The Real Decoy

Meanderer

Meanderer

Supreme Member
Duck decoys
ca. 400 BC–AD 100
Lovelock Cave, Humboldt County, Nevada
Tule rush, feathers, cordage, paint
31 x 12 cm

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"Envision a hunter crouched low amidst the tule marsh of centuries ago. The survival of his band depends on his skills as a hunter. In the early morning sky, flocks of ducks and geese fly by. His arrows cannot fly high enough into the sky to reach the flocks passing by, so he sets his best creative weapon on the water, the tule duck decoy. This is an ancient hunting tool used by his people from time immemorial. The floating tule duck brings the flock within reach, and his people survive another day".

"The art of making this clever hunting tool is a tradition that has been passed down from hunter to hunter throughout the centuries. Duck skins from earlier kills were stretched over the decoys, making them very lifelike. In even earlier times, the waterfowl’s feathers were woven onto the decoy and tied on with hemp strings. The heads and necks of some were painted to match the colors of the duck species. In doing this, the hunter made the duck decoy appear very real, and the waterfowl would then fly into the zone within reach of his bow and arrow".

"The tule duck decoy is still being made and used today by Native hunters, especially at the Stillwater Marsh in western Nevada."
 

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Mike Williams: Duck Decoys and Tule Work

"Native artist Mike Williams creates duck decoys in the ancient style that goes back to Nevada’s archaeological record. “The People of the Marsh” – ancestors of the Numu (Northern Paiute)—were resident in Nevada many thousands of years before they encountred Euro-Americans."

"They lived in proximity to large lakes and wetlands where their lives were sustained by the native vegetation and wildlife. Fish and waterfowl were central to their diet, and the wetland reeds and grasses provided the materials for their housing and clothing, as well as their hunting, gathering, and fishing equipment."
 
On the day after Christmas, our son-law to be, was to go duck hunting with a cousin. My daughter gave him 12 decoys for Christmas, and later in the day, found another dozen stored in the garage.
I can't imagine having 24 duck decoys! It turned out that his cousin "ducked out" on him, and it was not to be.

I had one plastic decoy for a long while, decorating the cabin room floor....but recently, it flew to goodwill. The closest thing I have to a boat and decoy is hanging on the cabin wall.

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broomcorn duck?

The duck on the left has been made from an old straw broom, using the piece where the straw and the wooden handle come together. The body is carved from the straw. The wooden head has been carved separately and attached somehow. The straw broom has been shaved into a tail, on the left side. The wire rings are original from the broom. The red string and ribbon tell me it is an old handmade Christmas ornament. A real treasure. (it is 4" long)
 
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One response to “Egyptian Duck Hunting: A Real Fling”

"This limestone architectural element from the Egyptian New Kingdom (16th-11th centuries BCE) depicts two Egyptian men, Qar and Idu, hunting ducks with boomerangs. Most people think of Australia when they think of boomerangs, but “throwing sticks” have been used all over the world throughout human history, mainly by hunter gatherers."

"What ancient Egyptians like Qar and Idu were doing was taking one of the oldest hunting methods in human history (throwing a stick at something) and turning it into a pass time. It was so popular, in fact, that several throwing sticks for bird hunting were discovered in Tutankhmun’s tomb when it was excavated by a team led by Howard Carter in 1923."
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Duck hunter keeps it real with wood decoys

“I’m just as passionate about duck hunting at 63 as I was at 18,” said Vic Sutek of Columbiana County’s West Township. Only one thing has changed since then: He refuses to use plastic."

"He became enamoured of waterfowl in first or second grade, drawing pictures to hang on the wall. His father, Ed, was an outdoorsman who “hunted everything but ducks, but he introduced me to it,” Sutek said." (READ MORE)

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Vic Sutek uses a rasp to shape the cedar body of a long-tailed hen decoy. The long-tailed duck, which seasoned hunters knew as the oldsquaw, breeds in the arctic tundra and sometimes winters in the Great Lakes. It can dive to 200 feet in search of crustaceans, invertebrates and even small fish. (Barbara Mudrak photo)
 
I was, quite a few years ago, a big time collector of West Coast decoys. Over a period of time I drove more than 3,000 miles hunting them down. More than once I went out in the sticks, door to door. Pleasant experience. Country folks seem to enjoy talking to strangers. Unfortunately, the collection began to take over the house, so I sold most when I retired, but retained a few. I'm looking at a hen mallard as I type. (-8
 
How Ducks See: The Science Behind Waterfowl Eyesight

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"The mallards leap from their roost on the Susquehanna River, greeting the rising sun with an anxious chorus of beating wings and excited quacks. They’ve been on the move constantly since departing Ontario, and find themselves desperately hungry and eager to find other feeding ducks. They are the perfect birds to kill."

"According to Ducks Unlimited, waterfowl can see two to three times farther than humans, thanks to powerful muscles that control the curvature of their corneas and lenses. In the human eye, only the lens can adjust. This remarkable adaptation suggests that a duck’s vision is by far its most powerful sense. It can see a lot farther than it can hear." (READ MORE)
 
Sleuthing the Origins of Five Controversial Decoys at the Shelburne Museum

"The snipe, a shorebird found all over the world, is attracted to marshes and their yummy invertebrates. Long legs facilitate wading around in the muck, and a skinny, elongated bill with highly sensitive nerve endings enables the bird to detect and slurp up dinner."

"This family of shorebirds also comes with handy plumage that helps camouflage it from predators. And, once airborne, the snipe tends to fly erratically, which makes it difficult for gun-toting humans to bring down. If you've ever wondered about the origin of the term "sniper," aka sharpshooter, now you know."

"Human hunters found an answer to the snipe's elusiveness: decoys. Lure a bunch of birds to a site, the thinking goes, and you have a better chance of bagging at least one."

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"Artfully made decoys are prized by collectors. But their origins can be as elusive as the birds they depict, making their attribution a puzzle for curators. " (Read More)
 
Decoy marketing: giving customers a little nudge.
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"At the nexus between marketing, consumer behavior and good ol’ fashioned psychology, decoy marketing is a popular retail technique used to steer or “nudge” the consumer towards a targeted product."

"Say a customer is shopping for a new set of premium bed linen. Sheet set one is made from a 500 thread count Egyptian cotton-blend, and retails for $200. Sheet set two is made from 1200 thread count pure Egyptian cotton, and retails for $400. Faced with these two choices, many will purchase the cheaper option, feeling that the pricier set is too much of a splurge."

"Decoy marketing, however, introduces a third middle option – a decoy – whose sole purpose is to nudge the consumer away from the “competitor” (the cheapest option), towards the pricier “target” option. So, in the case of our bed linen example, we introduce a third sheet set made from 600 thread count pure Egyptian cotton that retails for $389. Suddenly, the $400 set seems like a steal! Welcome to the decoy effect." (Read More)
 
Where Duck Decoys Became High Art
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"Though the design of decoys has transformed from rustic to artistic, the main tenets of construction have remained the same throughout the years. Each decoy is made from two pieces of wood (sometimes three, but it’s rare): one piece for the body and one for the head. The two pieces have historically been carved with whatever tools are on hand—be they hatchets and rasps or pocket knives and boat building tools. Earlier decoys were painted with whatever was on hand to create a loose interpretation of the desired bird type. They weren’t designed to be pretty; rather to simply attract ducks. According to Tinkham, a lot of the used material came from washed up shipwreck detritus. He still uses found materials to make his decoys, both wood and paint, which he makes from scratch."

“For me, it’s just as much a thrill to find the stuff as it is to make something out of it,” he said. “I don’t know what I’ll be making. It all revolves around what nature gives me. I don’t really duck hunt. This is my duck hunting.”

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"Each decoy also has its own anchor and weight attached."

“Think of decoys as a mini boat,” Tinkham said. “They’re built like boats. They have to float. They have to be aerodynamic to cut through the waves. They have an anchor and an anchor line, and on the bottom they have weights. The weights pull them down to a realistic level and stop them from sitting on the water upside down.” (Read More)
 

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