Duck decoy (model)

This article is about the carved wildfowl model. For the large structure for catching wildfowl, see Duck decoy (structure).

A duck decoy (or decoy duck) is a man-made object resembling a real duck. Duck decoys are typically used in waterfowl hunting to attract real ducks, but they are also used as collectible art pieces.

Duck decoys were historically carved from wood, often Atlantic white cedar wood on the east coast of the US from Maine to South Carolina, or cork. Modern ones may also be made of canvas and plastic. They are often painted elaborately and very accurately to resemble various kinds of waterfowl.

History

A prehistoric canvasback duck decoy found by archaeologists in Lovelock Cave in Nevada

The earliest known use of duck decoys was by ancient Egyptians, who used decoys made of clay on the Nile to hunt ducks and geese around 2500 BCE.

Decoy ducks have been used in traditional hunting by Indigenous Australian peoples of the Murray River in South Australia.

Native American people have been crafting and using duck decoys for thousands of years. Archaeologists discovered several decoys made from tule plants and duck feathers, dating to about 300-100 BC in a cave near Lovelock, Nevada. Many modern tribes have traditions of decoy crafting. Cree people traditionally make goose decoys out of tamarack twigs.

Wooden carved decoys in North America arose in the 19th and 20th centuries. After World War II manufacturers began to make decoys out of papier-mâché and eventually plastic, and battery-powered moving decoys gained popularity in the 1990s.

Use in hunting

An illustration of a duck decoy attracting real ducks

Duck decoys are used in hunting to attract ducks to an area of water by giving the impression that other ducks are in the area, creating a false sense of security. Decoys are made in different forms designed to mimic different activities of ducks, including "feeders" and "sleepers". Hunters may also use decoys of different types of waterfowl, such as coots and geese.

Duck decoys may have a natural appearance, or they may be entirely black, as black decoys are more easily visible to passing ducks on overcast days. Decoys are weighted to keep them in place when floating.

Some modern decoys use batteries to move, which creates waves in the water, adding a sense of realism that may fool ducks more. One of the most popular forms of motion decoys is one that has spinning wings, creating the illusion of a duck in flight. Hunters may create the illusion of movement without battery-powered decoys by using jerk-rigs, which are created with bungee cord and allow hunters to move decoys manually while inside their blind.

As collectible art

A decoy created by Delbert Daisey

Ever since Joel Barber, the first known decoy collector, started in 1918, decoys have become increasingly viewed as an important form of North American folk art. Barber's book Wild Fowl Decoys was the first book on decoys as collectible objects. It was followed in 1965 by folk art dealer Adele Earnest's The Art of the Decoy and American Bird Decoys by collector Wm. F. Mackey. Collectors typically focus on particular categories of decoys, such as working, decorative, antique, or contemporary. In addition, collectors may focus on decoys from particular regions such as eastern North America, Louisiana, California, or the Upper Mississippi Flyway, which all have unique decoy-carving traditions.

In 2007, a red-breasted merganser hen decoy created by Lothrop Holmes sold at auction for $856,000. At the time, it was one of the highest prices ever paid for a duck decoy. The first million-dollar price was achieved when two decoys (a Canada goose decoy and a preening Northern pintail drake decoy) created by A. Elmer Crowell were sold for $1.13 million each in a private sale in September 2007.