Body-Booting and Decoy Carving on the Chesapeake Bay

Ducks Unlimited Carving the Chesapeake

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -(Ammoland.com)- Ducks Unlimited’s latest online film visits three generations of the Jobes family in Havre de Grace, Md.

The Jobes, who are Chesapeake Bay watermen, professional decoy carvers and longtime supporters of Ducks Unlimited, practice a unique style of hunting they call “body-booting.” The hunters don survival suits and stand chest deep amid large spreads of handmade decoys on the Susquehanna Flats.

“We have such a unique way of hunting that people don’t even know about,” said Andrew Jobes. “People are just blown away by the way and the style and all the work we put in to body-booting. If I’m not body-booting it’s kind of hard to get me to go hunting. Anybody can shoot geese in a field, but body-booting, standing in the water doing what we do, it’s unique.”

Family patriarch Captain Harry Jobes has been carving working decoys since he was nine years old. He passed the tradition on to his sons, Bob, Charles and Joey, who are all talented decoy carvers and painters. They, in turn, are passing the tradition on to younger generations.

“To make a gunning decoy, people don’t realize how long it takes,” said Charles Jobes. “They think you can make a decoy like you make a doughnut, and it doesn’t happen that way. It takes so much time.”

“My father taught us: ‘move your hands and you’ll get something done,’” said Joey Jobes.

“The main thing that my Dad taught us was to work hard,” said Charles’ son Andrew. “I think the most important thing is to learn as much as I can from the people above me, so that as the next generation comes I can do the same for them.”

DU Films is a unique online film series from Ducks Unlimited, the world leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation. Each film features thrilling hunting footage but also tells a story about waterfowl hunters who are passionate about hunting and giving back to the resource. DU Films presents all of this through breathtaking waterfowl footage and intimate conversations with hunters across North America.

The 2017 season includes six films. DU will release one film per month this spring and summer.

DU Films is produced by Rock Road Creative and sponsored by Mossy Oak, Drake Waterfowl, Winchester Repeating Arms, Winchester Ammunition and Yeti.

About Ducks Unlimited Inc.:

Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America’s continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 14 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever.

For more information on our work, visit their website.

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