Ora Clough – A Wisconsin Decoy Carver

A Decoy Corner Article

By Bruce Urben, WWA President

All photos courtesy Wisconsin Sporting Collectibles.

Ora Clough (pronounced Clew) was born in 1896 in Perkinstown, Wisconsin. Perkinstown is located in Taylor County in the Chequamegon National forest, just northeast of Chippewa Falls.

Ora’s father was a handyman, carpenter and strict disciplinarian. Ora followed closely in his father’s footsteps while growing up. In the early 1900’s his family moved to Ladysmith, WI and lived across the street from the Walter Evans Decoy factory on Eighth Street. Their home in the early 1900’s had no modern conveniences or indoor plumbing, like most at that time. Money was short and they lived modestly. All family members pitched in by gardening and harvesting local fish and game.

Ora Clough married and had five children, four sons and one daughter. Times were hard during the depression and his whole family pitched in as well to supplement Ora’s meager income. Around 1930, Ora began to work part time for Walter Evans in his decoy shop in Ladysmith. Ora quickly learned the trade in making decoys. By 1935, Ora Clough had left Evans Decoy factory and began making his own decoys, clearly modeled after Evans. His early decoys were carved entirely by hand but later he built his own crude duplicating lathe. This sped up his production of decoys substantially. Ora carved decoys full time until the mid 1940’s while also operating a music store in Ladysmith and it has been reported that Ora carved less than a thousand decoys in his lifetime.

Ora Clough was a perfectionist as evidenced from his decoys. All his decoys are well carved with exceptional paint patterns. His decoy bodies were hollowed by drilling a one inch hole through the breast and plugging the hole with cork prior to finishing. He carved mallards, blackducks, bluebills, blue wing teal, canvasback and several goose decoys for his customers. In 1935 Ora charged 50 cents for his decoys and by the mid 1940’s they were up to $3.50 each. He was clearly more of a craftsman than a businessman!

Later in his career he carved field hunting decoys that could be assembled right in the field and miniature decoys as gifts. People considered Ora to be a stubborn businessman. If a customer wanted a special order or style he refused their business… it was his way or no way!

In 1975 Ora carved his last decoys; they were decorative, with fine feather painting on the wings.

Ora passed away in Ladysmith in May of 1979. He was surely missed by the local townspeople who knew him for his Oshkosh-Bi-Gosh bib overalls, wool sport coat and railroad hat…whether he was gardening, carving or going to church.

Ora’s carving style was certainly influenced by Walter Evans where he learned the trade. Currently, his decoys are hard to find but are in demand by collectors. Some have sold on the secondary auction market for $200-$400. Ora Clough, another Wisconsin original decoy carver and a piece of Wisconsin’s decoy carving heritage.