Decoy Carving: A Historic Craft in Hunting

The art of decoy carving dates back to the early 1900s. In coastal areas where ducks flew

through while migrating people would hunt these ducks. In the early years there was no big company’s

to make and sell decoys. People would make their own and use them in their hunting rig or sell them to

other hunters. In different areas people started to create their own styles of decoys. People would carve

decoys in the winter and summer to pass the time. They would use different types of wood that carved

smooth. Popular woods for decoy carving are juniper, white pine, tupelo ,Mahogany and cypress are

used but they are a harder piece of wood and more difficult to carve. Many of the early decoys from the

20s dating to the 70s are popular amongst

the market for hand carved decoys and are very expensive
now. Although they were sold for only a few dollars back in the day. Now days decoys are plastic factory
made with no special value to them. Although the days of gunning over hand made decoys are over
there is still a market for them.

Collectors buy antique decoys and modern made decoys from people

who have made a name for themselves in the decoy culture. A few of these names are Cigar Daisy, Jerry

Talton, Eldon Willis, Dan Robinson, Roy Willis, David O’Neal, Mitchell Fulcher, Capt. Harry Jones.

Some of these carvers have passed away and their decoys go for hundreds of dollars.

Core sound decoys

Core sound decoys are a popular style of decoy in the hunting and collector world. In the 1930s

Elmer Salter and Eldon Willis started making decoys to hunt over but they would also sell them to

other hunters. Eldon Willis was my great grandfather and who I was named after. Elmer Salter and

Eldon Willis made many decoys together using the same pattern for the head and body and paint style.

Usually they would work as a team, one would make the bodys and the other would make the heads.

One would paint them as the other finished up sanding a finished unpainted decoy. Decoys that were

made by them sell for hundreds of dollars and are very popular among collectors. They lived in the town

of Stacy, North Carolina and would pass around their cut out patterns among their friends and

fellow
carvers. Another Famous carver from Stacy was Roy Willis. Roy carved many decoys over the years and
learned how to carve from Eldon Willis who was his father and Elmer .

They made many

decoys over the years. Pintail decoys made by Mitchel fulcher are very popular and bufflehead decoys

made by Eldon Willis is considered their signature decoy species by collectors. Every town from Cedar

Island to Harker’s Island has their own style that is alittle bit different form the other towns. But overall

Core sound decoys have its own style. The decoy market took off when market gunning became big.

Market gunning became a popular trade for locals in the 30s and 40s. Locals made their living off of

Fishing and hunting, they would sell their fish and ducks and that was the main income for many families

In that time period. People would sell the ducks they shot. Restrictions were more slack than today

And there was plenty of waterfowl and fish. The game wardens were constantly trying to catch the

outlaw gunner who would shoot way over their limits. If they were caught they would be fined a lot of

money and their guns would be confiscated. The market gunners became very crafty in how they hid

their ducks and methods of getting them. They would build add on to their guns magazine so they

could
shoot more shotgun shells before reloading. Hunting party’s was also another way of income for people.
Guides would take people to hunt. Decoy heads often broke off so guides would always have a few
heads that they would replace. Sometimes it was just held on with a dowel rod or tacked on. Some of
the decoys on the market right now that have the heads crudely attached are worth more money
among collectors. Decoys that would sell for only a few dollars back then sell for hundreds or thousands
now. They would be sold in every store and the shelves would be full of handmade decoys in the
summer time and almost empty in the winter from people buying them so much. People would walk
along the bank in the marsh during and right after hunting season and find decoys. Many people would
right their name on the bottom of their decoys so that when they lose them if somebody finds them
that they know they can give them back. But not all people did this and people would find decoys in the
marsh and go put them in their hunting rig and hunt over them. Many of my family members and family
friends have a few wooden decoys that they found while walking the marsh after a hard blow.
The first decoys were probably made by the native Americans a few hundred years ago. Since
the Native Americans were using bows to shoot the ducks with arrows they preferred a sitting target
because it was harder to hit a duck that was flying with an arrow. The ducks would not just lit right in
front of the hunter so the hunter needed to guide it. The hunter would fashion some sort of decoy so
the duck would see it and lit right in front of the hunter. Then the hunter would have an easier shot and
be more likely to hit the duck. Today we use shot guns that when shot send a number of BB that spread
out making it easier to hit the duck while it is flying. When duck hunting you build a blind and make it
blend in with the water by painting it green and nailing bushes to it if you prefer to. You can also make a
sink box. A sink box is a concrete box under the ground and water. It has a waterproof canvas curtain
that you rise up and down with the water so that the top is level with the water and the ducks cant see
you in it. Some people prefer to hunt sink boxes instead of blinds but it doesn’t make a difference.
Once you got your blind or sink box up you make a spread of decoys around it. Usually you put
the species of duck together so it will look like a bunch of Redheads siting next to a bunch of pintail and
geese. Usually you put 20 to 30 regular decoys and 10 to 20 geese. You only need 5 to 10 bufflehead
decoys with more drake(male) than hen(female) so that the ducks can see them better because male
ducks have more bright colors that can be seen from a distance. The hens usually have dark coloration
like brown so they blend in with marsh grass when they are protecting their nest from predators. Some
ducks are smarter than the others. Black ducks jump away the second they see you but bufflehead just
swim a short distance away so you can wait until they dive and then walk within range to them. The
more decoys you have around you blind, the more likely ducks are to come to you. You can get decoys
that are very detailed from companies or you can make some that are not very detailed. The ducks will
come to both detailed and undetailed because they are looking for the colors. Many people include
myself have made decoys with silhouette heads that is just flat plywood instead of actually being shaped
like a real duck head. The ducks will see the colors that look like their species and go gather with them.
When people hunt in farming fields they sometimes use shell decoys or stick down. These are mainly
used for goose and swan hunting. Shell decoys are hollow plastic shells that are very light and have no
bottom. When put in the fields they look like regular decoys. You can also use stick down decoys. Stick
down decoys are made by cutting the outline shape of a decoy out of a flat piece of plywood and then
painting it to look like the correct species. After painting it you fasten a down rod to it and stick the
dowel rod into the ground to make it stand upright. For hunting swan you pretty much just need to have
a white object that resembles a swan. The swans see the white and fly down to lit with them. My
grandfather, Dan Robinson told me that one time he used a couple five gallon buckets that were white
to hunt swan. My brother and I have made bufflehead decoys with silhouette heads out of buoys. We
took buoys that were used to fish with and cut them in half. Then we glued plywood to the bottom and
cut a notch in the front. Our next step was cut out the heads out of plywood and glued them in the
notch in the front and painted them. It is up to whoever is making them if they want to put a plywood
tail on it or just paint one on the back of the buoy, the ones we made we put plywood tails on them but I
have seen them without the tails. I have used these decoys to hunt with and have killed ducks over them
proving they work just as good as a detailed plastic one. Making homemade decoys out of buoys is a lot
cheaper than buying plastic ones. Another way to lure ducks to your blind is to put corn or seed out for
the ducks to eat, this is called baiting. You are allowed to bait ducks to your blinds but it is illegal to
shoot over corn. If you are caught shooting over corn you can have your hunting license revoked for a
set amount of time and you can also have your gun confiscated and you won’t get it back. This is why
people usually rely more on decoys to bring the ducks to them.
Over time the value of the old wooden decoys increased. After a few decades’ people started to
realize that decoy carving was an art in itself and also heritage for many people including myself. People
started to collect hand carved decoys made by different people and different styles from different
places. Different places have different species of ducks to hunt so the species of decoys varies with the
places they were made. As time went one the carvers that had become famous among collectors started
to pass away or quite carving. This made their decoys worth more since no more were being made and
they people wanted to hold onto the ones in circulation. When my great uncle Roy Willis passed away a
few years ago his decoy collection was actioned off for thousands of dollars. Some of his decoys were
put in his own exhibit in the core sound waterfowl museum on Harker’s Island. My great grandfather
who I am named after Eldon Willis also has an exhibit in the museum. Eldon taught Roy Willis and my
Grandfather Dan Robinson how to carve decoys. My Grandfather taught my dad, uncle and myself how
to carve. My Uncle Dale Robinson carves and is starting to make a name for himself.
Every year the first weekend in December my grandad and uncle set up a table at the core
sound decoy festival at Harker’s Island. At the decoy festival carvers come from all over the east coast
and North Carolina. Many of the carvers are from around the core sound area and Chincoteague Virginia
but a few come form Maryland and the northern east coast states. Some of the decoys there are
hundreds of dollars. Some of the decoys made in the core sound style have very basic paint and don’t
have eyes painted on. In the core sound style contest you are not allowed to have eyes painted on you
decoy. Other decoys of ducks are birds are so realistic that you wouldn’t know they were fake if you saw
them in nature. I saw a redbird that had every individual feather painted on as well as carved out so it
looked almost lifelike. Another type of hunting decoy is a mounted decoy. These decoys were once real
ducks that had been stuffed by a taxidermist and rigged to hunt over but these are a bit more expensive.
If you hunt over these decoys in a creek or pond you have the risk of people shooting them mistaking
them for a real duck. I heard a story about a guy who hunted with mounted decoys and he eventually
stopped using them because hunters who would go to his spot when he was not there would shoot
them by mistake and they were expensive to keep replacing them. If hunters are hunting in the marsh
they mark their spot with decoys and if someone else had decoys out you don’t go to that spot. On the
water people have blinds or stakes and you don’t put a blind right next to someone else’s. Usually by the
end of hunting season the ducks are shell shocked and have been shot at already and know how to not
get shot. I have seen a huge raft of Red heads fly straight for my blind and then split up and go around
me and them go back together. At the end of the season they won’t lite in the decoys as often. Later on
in the season people will walk along the marsh and look for decoys that they lost. One time we lost half
of our decoys at a blind near the shore. My dad and I walked down the shore side and found every one
of our lost decoys. After some time in the water the weights holding the decoys in place drag during a
heavy blow or lines get rubbed against the keel of the decoy until it snaps.
I chose decoy carving as my senior project to learn more about my heritage and learn more
about the history of decoy carving. I learned so much more about the topic while doing the project with
my mentor. Decoy carving has been around for many years and will probably be around for many more
due to younger people like myself getting involved in the carving culture.