Mike Burnett of Salty Water Decoys in Bena is enjoying himself these days. He’s doing what he enjoys—carving wildfowl—and he’s doing it when and if it suits his fancy. Now he wants to share his expertise with others by offering free decoy-making demonstrations beginning in March.
After retiring in 2013 from a bustling career as the owner of a successful Hampton-based sign company, Burnett, who went into the trade out of high school because it satisfied his artistic bent, took up another art form—creating duck decoys.
“I just wanted to work with my hands and smell paint,” he said.
While he had toyed with the idea of sketching derelict structures, a trip to a waterfowl show in White Stone left him in awe and set him on a different path. He bought some wood at the show, got some pointers from the artists, and went home and started carving, trying to make something he could be proud of. A year later, he finally had a decoy “that actually looked like a duck.”
Burnett contacted the White Stone waterfowl artists once again, and they encouraged him to enter his decoy in the upcoming show.
“I entered it and won absolutely nothing,” he said wryly.
That winter, he started attending guild meetings and learning as much as he could, and in 2015, he entered eight decoys in the show and won 18 awards.
“I just got really dedicated,” he said. “I bought more tools, wood and reference materials.”
Since then, Burnett has competed in various shows up and down the East Coast, winning 160 awards, 10 of them Best of Show. But he grew tired of the restrictive rules of competitive carving and decided that after his ribbons, placed side-by-side, filled the tops of three walls of his large workspace, he’d stop competing. He achieved that goal during the past few years, taking Best of Show in four Ducks Unlimited competitions, 2019 and 2022-2024, and at the Poquoson Seafood Festival in 2023 and 2024.
Now Burnett just makes decoys to suit himself. He also enjoys carving other things, trying his hand at tuna and marlin tails, a seven-foot-wide blue crab, whales for wall display, and Chesapeake Bay deadrise workboats.
Demonstrations
Burnett will have two free demonstrations in March to teach the process of making a decoy, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 1 and 8 at his workshop on Oyster Cove Road in Bena. Each demonstration is limited to eight participants.
“If you’re interested in doing decoys, I’ve made enough mistakes and gone through enough trial-and-error to know what tools to use, what wood, which paints and sealers,” he said.
Burnett said he’ll teach those attending how to make decoys for competition or practical use or as an art form, providing written materials, examples, and references to purchase supplies and materials.
“Decoy making is the only original American art form,” he said, adding that the first decoys were made in Arizona by Native Americans.
For those who decide they want to seriously pursue decoy-making, Burnett said he’ll provide mentorship on an ongoing basis.
“I’m retired and I only do what I want to do,” he said. “And I want to get people involved in decoy making.”
For more information and to request a place in a workshop, email Burnett at mike@saltywaterdecoys.com.
To see some of Burnett’s work, visit saltywaterdecoys.com.
