A Bit Racy*
Merganser Decoys
by Gene and Linda Kangas
*As published in Decoy Magazine, May/June 2007
The title doesn't refer to the NASCAR circuit or to porno; it identifies certain decoys, specifically merganser decoys. The very physical characteristics that so aptly enable American, hooded and red–breasted mergansers to be successful food gatherers often inspired the imaginations of creative decoy makers. Hooded merganser decoys are the rarest of the three. All mergansers are superb underwater swimmers and divers, possessing streamlined bodies well adapted to the task. Their long thin serrated bills enable them to capture and hold fish. Upon returning to the surface, their combs are wet and slicked back. Once dry, feathers on the back of the head grandly unfurl into fan shaped crests and coiffures suggesting the nickname "hairy heads" to some hunters.
Examples of merganser decoys are known from virtually all waterfowling regions in North America but in far fewer numbers than more popular table food species like canvasbacks and mallards, to name two. In fact, shelldrake lures are somewhat rare in some habitat areas and relatively more commonly found in others. Nova Scotia is one region, for example, that produced a significant number of merganser decoys, perhaps the most of any region. On Long Island, brothers Roger and Nathaniel Williams are credited with crafting some of the oldest of all wooden decoys in North America, circa 1800. Those happen to be mergansers. While many coastal hunters, accustomed to a seafood diet, sought them for their personal consumption, mergansers were also hunted for sport due to their fast flying abilities.
Like all art, decoys are material representations of mental interpretations of an image, an idea or a concept. Decoys are sculptural wooden reflections of living entities. They were rarely duplicates or exact copies of life forms. The interpretive aspect of the creative process is what distinguishes one chiseled block from another. The fanciful addition of leather or horsehair as substitute combs, for instance, is intended to stylistically mimic real life. Rationale for sculpting turned heads, alert heads, serpentine necks and animated rocking heads derives from a similar purpose. Direct observations of the waterfowl's activities and attributes provided a wealth of useful information that could be integrated during the conceptual stage of designing a decoy. Imagine Harald Thengs, another Long Island maker living in Babylon, thinking to himself, "How do I suggest that?"
Careful visual examination of a finished decoy provides insightful clues to the original thought process. In the immortal words of Popeye, "I yam what I yam and I yam what I yam that I yam." Decoys are what they are for a reason. It is what makes them special. Harald Thengs' mergansers are characterized by either short necks or tall necks, which support heads with small combs and long thin hardwood bills doweled through the head. As a group they provided the impression of waterfowl that had just emerged from feeding and then relaxed. Thengs custom mixed the multiple pigments he applied to merganser heads and necks with various powdered materials in order to texturize the paint, thereby softening its appearance and reducing glare.
By comparison, Samuel Hutchings of Elgin, Ontario near Jones Falls hunted small ponds and other constricted inland fresh water sources. Therefore his needs were specific. Hutchings produced a small number of incredibly detailed hooded merganser and golden eye decoys. The "hoodies" are unusually diminutive in size, small enough to conveniently carry to the hunt in the pockets of his vest. Perhaps Hutchings was also concerned about surface glare. Some theorize that might have been the reason he "checkered" the entire surface of his decoys. But, if glare was his only motive, why were the decoy bottoms also textured with engraved lines? The petite size and obsessive overall surface articulation combine resulting in distinctively identifiable lures. Amongst the hundreds of thousands of decoys produced in over two hundred years of decoy production, they stand as unique individual expressions. No others are like them.
For Hutchings, Thengs and the majority of other makers, symmetrical decoys with heads pointing straight forward were the norm. Conversely, Gus Wilson's Maine decoys, by contrast, are much less commonly found with perfectly symmetrical positioning. Wilson certainly must have enjoyed implying lifelike animation because he took extra effort to hand chisel bold inlets into bodies at alternate angles. The "norm" for Wilson was being sculpturally diverse. His simply polychromed decoys rock with the motion of the waves, look the either side, raise one or two wings, preen, sleep and/or call. Wilson was consistently the most sculpturally experimental maker in decoy history. Wilson's decoys are time and again admired more for their innovative sculptural form than their paint.
The qualities just mentioned are what attracted us to begin collecting merganser decoys. They represent the largest number in our home rig. They also illustrate an intriguing diversity of original thought.
Roger Williams, Nathaniel Williams, Harald Thengs, Samuel Hutchings, and Gus Wilson are just a few of the hundreds of waterfowl decoy carvers who made and hunted over dashing merganser decoys all over the North American continent. This species of wooden duck is often the most visually exciting to collect.
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