First Decoy...Are you bold enough to share it?

[JimmyHill]

About 1997 twenty scaup

[frank santore]

This is one of my first working baffles that took too many pellets so it was rehab'd into a d?cor duck for a buddy

[Scott Russell]

This is my favorite thread on the site. 

Thanks for keeping it alive guys.

[craig pell]

I'm working on mine. I'll be sure to post it up no matter how awful it turns out   

[Lloyd Heins]

No such thing thing an awful decoy.  Its the journey and progress you make as you develop your skill.  If you haven't done so already, please post your progress in another section and guys can help you out if ya need it. I love love love love watching progress pics and the methods guys use to make their birds.   

[craig pell]

No such thing thing an awful decoy.  Its the journey and progress you make as you develop your skill.  If you haven't done so already, please post your progress in another section and guys can help you out if ya need it. I love love love love watching progress pics and the methods guys use to make their birds.   

http://workingdecoys.net/workingdecoysforum/index.php?topic=9877

[DakotaJ]

My first, well the first one that I did with my mentor, a Green wing teal. Did it for the NEA sponsored clbooty through the Ward Foundation.  won 2 second place ribbons and a third place at the Chesapeake Challenge, and a 3rd at the PFDA show in Sacramento.

[benp]

This was my very first back in 2011 I had no clue what I was doing. I had a crab pot buoy and wanted to go hunting for bufflehead which I had no decoys of so I went to work with a pocket knife and I had a piece of balsa lying around that I used for the head and inlaid it into the buoy. After I made this one and wanted to learn more is when I got online and found this place and have improved a lot since then.




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[J. Mayer]

Circa 1990. Tupelo and oil paint. Purchased the wood from Mr. Curt Fabre (Curt's Waterfowl Corner) down in Montegut, LA. Hunted over it and several others for many seasons. All were retired years ago. I haven't made any decoys in almost ten years, but I'm currently working on some cork wood ducks to carry in the pirogue this fall.

[J. Mayer]

Circa 1990. Tupelo and oil paint. Purchased the wood from Mr. Curt Fabre (Curt's Waterfowl Corner) down in Montegut, LA. Hunted over it and several others for many seasons. All were retired years ago. I haven't made any decoys in almost ten years, but I'm currently working on some cork wood ducks to carry in the pirogue this fall.

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Neat thread. Lots of great first birds. Most of these first birds are better than my last bird. Kind of hurts my feelings a little. Here is my first attempt.

 I'd like to think I've improved from three years ago, but still have a long way to go. Still learning tons on every bird, and trying to take what I have learned and apply it to the next one.

[craig pell]

Here's mine ... So far. Still in progress. Made some mistakes I've learned from which resulted in a smallish body and an extreme wing/body shape. Oh well. Gonna finish and paint it.

Bbooty wood and (soon to be) acrylics.














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[Matt Gau]

My first. Greenwing teal in cedar. I was asked to help with a junior carving competition because there were more students than anticipated. I had to accept
And I managed to carve my first decoy as well. Won't win any beauty contests. But it's mine.

[BradF]

Doesn't this qualify?  It's a duck but not a hunting decoy.

Finally took a picture of my first carving. A mini decoy I made for my Mother for her Xmas present in 1958. I was 12. Carved with an Xacto knife set I bought for scouts. Didn't even know anything about duck hunting back then....just liked birds and carving. I cut the plaque out of plywood with a coping saw, painted the duck black so it would be sort of a shadow box type thing.  I later chip carved some patterns in jewelry box lids for Mom but mainly just whittled "stuff" until about 1985 when I started trying to make hunting decoys. I'll see if I have a picture of my first real hunting decoy.

[BradF]

Found a picture of one of my first decoys ... about 1985 ... The GE on the left was one of my first BSC corks. The one on the right is a 2005 (or so) production in tan cork.  I took the picture a year or two ago (or maybe more?) to show the change in my style/technique.  Still hunting them.