CARVINGS, MOST FOWL

Hi, I'm Bruce Bauer. I've been playing with decoys for a long time. I probably started in my early hunting years when the decoys would need a paint job. I would repaint the whole spread. Soon others would ask me to paint their spreads. I was even asked to carve some simple wood decoys, but didn't carve many.

Eventually I started to compete in national decoy contests. The first was in 1982. But with family, job, home and training my hunting dogs, I can't say I knocked myself out with a lot of effort. I won my second Best of Show in Novice Class in 1996, and followed that with the second Best of Show in the Intermediate Class in 2002. Since I've been in the Open Class I haven't competed much.

But now that I've retired I pretty much do whatever I want. Besides ducks and geese, I started carving birds I've never done before. Basically I carve out of tupelo, white cedar and high density cork. I paint in oils. Most of my carvings are intended for the shelf, but occasionally I'll do a working decoy--not my favorite thing. I prefer to keep things simple and accurate, don't go out of my way to paint highly detailed birds.

Pictured: Bruce and loyal companion Riggs (R.I.P) on successful hunting expedition