More Fred...

Love it! Magnificent job with Fred. I love how he swims with his head high and proud!
Happy Thanksgiving
 
How much more lead did it take to balance Fred, versus a standard head decoy? Did you move the center of gravity back on this bird ? You had some alert bluebills that you purchased in Canada that were very nice, too!
 
Bill - this was in Canada...

Rick - not totally sure on the lead but quite a bit more and, yes, I did offset it. I appreciate the kind words regarding the scaup decoys.
 
I carved two alert heads in a current run of 18 redhead decoys I am making. I didn't dare to even come close to "Fred's" head elevation height. I guesstimate I will be adding nearly double the weight in the keel.
 
Same here Ben. Some hunts, good times and laughs I will never forget... Btw, you make a mean breakfast...
 
Last edited:
Gentlemen, thanks! There are many others who can make a piece of wood come alive to a greater degree! Maybe, I will get there in time! I try to remember a comment Jim Wicks often made: The head and its position and attitude communicate 90% of what the species of duck represent.
 
I always enjoy seeing my duckboat friends bring wood to life! Great work as always.

Rick, I hope the redhead/scaup migration next year gives us the opportunity to "fool" them. They obviously didn't make an appearance this year to give us the chance!
At least I didn't deplete my steel ammo supply to reorder status.

On a bright note, one SIL got his first goose while with my daughter. Memories started and the chance to pass our great passion forward.

Steve
View attachment 20181001_102645.jpg
 
Pat, near the end of his decoy carving career, Forest "Jim" Wicks attended the ODCCA show in Ohio. He competed in and won the head carving contest. I met Jim and the "crew" of MDNR employees he hunted with at Jen's Rustic Resort back in the mid-1980s, a collection of random-chinked sagging log cabins with ever changing floor contours inside. Initially, this was the only resort complex that rented to duck hunters with dogs. In the early years we used to swap around among the rental cabin population cooking and sharing wild game dinners. I always remember Jim holding court carving on a series of heads most nights. He was a great raconteur, particularly when Margie was beyond earshot! After retirement, he dropped out of the group after a couple of years. From then on we stopped our joint game dinners. Jen's Resort was purchased by a surgeon in the Sault for his father and the cabins were dismantled and the ramp closed to Public use. That is when I started going out to NoDak.

Now, we still go back over there somewhere near the peak of the diver migration, but the high water levels have really begun to markedly impact productivity within the large marsh complexes throughout the system. Despite all the traffic from downstate hunters and fishers, the St. Marys remains free of Quagga sp. mussels, indicting just how infertile the system is. One of the major conclusions of our multi-year research was the annual productivity dependence of these off-navigation channels wetland complexes on allochtonous and autocthonous production from the previous year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top