Harkers Island comes to life the first full weekend in December each year as the Core Sound Decoy Guild holds its annual Core Sound Decoy Festival. People have been making the pilgrimage to the event since 1988.

The 26th Annual Core Sound Decoy Festival will be held on Saturday, December 7th and Sunday, December 8th at the Harkers Island Elementary School.

The festival has many attractions that include antique decoy exhibits, retriever demonstrations, competitions including duck calling, loon calling, head whittling, and a live and silent auction. There’s always delicious food offered by Harkers Island Elementary School staff and volunteers, and plenty of shopping opportunities from the many vendors who flock to the festival each year.

As always, this show features several events uniqe to the region, as well as some IWCA contests.

• Core Sound hunting style decoys


• Root head decoys


• Duplin County Ducks Unlimited decoy (2013 is a Redhead Drake)


• IWCA working decoys


• IWCA style decoys


• Decorative decoys

This year's contest is also the location for the 2013 IWCA Style Shorebird Decoy Championship.

The Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild has a very nice website you can visit for additional information. You can also download the show brochure and entry form here:

2013 Entry Form

2013 Competition Booklet

Don't forget, IWCA members, three of the four IWCA sponsored championship contests are being held during the weekend of March 17th and 18th this year, and that weekend is approaching quickly. Get those entries finished up if you're still working on them.

Bob Sutton IWCA Style Decoy Championship contest 

Jerry Harris' drake long-tailed duck, 2011 Bob Sutton IWCA Style championship

This year the contest is being held at the ODCCA show in Westlake, OH - March 17th and 18th. Letters went out this week to the quailfying carvers. However, carvers can still qualify at the ODCCA show the weekend of the championship, so it's not too late if you haven't yet qualified. In order to qualify, you need to earn a first, second, or third place finish (in species, BOS not required) at an offical IWCA Style contest. If you didn't receive a letter and feel you should have, or have additional questions, please contact us to confirm. 

Mail-in entries accepted but must be received by Wednesday, March 14th. You can download a copy of the entry form here

For more details on the contest, you can visit the Bob Sutton IWCA Style Championship page.

2012 IWCA Young Guns Championship

First in all age divisions at the 2009 Young Guns Championship

The 2012 IWCA Young Guns Championship will also be held during the same weekend at the ODCCA Show. The contest is open to all carvers 17 years old and under.

Mail-in entries accepted but must be received by Wednesday, March 14th. You can download a copy of the entry form here. 

You can see aditional details on the contest at the Young Guns Championship page.

2012 IWCA Canvas Decoy Championship

Drew Zajac, Best in Show, 2010 IWCA Canvas Championship

The IWCA Canvas Decoy Championship will be held at the Rappannock River Waterfowl Show on March 17th. IWCA Canvas Decoy Rules are followed for this contest. Mail-in entries are accepted via UPS or Postal Service. Please contact Heck Rice for more information. Entry form and show details are available here:

Show Flyer
Entry Form