Decoy of the Month...October

[Neighbor_guy]

I have an idea. There are several carvers that post here and we all have different styles. Some swim fast, others slow, wood tails, metal tails, blocky shapes, minnow shapes, air brushed, hand painted, all kinds of different and cool looking stuff.

I propose a challenge, something we can all get involved with to show how we would approach the same decoy with different styles. At the same time it may get all of us out of our comfort zones and create something new.

All that said, here is the decoy challange for the month of October.

Create a working Mud Puppy:

As I said, anyone can play along. Show as much or as little of the process as you want. No judging, no winning, just show us what you can do and how you would attack this challenge. I will dream up another one next month. But for now, lets see what you got.

[mrklean]

very cool idea should be interesting to see what everyone comes up with

[Dorkfish]

Well I'm in got it all drawn up

[Mike89]

this is going to be fun to follow!!

[Gordie]

Great Idea NG and this should be a fun thread to follow.

[merkman]

Well ArcherySniper time to carve a brown pickle.....

.

[Archerysniper]

Well ArcherySniper time to carve a brown pickle.....

.

Yep that's how it would turn out

[PGF]

Lol

[jasonmichalski]

It's on my list all ready might have to play along!!

[shamalex72]

Here is one that I made a few years back.

[lungdeflator]

This is gonna be great can't wait to see what everybody has! That one looks pretty close Sham!

[jasonmichalski]

Yeah, let's get this started, here's my mudpuppy blank, I printed out your pic and blow it up for a pattern, and I'm useing the original pic as a example.

[jasonmichalski]

Taking shape!

[bowhunt]

Looking good, I saw one of those little guys when I was hiking around hunting in the rain this weekend.

[Dorkfish]

Well I have the rough shape cut out but this is turnin out to be a headache lol

[Archerysniper]

I have the rough shape for mine.

[merkman]

Is that blood?

Wow you are really putting your heart and soul onto this!!!

BTW: You should be carving a mud puppy not a blood puppy....

-Merk

[Gordie]

I have the rough shape for mine.

Mine looks the same as this with out the blood.

[jasonmichalski]

T

I have the rough shape for mine.

Nice use of natural color and scent, pike love blood red, lol!

[Neighbor_guy]

Greetings from outside a tent in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Currently listening to the tunes of coyotes singing and cows bellering...

Currently my decoy is sitting on the work bench at home. It currently looks a lot like a 2x4 with the initials "DOM" and "Mudpuppy?" written on the side of it. I will be getting to work on it when I get back to town.

Good work everybody. Can't wait to see how they all turn out.

[Dorkfish]

Here it is the roughed out version

[Neighbor_guy]

started out with the pattern,

then cut it out on the band saw,

[Neighbor_guy]

got it all carved and shaped, then glued up the tail...

clams and glue... gotta love it...

[Dorkfish]

Big buddy heater heating the garage while working on decoys feels really nice

[Neighbor_guy]

Fins and tail all glued up. I also did the lead and the epoxy tonight. Think I may have over done the lead a little bit. She feels HEAVY!!!. I guess time will tell. With any luck I can balance and swim it tomorrow.

I will let you guys know how it turns out.