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Hand Crafted Decoys Provide Link to Iowa's Outdoor Past
Next to the shotgun, a realistic spread of duck or goose decoys is the waterfowler's most important tool. Limited only by the buyer's pocketbook, purchasing a set of decoys is as simple as a trip to your favorite sales outlet or online retailer. But things weren't always that way. Before the age of automated paint systems and high tech plastics, hunters were often faced with proposition of crafting their own waterfowl decoys. The completed counterfeits were as varied and diverse as the craftsmen who designed them. Positioned between two of America's great rivers and home to countless natural wetlands, Iowa had its share of decoy makers. In most cases, they were hunters themselves and made only enough decoys to meet personal needs. Although most of these Iowa originals have vanished over time, a few classic examples remain. Treasured by contemporary art collectors and hunters alike, they hearken to simpler times and provide a tangible reminder of when southbound ducks and geese darkened the Iowa skies. Here are some examples. Although Hancock County's Eagle Lake is best known to contemporary sportsmen for its superb mallard hunting, the thousand-acre marsh once attracted impressive numbers of southbound diving ducks as well. The annual phenomena did not go unnoticed by duck shack owner Clarence Miller who, during the late 1940s and early 1950s, assembled an impressive personal rig of 200 hand crafted lesser scaup [bluebill] decoys. Miller used cork for the bodies and white pine for the heads. For added durability, the bottom of each decoy was fitted with a painted pine base. A harness-leather loop for attaching decoy rope was then added to the base. Finally, each piece was brought to life with the installation of high quality, Herter's glass eyes. The decoys were killers, and Miller later added two dozen cork mallards to the spread. Today, five bluebills are all that remains of the rig. They represent a unique link to Iowa's waterfowling heritage. Wesley "Pickle" Griggs procured most of his living by tilling the rich black soil his Manly, Iowa farmstead. Although money was never plentiful, Griggs personally printed and distributed religious Gospel Message Pamphlets across much of the state. Griggs was also an avid waterfowl hunter who took special delight in matching wits with the wild Canada goose. Iowa goose flocks had not yet been restored and, in those days, goose hunting involved the challenge of trying to bag highly pressured arctic nesting honkers. The task was never easy. During the late 1930s or early 1940s, Griggs fashioned a unique set of field decoys. To give the birds a more realistic, non-glare appearance, Griggs covered the bodies of his geese with fine burlap gunny cloth. High quality oil paints were then mixed and applied to the finished replicas. Each decoy was completed by adding a set of realistic burlap covered legs and feet. Used on big river sandbars, the counterfeits were crude but effective. Most, but not all, collectable decoys are ducks and geese. During a long 1950s North Iowa-style winter, Hancock county farmer, artist, and skilled taxidermist Charlie Brcka crafted this great horned owl at his rural Garner studio. The well worn decoy was never used to attract other owls, of course, but was rather intended to arouse the anger of its arch enemy --- the common crow. To make the two-piece decoy even more effective, Brcka ran a large wooden rod from the owl's head downward through the entire length of the body. A quick tug on a cord leading to the rod made the head swivel, a feature which incited incoming crows to a virtual frenzy. The origin of some Iowa decoys remains a mystery. Fashioned by an unknown carver, this crude but simplistically elegant drake canvasback once rode the waves above the vast, duck attracting aquatic celery beds of the upper Mississippi River. Discovered in the "junk corner" of an Allamakee County decoy shed, the handsome 'can was rescued from an uncertain future. But the beguiling drake will never again feel the spray of breaking waves, thrill to the whistle of wild wings, or savor the aroma of burnt gun powder. Today, it silently rides the calm waters of an Iowa decoy collector's book shelf.
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