Heritage Auction Final Digital 11-17

Lot 8 Continued:
The Story of this Blackhead Drake Clubhouse Decoy
This blackhead decoy is what the Stacy and Davis Shore duck hunters call a clubhouse decoy. The
Yankees came to the Carteret Gun and Rod Club about 1917 from a club on the upper Chesapeake
Bay. These men brought their decoys which were made by the Havre de Grace decoy carvers. Most
of the decoys were made by James Holly. The club lost all of these decoys in the 1933 hurricane. All
of the men at Stacy and Davis Shore found these decoys after the storm while looking for their gear,
including their decoys which they had lost in the storm. After the 1933 hurricane a lot of the decoy
hunting stands of the Stacy and Davis Shore duck hunters had these decoys.
Irving Fulcher found a skiff load of these decoys and had his skiff tied up at Mariah Creek. Leroy
Davis, the caretaker of the Carteret Gun and Rod Club saw this skiff and contacted the sheriff.
Irving did not have to return these decoys because of the salvage laws. However, he decided to knock
the original heads off the decoys and place his carved decoy head on the decoy, put his initials “IF”
in the bottom and repainted the decoy. Other duck hunters at Stacy and Davis Shore did the same
thing creating what they called the Clubhouse decoys.
Doily Earl Fulcher Sr. purchased this decoy along with other decoys from Irving Fulcher in Oct
1966. These decoys had been part of his hunting rig stored in his net house since 1933. Doily
remembered he details of the purchase, “When I bought the decoys from Irving in 1966 I was after
old decoys. Irving was selling me decoys from his hunting rig but he had old decoys and decoys he
had just made. I would pick out an old decoy and then he would pick out one of his new decoys
that he had just made I ended up with half and half. His new decoys became as valuable - or more
valuable - than the old decoys”.
— Doily Earl Fulcher, Jr.
Lot 8 Continued:
History of the Old Club House
The “Club House” was built in 1902, and burned down on May 25, 1970. The first caretaker was
Ammie L. Paul, 1902 to 1905. A man from Morehead was the second one, but I can’t remember
his name. Walter Moore was the third caretaker, followed by George Willis from Hatteras, Leroy
Davis, who was the caretaker from May 1915 to December 1945. Others were Cartie Fulcher, Stacy;
Charlie Gaskill, Hal Willis, Cleo Brown, Quinton Willis, and Wardie (my brother) Murphy, all of
Davis. Ion Lane Lewis took the job May 1, 1970.
When Mr. Leroy Davis took over the job of caretaker in 1915, there were 60 members, mostly from
up north. When he left in 1945, there were only two members left; brothers Charlie and Johnnie
Geiger from New Jersey. A lot of the members left the club after the hurricane of 1933. Mr. Leon
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