Counterfeiting the Counterfeiters
A top decoy carver explains his fascination with the Ward Brothers, the original ''wildfowl counterfeiters in wood''.
By: Rich Smoker
Photography by Nancy Smoker
Photography by Nancy Smoker
I love decoys! I love viewing them, holding them, floating them, researching them, reading about them, and especially making them. I just love decoys. Ever since I floated a Herter’s balsa pintail of my dad’s, hid behind a tree with my grandfather’s 12-gauge, double-barrel shotgun, and watched that decoy on the water, I have been hooked on the concept of decoys as floating sculptures.