The Evolution of the Duck-Decoys

   Everyone who’s watched TV has seen hunting party paintings on the walls of ancient cave dweller and Egyptian pyramids.  But only speculation says they actually used duck decoys to hunt ducks.

    From my experience, they provably didn’t need a decoy to catch a duck back then.  Not all birds and animals were afraid of humans.  My daughter picked up a very large injured Greater Red Tailed Hawk and then examined it with her bare hands a couple of years back, while five of us watched in fear.  Birds aren't naturally afraid of people.  They have to learn it.

    Ducks generally come to people when they are offered food.   Two thousand years ago people’s survival depended on their ability to observe.  I’m sure they saw ducks clean up the crumbs where they had been eating.  Plus, they would have gone to the parts of the lake or river where the duck tended to frequent, and easily caught the ducks there.

 It would only be after the humans hunted the same area frequently, over several years, that the birds would remember and a decoy might help bring them back.

   The complexity of the duck decoy became more and more important as the ducks became more aware of mans luring presents.

    Everyone agrees Cattails or some kind of water grass was the first material used for duck-decoys by the North American Indians.  However, everything and anything has been tried since then.  Wood or cork or a combination there of, allowed the craftsmen to carve very intricate details like feathers and provide nice floatability.  Glass eyes gave the decoy a very real look.  While those who could painter could be happy with a duck cut out of metal that demonstrated every little color that made the species unique.

    The decoys for hunting needed to be light for transport and durable because they got knocked around a lot by the equipment they were thrown in with.  Decoys took on movement, with wings flapping and heads moving.  They even have remote control ducks that swim around now.  Some of these look so real, you need to be careful they don’t get shot out of the water by other hunters.   There are fold up duck-decoy that will fit in a pocket.

    Hand crafted wooden duck decoys made by Stan Balgaard, the Master Carver at Autumn Wings Inc. are shown through out this website.  For most practical purposes, the less costly, mass produced, molded plastic and even blow-up decoys are the obvious choice for most hunters.  Our Duck-Decoy Supplier List covers the full spectrum to help you choose your own preference. 

You can find ducks and other animals made of glass, metal, wood, foam, reed, plastic and anything else that was handy.  Some of the animals were not meant to float and many were not mean to accompany the hunter.  You would have quite a trip checking all of the duck decoy museums for what materials were used in  which regions of the country.

When viewing the pictures of the ‘decoys’ up for auction and sold one of the important factors to notice is that not all of these items were meant to be decoys for hunting.  Many were quite obviously meant to be art/decorations for someone or just because the artist loved the bird.  No one eats a Sand Piper or a Red Robin.  The Blue Heron statues could have been used in a garden to keep ground squirrels and or snakes away.  The songbirds might have been just a reminder of the joy of spring when the birds were out.  Fox and Gator Heads decoys are made today and sold to golf courses to keep away birds and rabbits.  Snake decoys work well to keep small birds away.  Big Spiders scare wood peckers away from your house.  Barn Owl decoys have work quite well to deter small birds in many peoples yards.