Jack Bay some of his best work

   Jacob O. Bay was born in / Finland and shortly thereafter moved to Astoria . H e moved to Jewell where he worked as a dairy farmer with about 25 head of Holsteins . He married Anna McMillan the proprietor of the New Richmond Hotel, the leading house of ill repute in Astoria . Bay didn’t hunt very much but got interested in carving to supplement his income. He worked in a shed next to the barn in his whipcord britches and laced up logging boots, with a curved pipe always in his mouth.

Bay finished off his birds using a hand –cranked Carborundum knife sharpening stone as a grinder/sander.  Heads are attached with a long screw drilled from the bottom of the block up into the neck. Jack never painted the final coat of paint only a coat of white primer.  He used tack and glass eyes and all of his birds are solid.

Auto dealer Sherman Lovell had 200 Jack Bay decoys, most were canvasback and bluebill. Lovell had his auto paint shop staff his Bay birds. Frank Bay also painted many of his Brother Jack’s decoys. Jack’s decoys are smaller and more refined then Frank’s. Jack carved mallards, pintails, canvasback, teal and bluebills.

Bay Canvasback head detail 1920