Hank H. Garvey lives on Plum Island in Newburyport, Massachusetts with his wife, Mary, and son, Hank IV.  Hank has ample chance to study his decoy subjects from the Garvey home and carving shop on Plum Island, which overlooks the Great Marsh including Joppa Flats and Woodbridge Island. 

Hank Garvey grew up in New Milford, Connecticut, and spent most of his childhood in the woods, ponds and farms around his home.  He started hunting and trapping when he was ten years old; his father was very strict about gun safety and hunting ethics.  Hank feels that good sportsmanship is vital because there is often no one else in the woods to regulate a hunter’s ethics.  His interest in carving started when he and his grandfather carved while on fishing trips together.

Hank’s love and appreciation for the outdoors is exhibited through the decoys he carves and boats he builds.  He is an avid sportsman who not only hunts waterfowl but also a wide range of other game including deer, partridge, pheasant and turkey.  Having traveled all over New England, to Winous Point, Ohio, the oldest hunting club in the U.S., and also the prairies and potholes of the Dakotas with his decoys has given him a chance to really test out the decoys.  Hunting over hand carved birds is an important tradition, one that Hank wants to keep carrying on with his son, friends and other sports. 

Hank, a “World Class Carver” has competed at every major decoy competition in the country including the Ward World Championships in Ocean City, MD, Westlake, OH, California Open, Pacific Flyway Decoy Show, Havre de Grace, MD, Clayton, NY, Topsfield, and other New England competitions to name a few.  Hank has over 200 blue ribbons including the following prestigious wins: Several 1^st places at the Ward World Championships, 2^nd “Best in the World Rig” at the Worlds (winning the title of a World Class Carver), New England Ducks Unlimited Carver of the Year in ’99 and over 25 Best of Show awards at the shows listed above.

 Hank is a conservationist.  His efforts to continue conservation, hunting sport and traditions in the area has involved him as Chairman of the local Joppa Flats Ducks Unlimited Chapter for the last 5 years, longtime committee member of the Youth Waterfowl Hunt on the Parker National Wildlife Refuge, NRA Lifetime Member, GOAL, and an ardent advocate for gun safety and sportsman’s rights.

Hank continues to carve decoys and rigs of birds for hunters and collectors from his Plum Island shop.  He continues the waterfowling traditions with his hand carved wooden cedar decoys and his latest project, a traditionally built, cedar and mahogany planked Barnegat Bay Sneak Box, which is a famous marsh duck hunting boat design.  Each decoy is handcrafted from northern white cedar, hollowed out and painted by Hank.  Each bird is then branded on the bottom with HHGarvey and Plum Island to identify the maker.  One of Hank’s wishes is that each bird is hunted over at least once.  Each bird that Hank hunts over has the hunting location and dates that the bird was used during the hunting season written on the bottom of the decoy.  His birds are collected by hunters and collectors from all over the U.S.  Many of the birds and rigs that Hank sells are hunted over by sportspeople that feel the same way about the tradition. 

 One of Hank’s most enjoyable times of all is sitting in his wood Barnegat that he built and hunting over his own hand carved decoys with his Chesapeake Bay Retriever on a cold December morning with ice, wind and a few birds moving on the marsh.  The only thing that will be better is when his son is old enough to join him on those days.  There is a certain romance to hunting on the marsh on a day like that.