Homer Fulcher, Decoy Carver, Stacy

Julian Hamilton Jr., Decoy Carver, Beaufort

For many years--centuries, perhaps--large flocks of redheads, canvasbacks, blackheads, pintails, and geese wintered on Core Sound and were a major food source for people living in the region. By the mid-19th century, the wildfowl were attracting numerous hunters from the upper Chesapeake area, many of whom brought decoys with them. Local residents-menhaden fishermen, oystermen, and others who made a living on the water-generally carved their own rough wooden decoys from locally available materials. They easily appropriated ideas from the Chesapeake decoys. Eventually the great flocks disappeared, laws curtailed hunting, the hunting lodges closed, and inexpensive plastic decoys came on the market. Many decoy makers put away their tools, but not Homer Fulcher or Julian Hamilton Jr.

Homer Fulcher was born in Stacy, a small community well known for its decoy carvers. "Well, Stacy was the carvingest community in [Carteret] County," explains "Mr. Homer," as he is known around Core Sound. "In any direction I looked from the old home place, there would be a wood carver." Like others in the community, he used decoys to hunt for food. "Any time we killed more ducks or geese than we'd eat, there were right many in the community that could use them," he reports.

Mr. Homer learned how to carve from watching his father, Charlie Wallace Fulcher, and their neighbors. These older fishermen would carve when it was too stormy to go out on the water, often using scraps of juniper from boat builders or debris that had washed up on the shore. They smoothed the decoys' rough edges with broken glass and covered them with boat paint. The birds Mr. Homer carves now are larger and more carefully painted than the working decoys he used to make, but they still have the Core Sound touch--true to form without being overly realistic. "Not too much detail," he explains. "I like to do it so you'll think they got a personality and are Core Sound ducks right on."

His friend and fellow decoy carver, Julian Hamilton, Jr., is one of the most knowledgeable waterfowl historians in the state. A breeder with a phenomenal knowledge of different varieties of birds, "Jul" keeps hundreds of ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peafowl, pheasants, and chickens in his backyard. Decoy making, for him, is an extension of his love of the region's wildlife.

A collector and recognized authority on old decoys, Julian Hamilton Jr., can identify a decoy's maker with a glance. He learned to recognize different styles of carving while growing up in Beaufort, when he helped his father buy used decoys, fix them up, and resell them. "See, I had to keep all the decoys up, all that got busted," he explains. "That's the way I started out." He learned some techniques from Carteret County's celebrated decoy carver, Mitchell Fulcher. Close observation of the birds themselves taught him even more.

Decoys today are more likely to ride out their days on mantels than on the water, but they still have work to do. Those by Homer Fulcher and Julian Hamilton, Jr., remind the Core Sound community of its particular artistic and occupational heritage. They are symbols of a way of life that values and understands both waterfowl and the region's history. The carvers know this. Reflecting on his Folk Heritage Award, Mr. Homer declared, "I'm proud to represent the old way--them fellows that have gone on!"