Caleb Ridgway “Ridge” Marter

(1893 - 1977) Burlington, NJ

Ridge Marter was a mechanic for a trucking company and also built boats and carved decoys. He once felt sorry for a local game warden who could not afford a boat of his own. To help the warden carry out his duties, Marter built a boat and presented it to him only to find out the warden turned around and sold it to someone else. Marter was so put out, he never made another boat to give away. He felt the same way about the five hundred or so decoys he carved; he either kept them for his own use or gave them away to his friends, but he never sold any. The black ducks, brant, Canada geese, mallards, pintails, redheads, scaup, teal and goldeneyes Marter carved have flat bottoms, rounded bodies and heads in several positions. Marter’s pronounced carving technique is further enhanced by his bold paint patterns ln bright colors.

Marter became a testy old man that shot at Pennsylvania hunters to scare them away whenever they came too close to his rig. One year, he entered the Schaeffer Brewing Show in New York City. He won a blue ribbon and several other prizes, but when he entered the following year, he won nothing. Though he never got a response, Ridge Marter wrote Schaeffer Brewing a letter stating that if they did not like his decoys, he did not like their beer.