Bill Wasson

I'm 57 years old and live in Thomaston, Maine and started hunting in the early '50s with my father in Indiana. After I got out of the Navy in '69 I moved to Maine and proceeded to buy a dozen Herters plastic black duck decoys. Well that was the start of my decoy carving. I fiddled with those decoys, cutting sections out of the necks, etc. and after the season I met Wendall Gilley in Southwest Harbor and discovered what real decoys were all about.

I went to grad school the following year in Michigan and got some more help from Walt Snow, who had worked with Ben Schmidt, and really found my own style and started producing some quantity for my own rig. Due to increasing requests from friends and other hunters I decided to make decoy carving a part-time business in 1988 and since then have produced over 1500 decoys.

My wife Judy is the other half of the "Wasson & Wasson" that is singed on some of the decoys. She is the better painter by far and does most of the puddle duck painting.

I do 99% gunning decoys and use cork (good honest black cork) or cedar for bodies and pine or cedar for heads. They are flat-bottomed with keels and similar to a lot of Michigan decoys. Judy and I both use oil paints from Rustoleum, Parker, and Lock, Stock, & Barrell.

I sell decoys through my website: www.seaducks.com, Sinkbox Waterfowl Supply, Kittery Trading Post, and directly to clients of my seaduck guide service. I enjoy making most species and experimenting with different poses. Probably my favorites are the eiders and the oldsquaw.

My favorite carver is of course, Ben Schmidt with Gus Wilson a close second. I used to compete in the gunning class but about 10 years ago decided to compete in the eyes of my customers and the birds.



Blacks and Mallard



Wood Ducks



Scaup



Eider