Minnesota Waterfowl Hunting

Just wondering how many of you collect decoys?

This one is far from my oldest but maybe my favorite....

Not a very good pic, but it's a Chesser GWT hen pot-buoy-decoy used in his year 2000 rig....

A Chesser GWT drake....

I’ve got a few that I gathered over the years. Nothing expensive or for financial gain. All of them are older plastic or paper machete. Got a few of the Mn made; Miller & Brainerd. Actually used some for hunting. They make good man-cave decor.

I used to and I may acquire A few more when I get disposable income someday.

I don’t think I’d turn into a big trader but I’d like to be in a position someday to suck up all the Gresser decoys I could find.

They’re kind of obscure. The family was from Blue Earth and my grandpa somehow ended up with some in his rig. Only 2 of my grandpa’s remain and my dad had them professionally restored a while back. He had repainted them when he was in high school or college.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My grandpa has a pretty sweet collection. Some are worth some money but they’ll never be sold so doesn’t really matter. Some of em are carved by my great grandpa from back in the day when guys used decoys painted all black. I bought him a couple when I’d find a cool one for a reasonable price. If my dad or uncle don’t keep them I’ll probably have them in my house since he has passed recently and his belongings are getting split between the family this coming spring. I still hunt with some vintage decoys. He also has a sweet old lure collection. If I ever take the time to learn how to post pics on here now that Tapatalk doesn’t work I’ll post some pics.

Certainly appreciate vintage decoys, calls and whatnot, but have to say one of the most surreal things I’ve ever experienced was attending the American Sporting Collectibles Show they used to (perhaps still do) hold at the Medina Entertainment Center in the western suburbs. So, so much cool old stuff there, but it was straight up depressing. Essentially a bunch of old dudes who smelled of Old Spice and impending death in a dimly lit ballroom that still had the slight smell of cigarette smoke from a bygone era surrounded by worn card tables stacked with the lost fortunes from a lifetime of collecting with it all for naught and simply for sale to a willing buyer. A sadness struck me about half way through and I thought to myself, “what is the point of all this?”. I vowed then, that despite how interesting it may be, never to become a collector of things.

Wild times at the medina. Cougar galore.