Dove Decoys

[John Allen]

I just received my Parker Pages and enjoyed reading Mills Morrison's article on stuff we collect, in particular decoys. A lot of people collect duck decoys as i do as well. However,I have branched out into collecting antique dove decoys. I now have 24 in a special corner of my gun room. I was wondering if anyone else collected dove decoys or dove hunting prints. Both are very hard to find.

[Bill Murphy]

My father in law was in the process of carving a box of dove decoys for me when he became ill with cancer and passed away. I have two of his efforts, two outstanding oversized doves that I treasure. He is a carver of some skill who never sold an example of his work. All of his ducks, swans, and others are in the family and probably will always be there. My doves are the only examples. I hung them at a shoot in Dorchester County Maryland a few years ago, had a great shoot, but never hung them again. John Allen is my hero because he led me to the greatest Parker I will ever own, and probably the biggest check I have ever written for a shotgun, end of story.

[Dollar]

Here are some decoys I had made this year for our season.Worked great and yes I have several decoys and I think every commercial decoy made in the last 20yrs.Always looking for some more.

[John Allen]

That is a great bird. I love the lifted wing. I have several commercial decoys but my favorites are the older home made ones. I have one that the head can be removed and stored in the body for transportation.

[John Allen]

Here is a shot of the dove corner in the gun room.

[John Allen]

I started picking these up at antique malls. They are usually marked "bird carving". They don't know a dove from a chickadee.

[Dollar]

Here is one that I got from a guy in NC that made duck decoys.He passed away and can't get them anymore.It's also a power line decoy.
Your collection looks great.I'll have to get some pictures of mine.

[Stan Hoover]

I do not have any dove decoys to speak of other than 1 or 2 plastic decoys that I’ve never used much.
I did purchase this print approximately 20 years ago at a Friends of NRA Baquet.

It reminds me of my hunting dove here in PA with my late grandfather, he was an avid small game hunter, he also hunted whitetail & turkey, but summertime groundhogs, then dove followed by squirrel were his favorites. My first hunting was with grandpa in the dove fields, so this one always brings back memories.

[Jeff Elder]

Jamie Hand out of New Jersey make some awesome cedar hollow dove decoys. I have about a dozen I gun over after the fields get plowed.

[Stan Hillis]

I have never been interested in vintage dove decoys, though I use modern made ones religiously, both stationary and motorized ones. i am a student of how to best place them to get the maximum response from doves. They can be very effective at times, almost to the point of being hypnotic. Then again, the doves totally ignore them. Very interesting.

Stan, my grandsons Lane and Jackson shoot with me each year and several years ago I happened on this print by Bucky Bowles that captivated me. It reminded me so much of my two grandsons that I bought it from him and asked him to title it in their names. It looks very much like your print may have been done by Bucky as well.