Visitors flock to Wildlife Arts Festival  

As an exhibitor in the East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival, one so intimately associated with the art of decoy carving, one exhibitor decided to take the road he says is less traveled among wildlife artists.

“Everyone makes birds and ducks so I decided to carve fish,” Hunt said at the Friday night preview and opening night ceremony of the 2007 festival. “If I work seven to eight hours a day, I can finish a six-inch piece in about a week and a half. The thing about carving anything in wood is if you make a mistake, you throw it away. I may put 50 hours into a piece and drop it and have to start all over again.”

The chisel- and knife-carved bass and trout Hunt has displayed at this year’s festival are so lifelike that they are almost indistinguishable from mounted fish.