Hand made decoys

Hydemarsh

Six Pointer
In the off season I have been working on making my own hand made decoys for hunting the sound. I have made 3 dozen redheads and 2 dozen bluebills. Carved the heads out of treated wood, made the bodies out of dense foam and the keels out of cypress. coated them with two coats of surfboard epoxy. Attached pictures. made them extra big, hope they will attract a few. in second picture I put a GHG redhead for comparison to size.20180509_220123.jpg20180509_220443.jpg20180509_220523.jpg
 

Hydemarsh

Six Pointer
woodmoose, I have been making the decoys in the back of my basement, put some of the finished ones on the tables I have set up for my hunting club meeting. It was either frame the photo of the floor or frame it for the wall. I do not know much about taking pictures. All I can say about the deer is that I have spent many many lonely, uneventful hours on a stand. Duck hunting has more comradery and more action.
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
woodmoose, I have been making the decoys in the back of my basement, put some of the finished ones on the tables I have set up for my hunting club meeting. It was either frame the photo of the floor or frame it for the wall. I do not know much about taking pictures. All I can say about the deer is that I have spent many many lonely, uneventful hours on a stand. Duck hunting has more comradery and more action.


oh heck, I liked how you framed it - they are beautiful pictures of the decoys - and they do show off that sporting room real nice - especially like the scoter mounts,,

they are real nice decoys, and some exceptional deer!!
 

Hydemarsh

Six Pointer
Rebecca Green near Louisburg, the Nature Studio. She is a really nice person, does great work and is reasonably priced.
 

Hydemarsh

Six Pointer
thanks for the comment Rubline, As you can imagine I really like to hunt big deer. I have been trophy hunting since the late 1970"s . All the pictures really indicate is that I am old and have I have spent a lot of time hunting. The secret is to find a place with very little hunting pressure and good genetics. Was easy to do in the 80's and 90's. Not so easy today. If you find it, protect it and do not share it. I think the same applies to NC duck hunting. Pressure can destroy a good duck spot.
 

Hydemarsh

Six Pointer
Hi WakeHunter, i used the green foam boards you get at Lowes or HD. for each body I used 2 2" boards and 1 one inch board. glued them with Gorilla glue, shaped them with a sheetrock saw and a rasp then hand sanded. The bodies are pretty quick.
I use a basic body template that is 16 inches long and about 9 1/2 inches wide.

The heads are made out of treated fence boards. I was surprised at how easy this wood carves. I made a template for the head shape and the cheeks. I will shape the head and cheeks before I glue them together , then i hand finish and sand.

I use Greenroom Old Number 7 surf board epoxy (no glass cloth on the bodies). I make the keels out of 1 1/4 inch cypress, glass them on and use glass cloth to reinforce.
 

WakeHunter32

Eight Pointer
Nice! Thanks for the info. I do a 2 part poly and had molds made for the bodies and heads. Things are solid as a rock.
 

Willie

Twelve Pointer
Hydemarsh, your decoys look great!
Serous question, would you be willing to donate a Drake and hen to our Delta dinner next February? Never too early for us to start working on donations.
 

Hydemarsh

Six Pointer
Willie, Yes I will donate. I would consider it an honor. I have tremendous respect for the waterfowl science driven by Delta. Tried sending you a PM but I screwed it up.
 
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