Nostalgia – decoys

I started typing this on the decoy cord thread and as I was typing I started thinking about the history behind most of the bluebill dekes I am using and I figured it deserved it’s own thread.

I grew up hunting big water(Winni) bluebills with my dad, he’s still around but just can’t get out any more, and of all the hunting and fishing I do chasing bluebills has always been at the top of my list. It’s sad to see their numbers declining and I really hope they can make a strong comeback so I can share those experiences with my son in a few years.

When I do get out chasing divers I am still using a bunch of the old Herters foam bluebill dekes my dad & grandpa used back in the 50s-60s. The dekes have been repainted numerous times, a few repairs and a few weights replaced but they’ve held up unbelievably well over the years and the bluebills love them and I love hunting over them. I can’t even begin to fathom how many bluebills and ducks in general have met their demise over these dekes.

Just me…. but there just isn’t anything better than the sights and sounds of big flocks of bills roaring on to a lake, hooking the decoy line and coming in wings cupped and gear down.

Every time I unwrap the cord on one of these dekes and drop it in the water it’s a piece of my families hunting history and my hunting heritage and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I miss the glory days of Bluebill hunting. I still remember the 1st one I shot. I was told you need to lead them much more than other ducks due to their speed. I leed the front duck by 2 or 3 feet and dropped the 3 or 4th duck behind it. Those things are crazy fast and fun to hunt. I have not hunted or shot one in almost 15 years now. if they ever do make a comeback I will have to pull out all the old decoys myself and go back to chasing them.

You sparked many heart felt memories of duck camp. I can remember like it was yesterday hunting the Tamarac wildlife refuge up by d.l, 30 yrs ago w/my father. My grandfather hunted there 30 yrs prior. We would prepare our season by “touching up” the paint on our numbered late 50’s/ early 60’s alumacraft “duckers”, followed by using hot glue gun to repair last yrs decoys, yes rubber. (Heavy). We’d hunt the 4-5 weeks having much fun, when all of a sudden, the weekend guys whom shared the cabin rental with would call and say, ” their coming thru”! We would race up (about 4hrs) and be able to catch the most unbelievable decoying action ever. They would decoy in, we’d unload on em’, and they would circle around for more. I can remember seeing huge floating rafts of them out in the big open water off of tiny grass islands. What fun!!! I can’t wait to share your story w/ my father who, at 74 is up at duck camp right now hoping his failing body parts can survive another beautiful morning “sitting in his ducker” In the bog. Nothing quite like late season bluebill migration.

I dont know if you will ever find a decoy that can take the abuse of a Herters foam decoy (older or newer). I spent alot of years as a die hard waterfowl guy, hunting literally every day of the season before school and often after school growing up; then every weekend day during college. In my early days we had a permanent with a decent size spread of newer Herters and fixed a bunch of the older herters of my fathers and his fathers. Those old school Herters may be heavy, but man they take a beating. Not many decoys you pick up have just an indent of #2 shot scattered across them and look darn near flawless.

Shooting divers is truly one of my life’s passions, one that has many memories with it. I never got to see the glory days of diver hunting like my father who used to travel up north to hunt the big waters. However, the day the divers made the big push through SC MN here, as well as one day of deer season, were the only days I ever got to get out of school growing up. We used to shoot a decent number of bills over the course of just a couple weeks when they made the push; however, in the last two seasons (hunting only the last few days of open water on the bigger lakes) I have not even seen a single bundle of blue bills. If I lived up north where they still have huntable numbers of divers, I do not feel I would be nearly the avid bow hunter I am. However, it is exceptionally hard to stay after a passion when you grind through all the days that are prime for the season and just see nothing for not only bills, but divers as a whole. Its completely disheartening…….

For us here, its not just the decline in the numbers of bills, its the loss of wetland habitat through multiple decades. You know land use has certainly made an impact when you witness a true shift in all waterfowl migrations except canadian geese to the local refuge……

I too grew up hunting bill’s. Dad would take me and my brother at every opportunity he could get. We would mow lawns and do odd jobs to pay for shells and gas!! Federal high base mag 4’s were a buck and a quarter a box and gas was 30 cents a gallon. We scrimped our money and bought 2 dozen Herter’s Model 72 Canvasback decoys. I still have most of them and I hope the bill’s make a comeback so my boys can enjoy the same memories I have. Good hunt’n

Gundy