something it is going to be quality all the way and Sutton is good at calling dibs. :-)

How thick are they?

Tim
 
I shipped out the blackbellies before having the chance to take pictures of them in the field.... Blackbellies in a snowdrift weren't going to be too believable. However, I should be getting some pictures of this other set out in the marsh soon, and I'll post those when I do. Meanwhile some pics of the box for them:

View attachment Hitchpwbox 008 (600 x 399).jpg

remarque:

View attachment Hitchpwbox 011 (600 x 399).jpg


And one shot I have of the group peeking out of the studio window:

View attachment BBWhistlers 018 (600 x 399).jpg
Here's the picture that caused all the trouble:


View attachment blackbelly3.jpg
 
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Now that is a weird coincidence...I just came up stairs from blocking in base colors on a canvas BBWD...though mine won't look half as good as those.

Both sets look great, and the boxes are exceptionally classy.

Chuck
 
I'm not shy........and I like nice things......and this is one very nice thing.....

The Pintails will still be here when they get here Bob...I'll get them out and see if I can't get some pictures with them and their "future intendeds"....

Steve
 
They are great Bob! I guess that they would work as brant or geese here in Jersey. I have considered making some brant sillouettes but the pickle weeds would be much easier to cary along...........................Thanks for the pics, Kevin
 
Bob, as always your work is absolutely spectacular. Thank you for sharing and for this great post.

Here are some black ducks keeping an eye on me from out of the salt hay........ in CT (aka-"salt hay peekovers")

View attachment Resized_a.jpg
 
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Kieth M. - I was just thinking about black ducks (or mallards) peeking up and trying some of those long-necks myself.

Nice decoys guys. I am inspired. Now if I could just get 1000 flies tied and out of the way I would try and carve some of them.

-
 
Bob-

Those are great! Those pintails really are a work of art. If I'm ever out at Steve's house he may want to put those up and out of the way. One or two of those "Pickleweedpintails" might grow legs and wander off and I find them in my suitcase when I get home.....


Dani
 
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