TUTORIAL - Painting Hen Whistlers/Goldeneye

[Steve Sanford]

All ~

I hve previously posted re rehabbing and re-painting some Bean's Goldeneye Drakes. I just finished 6 Whistlers to add to my diver rig - so I photographed my usual step-by-step approach. The full process is on my site at http://stevenjaysanford.com/rehabbing-beans-goldeneye-drakes/ (I hope - WordPress can be a bit challenging at times.) Below are many - but not all - of the steps.

Here are the "sea trials" - on the Hoosick River. Of course, I do not typically rig my decoys this close to each other.....

Here are the brushes I use.

In addition to Black and White, here are the paints. Behr flat exterior sample jars from Home Depot for the topcoat.

The first 3 Greys have uses on many species and should be in your paint kit.

I began by giving the foam body and the dense polyethylene head my usual treatment - for foam-bodied birds like Herters - a coating of marine epoxy and fine sawdust.

I am hoping the following images are self-explanatory. See my website for my narrative.

Note that Hens' eyes are much paler than Drakes'. They are almost white.

The key to edging feathers is "in the wrist" - and to change the angle of the curves fore and aft along the body.

Hope this helps!

SJS

 

[Jeremy Tilly]

Looks great my favorite bird to hunt Those will help kill the real green heads

 

[Phil Nowack]

Those look great next to the ice!

 

[Bill Clark]

Steve,
Great looking paint job especially the hen.The color selection for behr paints is very helpful.

You mention coating the styrofoam bodies using marine epoxy, would U.S.Composites 3to1 work for this purpose?

I have wrapped a lot of Herters with mastic and burlap,which do you think would hold up the best burlaping or epoxy?

I very much appreciate your site and have used your methods of rehabbing older l.l.Beans. Great stuff, enjoy your work, hope you keep us in the loop.

 

[Steve Sanford]

Bill~

Yes, I use the 3:1 from US Composites - been very happy with it on decoys and boats. I add Cabosil to prevent runs, drips and errors.

Burlap + mastic is more rugged but is also a lot heavier - about a pound more for a Model 72-size decoy. And, I do NOT enjoy the burlaping process.

All the best,

SJS

 

[Kevin Puls]

I am looking forward to employing this this winter as I put together a handful of whistlers for my rig.

I have never targeted these birds but folks around here say that if you wish to truly decoy them in you need a handful, set slightly apart from the rest of your rig to be successfull on a regular basis.

Is that accurate?

 

[Steve Sanford]

Kevin~

I am glad my info will be helpful.

re decoying habits of Whistlers: We hunted them lots when I was young on Great South Bay - especially in the ice. But, they were typically hesitant to stool - they would often cross over the rig, perhaps 20 yards up. I still have vivid memories of connecting with some big drakes off my right shoulder with my 16-gauge Remington Model 11.

We used 7 Whistlers - re-painted Herters Model Perfect balsa Bluebills - off to one side of our Broadbll rig.

For more contemporary information, I would defer to the Lake Champlain crew - and those from other traditional hot spots.

SJS

 

[Tony H]

Simply put. STUNNING WORK.

 

[Bill Embacher]

Very nice! Hen whistlers give me troubles, I like the way you handle them per usual. I've got quite a few of them coming up too...

 

[John Unruh]

Great tutorial Steve, especially interested in your choice of the behr paint as I,m needing a new supply of paint want to give that a try , your goldeneyes look great nice & clean !

 

[Brad Bortner]

Nice job Steve.

 

[Mark W]

As always, very nice and thank you for sharing.


I can sometime in the near future see having the time to carve and paint my own decoys. Now I just have to find the talent somewhere. I think this will be the hard part. Remember Lee Harker's line drawings - he was a master compared to what my line drawings would look like. Zero artistic talent, maybe even negative......


Mark