Waterfowl decoys of every type are scattered through our home. The garage is home to several dozen operational decoys (mallards, Canada geese, snow geese, brant) and our house contains the antiques. It is the old ones I’d like to talk about.
On top of an armoire sit four paper mache mallard decoys. Who would have believed that these bits of wire and paper could have survived water and waves. In a cabinet are a partial set of paper silhouettes – again, how on earth did they not fall apart in the wet weather (I know the paper was waxed, but still…). On a shelf and on the mantle sit the most prized decoys of all – the handcarved wooden ones - a large canvassback, a swan, and several very old mallards and pintails. These are my favorite.
A couple of the decoys have ’shot-pits’ in their sides, and I can only imagine the over-exhuberant young hunter trying to bag a low flying duck and blasting his own decoys instead!
Here, in SouthWest BC, there is an extensive history around handmade decoys. Two local carvers from the early 1900′s, played a significant role in waterfowling in Delta. Harold Percival Bicknell (born 1897) carved his own decoys out of red cedar when the use of live decoys was banned. Tru Haviland Oliver, a Ladner resident, carved more than 200 decoys a year for many years, with the earliest example of his work dating back to 1915. Both of these men have their work on display in the Ladner Heritage Museum, and to own one of their decoys is to be the envy of duck hunters everywhere.
