Text and photos by Connie Leinbach
Waterfowl decoys from different regions are easily spotted by those in the know.
Ocracoke decoys differ from those of Currituck, Down East or Maryland, said the experts at the Ocracoke Waterfowl Festival April 20 and 21 held in the Ocracoke School gym.
Decoys were designed for the carvers’ specific area.
“One hundred fifty years ago, people were isolated,” said Joe Engers, editor and publisher of “Decoy Magazine.”
Their design influences were endemic to their areas.
“So, somebody would make and design a decoy that worked in the water that they were hunting in,” he said.
For example, with decoys used in rivers, their designs would be different from those floating in the Pamlico Sound. Decoys used in rivers required ballast weights on their back ends to prevent the current from pulling the heads under water.
“For the next generation, that’s the decoys they saw,” he said. “So, they would make them in that style.”
In the late 1800s, Ocracoke began to see more hunting as sportsmen descended to hunt the thousands of Canada geese and their cousins, Atlantic Brants, in the sound, according to an article by Jack Dudley in the July/August 2023 issue.
This influx of hunters created an opportunity for locals to provide guide services and to carve decoys.
The roothead is synonymous with the Outer Banks and Ocracoke specifically, said islander Vince O’Neal, who was this year’s featured carver.
“Ocracoke and Long Island are famous for their root heads,” he said as he pointed out the different aspects of this decoy.
They originated with native peoples, who stuck sticks in the ground to attract ducks.
Then the Europeans arrived with their tools and suggested that bodies be added, he said, and thus began the decoy tradition.
O’Neal pointed out the subtle differences of the Ocracoke root heads from the New York ones. Ocracoke decoys have a different weight because of the wood available to local carvers.
The weights are different as the locals used whatever they could find to complete their birds, such as nails or, for anchor ties, canvas bed ticking.
“I use bed ticking,” he said about his reproductions. “The O’Neals are the root head kings.”
He was referring to his ancestors who trace their lineage back to Sir Walter Raleigh’s second voyage in 1590 when David O’Neal, the ship’s cook on His Majesty’s Ship “John Evangelist” decided to remain in Hatteras, then known as Kinnakeet, marrying an indigenous Hatteras woman.
George Washington O’Neal (1869-1949) is reputed to have been one of Ocracoke’s most prolific decoy makers, according to Dudley’s article.
“To me, the root head is the ultimate decoy because of the origination (with the O’Neals),” O’Neal said.
The decoy head carving contest, in which carvers have one hour to fashion the best decoy head they can with a pre-cut piece of wood, consisted of five carvers this year.
Jerry Talton of Stella, Carteret County, won for the second time with his Core Sound duck head style.
“I’m reclaiming my title,” he said.
John Simpson, president of the Ocracoke Decoy Carvers Guild, which produces the event, was pleased with the event this year despite attendance being down in his view.
He thought the lower attendance was owed to the weather and the washout and repair of NC12 at the north end.
“People were skittish about being able to get off,” he said about the five vendors who elected not to stay for the second day on Sunday and left Saturday evening. “A guy from Nags Head booked the Swan Quarter ferry.”
Snapping up the fish fry outside the gym and wandering among the vendors inside, islanders and visitors enjoyed the varied displays.
“There are not a lot of artisans around anymore,” said Paula Mays of Clio, Michigan, who with her husband was shopping. “We like to support the island.”
Islander Paige Bennett took it all in.
“I love the tradition,” she said. “I love the handiwork.”
