Program Notes from September 27, 2005 Meeting of LKWA

The meeting was called to order by Chairman, Rick Persson, at 6:05 pm at the DNR office in Janesville. There were 36 persons in attendance.

Penny gave an update on our 3 grants:

  1. The flood plain forest grant is completed and the report is written.
  2. The botanical surveys were completed in July with the help of our members and friends. 164.5 hours of volunteer time was donated to help guide the botanists, carry instruments, and record data. 8 hours of boat transportation were donated. Many wonderful native plant communities were found.
  3. Data collection is completed for the study of the Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchids.

Roger Martin reported that our new and improved website went active today. It will have a lot more information, including a section on the historical information our group has been gathering.

Penny and Rick reported on the organizational assessment we started last spring. We were lead in the process by Suzanne Wade, UWEX Rock River Basin Educator. Using standardized assessment tools, we analyzed our strengths and weaknesses and set priorities for areas that need improvement. The next step will be for the board to set specific short- and long-term goals.

In response to the expressed interest of our members to collect and preserve an oral history of Lake Koshkonong, Penny met with Susan Hartwick, the Director of the Fort Atkinson Historical Museum. She suggested that we apply to the Wisconsin Humanities Council for a grant (probably for about $2000) to get tapes or interviews transcribed. Penny will meet with Jim Leute and Bill Zeman to look into this.

Program: A presentation of beautiful, historic and new decoys was orchestrated by Kurt Buggs, Jim Leute, and Bill Zeman who have been interested in the indigenous decoys of Lake Koshkonong for many years. In addition to their own decoys, they had invited other collectors who showed both their decoys as well as historic photos of hunting, some from 1896. Dick Wannie has a new book in press called “Horicon to Koshkonong” that contains a lot of the history of hunting in the area.

Bill Zeman first reviewed some key references and distributed copies.

  1. An 1873 article from Forest and Stream about Canvas-Back duck hunting. In it the author claims, “We have the best ducking grounds in the Northwest, and the only grounds where the famous canvas-back is found in any great number. This ground is at Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin, a body of water about nine miles long, from two to four miles wide, quite shallow and filled with wild celery. the shores are indented by numerous bogs and sloughs, and lined with a heavy growth of wild rice, and here in the spring and fall are found nearly every variety of water fowl by the million.” --- “the best route is via c. and N. W. Railway, Wisconsin division, from Chicago to Fort Atkinson, 111 miles; thence by team three miles south to Mr. H. L. Beemer’s---.”
  2. An excerpt from and old waterfowling book showing the “Koshkonong Flat Boat” (which rides so low in the water that the shooter is below the level of the water), and the Koshkonong Monitor which featured a canvas covering that could be raised and lowered to form protection against sea and wind.
  3. A 1989 article from Decoy Magazine entitled “Enoch Reindahl – Wisconsin’s pride”. It is about the Stoughton resident (born in 1904) who is famous for his anatomically perfect decoys. He founded the “Stoughton school” of decoy carving. For example, the wingtips were crossed and the heads held low or over their breast with the bill tucked into the back.
  4. A 1998 article from Decoy Magazine about the Homme bothers who made some of the best decoys in the country. They were also from Stoughton and contemporaries of Reindahl. In 1938, Mandt Homme won first place in the Milwaukee Decoy Carving contest. He then traded the beautiful geese for Dr. A.T. Shearer’s prize fox hound! Mandt named the hound “Harry” after his brother.

Kurt Buggs noted that the indigenous decoys of Lake Koshkonong (LK) are very similar to those of the Upper Chesapeake Bay. Others agreed, and noted that LK was a popular hunting destination for eastern hunters who probably left some of their decoys behind, and thus influenced designs here. Examples of the similarities are the boat hull bottom (V-shaped), painted or tack eyes and a narrow head. Of special interest are decoys of canvasbacks that have a snaky head. Kurt noted that Tom Bosworth is now writing a history of how the designs got here from Maryland. Kurt commented that a well know manufacturer of decoys (Evans Factory) in Wisconsin made them on a wooden lathe and dipped the decoys in paint. Linn Duesterbeck said that, according to Bingham, locals did not know that canvasbacks were a separate species. They referred to them as “big redheads” (as opposed to “little redheads”).

Dick Burpee showed some of his grandfather’s decoys from Carcajou. His grandfather joined that club in the early 1900s. Dick also brought a family album with photos from 1896. Included was a photo of Ezra Bingham. He also had books showing decoys that sold at auction. The highest price ever paid for a decoy was $682,000. It was a pintail made by Elmer Crow. The photo in the book was breathtaking. It looked exactly like a real bird!!

Bob Swan showed examples of the decoys that he makes from cork for hunting. He had examples in various stages of creation. They were beautiful and very realistic. He uses larger or smaller patterns for adults vs. juveniles, trying to reproduce a realistic rig. He noted that in the fall migration, about 20-35% of the birds are juveniles. He also noted that some fall migrants (like blue-winged teal) are always in eclipse plumage. He uses good acrylic paint with a spar varnish and then a final paint. It lasts for over 15 years! His work was featured in the March 2005 issue of Decoy Magazine.

Jim Leute showed us a coot decoy which he got off an old wood pile that was to be burned! Coot decoys are now rare. They used to be hunted to make “mud hen stew”. Some found the dish to be delicious, others thought it was awful. Jim noted that hunters from the east coast came to stay at 3 hotels on LK, the Lake House Inn, the Blackhawk Island Hotel (that featured a tower to keep a lookout for the game warden), and Binghams. The Hoard Hotel (now the Koshkonong Mounds country Club) was primarily a resort for tennis and swimming on its excellent beach. However, in fall, it was closed except for hunting. When it was renovated, two big barrels of decoys were found. It had also been called Koshkonong Place and there is a decoy with this name on the top, and Hoard on the bottom. Duck hunting was done in both the spring and fall. Some was for sport, but a lot of hunting was to sell the birds to restaurants in the big cities. Ducks were packed in barrels and shipped to Chicago. Jim read some interesting entries from the Carcajou log written in 1896. Some hunters wrote that they had biked from Janesville to Carcajou. Another entry reported that two hunters had rowed upstream from Janesville to Carcajou. It took them from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm.! One notation for spring hunting reported that 4 fellows had shot 30 to 100 ducks each in an afternoon.

Dick Wannie showed a pair of Evan’s decoys. One had Bill Hoard’s name (grandson of the governor) on the bottom. Dick said that decoys (which were very heavy) were sometimes called “blocks”. He showed two decoys with “Carcajou” on the top. In the 1930s and 1940s, a Carcajou membership would be sold that included a boat and decoys. Dick’s father was a carp fisherman and a game warden on LK. His first job was to stand guard on the dam when it was built. His stories are included in Dick’s new book, “Horicon to Koshkonong”. It is “in press”. On Horicon, the decoys were cork and rather rough, unlike the wooden, realistic decoys used on LK. As part of the research for his book, Dick has tapes with recollections of people, including Jim Bowler

Vic Falk showed some of his grandfather’s decoys, including a canvasback by Matt Homme.

Dave Dumanti had two Evan’s decoys with “A.T.” on them (probably had belonged to A.T. Shearer).

The meeting adjourned at 7:30 pm but many lingered to share more information and stories.

Next meeting October 25, DNR office at 6:00 pm Indian Mounds of Wisconsin, Amy Rosebrough, Wisconsin Historical Society

Respectfully submitted,
Penny Shackelford