Ontario Decoys III

This project began about ten years ago as a photographic record of 30-40 decoys in my personal collection. It has developed into more than 800 (and growing) digital images of Ontario decoys with comments and observations, a useful research tool for like-minded collectors to compare, identify, and enjoy the birds.

From the beginning, the priority was to archive images of single decoys with brief notes identifying the bird species, the maker and the region where he lived or was most active. Sometimes, there are additional notes relevant to the image such as construction details, maker characteristics, etc.

The decoy is generally a work of ordinary men* in earlier days, made strictly as utilitarian hunting tools to provide food or to be sold to others for the same purpose. From the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, the decoy was also used to harvest feathers for a thriving feather industry.

By collecting decoys, we are recognizing, acknowledging, and paying tribute to the inherent skill of decoy makers. Most of these men would otherwise be unknown to us. Whenever it was possible, images of the makers have been included.

Today, some of these humble decoys are now accepted as sculptures, works of art in their own right, giving pleasure to people from all walks of life.

The intent of Ontario Decoys III is to foster additional research and to increase awareness and the concomitant pleasure derived from collecting decoys.

* “Hats off to that Almighty Force.” The Ordinary Man by Robert Service

It is with great sadness that I convey that Bernie has passed away August 29th, 2023.  Many of us, will miss his consist unequaled knowledge of Ontario decoys and about the men who created them.

Bernard Stanley Gates, “Bernie”, came from Essex, England, where not much was expected of ‘ordinary men,’ into the land of opportunity that was Ontario, Canada in the 1960s.

He loved the land, the lakes, the forests, the small towns, but especially the people he met, who often had little, but made families, farms, businesses, and beautiful things by hard work, imagination and natural talent.  He made his life’s work the study of these beautiful things and he shared the information in order to celebrate the often underappreciated.

By his own hard work, imagination and natural talent, he created his own family, his own home by a lake, his own place among peers, and expressed his creativity in pottery, photography, and gardens.

We were lucky to have him – an Ordinary Man who escaped into the Extraordinary. We are also fortunate to have been given a wonderful gift, the appreciation of the fabulous decoys produced here in Ontario.  I will ask for your support as I take on the job of continuing the research and increasing awareness and the concomitant pleasure derived from collecting decoys.

I will dearly miss him. Sincerely, Jeff Mewburn