Reprint of a Decoy Magazine January/February 1995 article.
Pat Gregory
Continuing a family tradition
By William F. Rothwell
Some decoy makers have the craft handed down from father to son. Others pick up the technique by hanging around a neighbor’s shop. Patrick J. Gregory had to reach back three generations to his great grandfather, George “Skippy” Barto, to recapture the family tradition of making decoys.
Until the early 1980s Pat was, at best, a casual observer of decoys and decoy makers. He had hunted ducks and owned two of his great grandfather’s miniature decoys. His wife, Nancy, first encouraged him to try his hand by making miniature similar to Barto’s, then with his sister Joyce he began researching the family background. His newfound success with miniatures, and his link with the past, spurred Pat to explore the Barto connection even further.
In 1983 Pat contacted Arthur Behemetuik, who, in his younger years, carved decoys and hunted with Barto. Fortunately, Behemetuik has preserved many of Barto’s patterns and tools. Pat not only received tips and techniques from Behemetuik on carving and construction of an Illinois River decoy, he received a wealth of stories on Barto as well.
By now, bitten by the decoy bug, Pat set about making his own rig – mallards, bluebills, redheads, teal and one Canada goose. Barto had always flanked his rig with a lone goose. In 1988, armed with his rig of Barto-style decoys, Pat went gunning with one of Barto’s old duck hunting buddies to a back water of the Des Plaines River, south of Joliet, where Barto had hunted in the 1930s and 40s. Pat’s decoys now mingled within the rig. He heard stories of past hunts and added to the oral history of his great grandfather. Pat’s enthusiasm to continue the Barto tradition was firmly established that day.
Pat’s style of carving and painting has now evolved. He’s experimented with various schools of carving, including, Michigan, Wisconsin and several East Coast areas. With an interest in working decoys, he makes good use of his rig each fall. Pat hunts small bodies of water, consequently his decoys are standard size to slightly undersized. Easier to handle, he can set out more decoys, effective for his type of hunting.
Pat utilizes mostly scrap or used wood always well dried. Ends from a Wisconsin log home factory and old screen doorframes aren’t an unusual part of the inventory. He prefers cedar and redwood for the bodies and uses white pine and basswood for the heads. His garage shop includes a band saw, drill press, drum sander and various hand power tools, plus the appropriate hand tools – drawknives, wood rasps, carving knives and sandpaper.
In keeping with tradition, Pat uses inexpensive paints and brushes. His patterns are simple but effective. Each decoy receives two coats of black primer which are well dried before the colors are applied. Pat incorporates scratch painting on some to enhance the pattern. Each decoy is stamped PJG on the bottom as well as on the lead keel if attached. Those purchased directly from Pat are personally signed and dated.
Pat collects working decoys from contemporary makers. He’s organized these into a hunting rig that he uses each season depending on the species and location of the hunt. When the season ends, they return to the shelf in his decoy room where he can admire them all year.
A graduate of Hillsdale Collage in Michigan with a degree in art education and Illinois State University with a master degree in exercise physiology, Pat lives in Bloomington, Illinois with his wife Nancy, son Aaron and daughter Sarah. As a full-time medical claims examiner, the current production of his decoys are limited. But if you’re interested in adding one of Pat’s decoys to your collection, you need not worry, for he fully intends to carry on this family tradition.
