Library of Congress Bicentennial Celebration Presentation - Page 24
Decoys in the 21st Century
were found to make good camouflage for duck hunters' blinds. The discarded lightweight
butts were soon found useful to make unusual bodies for decoys. Shown here is a
"Nicky Decoy," a commercial product of the 1930s, made in Fairfield, California. P.F.D.A.
and P.S.W.A. were instrumental in reviving the use of this interesting material, which is
now quite popular with carvers who have never seen a palm tree.
This outline has shown that decoy contests are an anachronism that can't be written off with finality. As a spectator sport they have demonstrated scant crowd appeal (although the attentive carvers and their families can be passionate as well as partisan), and it has to be conceded that so late in an old century and in the face of an unpredictable new one, these beauty contests for wooden decoys make no more sense than do Civil War reenactments, St. Patrick Day parades, gaudily costumed "Renaissance Faires," or those fashionable new "Sheepdog Trials" organized by sheepless owners of those neurotic workaholic Border Collies. Remove the surrounding commercial folks - cashing in - and what you will find is a bunch of adults playing at make-believe and having wholesome fun in diverse company, while forming lasting social bonds. Even Bellport '23 had a higher purpose (conservation of the local Blackduck), than mere competition, and we have abundantly established the fact here that decoy contests mean to duck hunters what little black specks mean in a bowl of hominy grits.
"We are the last generation to do this," observed one carver as he relaxed at the Happy Hour on the eve of the Festival, 'We all grew up with the tradition of duck hunting and decoys, but these young people have never had that. They're city kids with lots of other things to occupy their time. They're not into carving, but they still come to these shows because they've been brought here since they were little, and they still like to help out and see their folks having a good time."
The young people being referred to were under the direct observation of these beer drinking philosophers, and one veteran (a real Tule Rat, not just an "Original"), concurred by stating that while he had been standing in line waiting to check in his entries he had noticed that all the other carvers were even grayer, or had less hair, than he. Being a real Tule Rat, however, he gave the kids an out: "If you'd been watching your dad agonize over his carving, and bellyaching about the show results for thirty years, who'd want to follow in those footsteps? Especially if dad never made the minimum wage - and had to show his stuff at "non-profit" events like this one?"