Although I can sit and tell you what lead up to my carving of hunting decoys and where I am at today I have asked my good friend, fellow water-fowler, and decoy carver Brian Ballard to put it into the written word for me. The following is my decoy carving journey as seen by Brian.One fateful afternoon, as he and his lovely wife window shopped, a young water-fowler named Tim Bombardier found in his hand, a cork gunning decoy. As he examined its lines, and construction and remarked “I can do better than this”, and flint struck steel. Thus he began his first steps on a path paved with cedar shavings, cork dust and sharp knives. Raised in St. Albans, Vermont, Tim grew up scurrying across the rocky shores of Lake Champlain, heeding his father’s (an ardent fowler himself) directions on breaking ice, and setting gear. These cherished days etched a mark carried on the heart of all those who walk the gunners path. Tim readily admits that his first attempts at carving came with challenges and some flops. These only drove him on with more determination to better his finished work. He strove for a decoy of strong and rugged construction coupled with the animated aesthetic of the live bird. Gunners and their equipment must face the brutal conditions that Champlain throws at those who tempt her winter embrace. Tim’s decoys do so for multiple seasons and stand at the ready to soldier on for the next opening day. A Bombardier decoy comes with an added value born from a seasoned creative eye. Tim strives to bring the embodiment of life and movement to his carvings. The subtle turn of a Knife edge, a confident stroke of the brush to mirror the movement of life, these give each gunner its own personality and purpose. To this end Tim found himself as one of the members of a likeminded, legendary company, a merry band of traditional gunning decoy cavers, an infamous, and illustrious cadre known as the Runamuck Decoy Carvers (120SB) Connected by a shared purpose to protect traditional decoy carving styles, and pass on the tenet of those traditions, Tim has battled side by side with his RDC compadres at carving contests far and wide, willing to share information and assistance to all who ask. To that end he offers to those who seek to carry a piece of a grand tradition afield and join in the elevation of their enjoyment of the time spent with a steel wind in their face, and a grand memory etched on their own hearts.
“Friends don’t let friends hunt over plastic decoys” My Decoys

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