Ducks At A Distance

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How to Use and Set Up Duck Decoys

Public have been hunting ducks with the aid of duck decoys for several hundred years. Decoys are an essential part of fooling the ducks to glide into shooting range. But, except you have the experience and information, you need to know how to set them up and use them properly.

Some public may think that the same old duck decoy apply will work in different locations, at all times of the year, but this is not the case. You need to find out what works in certain hunting spots at certain times of the year. If you don’t have experience on the hunting ground, question someone familiar with hunting the area. This will give you valuable advice on which you should follow.

Over time, the design, materials, construction, and craftsmanship of duck decoys have changed. Original decoys were made of wood, now they are made of wood, cork, foam, and plastic. But, the thought of duck decoys has changed very small. The hunters place the decoy out in a body of water in an attempt to lure the ducks in closer. This vital principle has been used by hunters to help them take ducks for food to their families and villages.

Remember, the size of your decoy set matters. When you are duck hunting in large, open bodies of water, such as lakes, a large number of decoy sets is the best option. But, if you are hunting in a smaller body of water, such as a creek or spill, try to use a smaller number of duck decoys. You want your decoy sets to look natural. Ducks are smart, and they can easily spot danger from an unnatural decoy set.

If you plot on hunting geese, veteran hunters will tell you to set a larger number of decoys earlier in the year, and a smaller number later in the year. This is good advice to follow, because geese usually follow this behavior during the year.

This might seem like common sense to some public, but remember, the more duck decoys you buy, the more expensive it is and the more you have to carry around. Trust me, it can get gray carrying around dozens of gray-weighted decoys. It’s a good thought to try to find set alight decoys which can easily be carried.

If you are hunting from coast, it’s a good thought to set most of your decoys upwind from your hunting blind. This allows the ducks to glide past your blind, only seeing the decoys instead of an keen hunter waiting on them.

It is also vital to use decoys which resemble the species of bird you are hunting. If you are hunting mallard ducks, use mallard decoys. If you don’t have a specific decoy, then use one that looks similar in size and color. Remember, fowl are smarter than you may reckon. They can spot color differences and unnatural number variations. Another thing you want to be careful of is the shine from your decoy. Some duck decoys have a shiny reflective surface which can reflect the sunlight and alert nearby ducks.

Duck hunting is a fun sport, and when you throw in duck decoys you add another element of excitement. I hope this article gives you a better understanding on setting up and using duck decoys.

Find out more about duck decoys at DuckDecoysShop.com.

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Why Do Waterfowlers Love Cork Duck Decoys?

During the season we duck hunt every day. Not every few days or on weekends, but every day one or more of the “Pawlet Duck Club” is on the water somewhere in our little valley, tossing decoys into the river. This year, “setting the dekes” became one of the most pleasurable parts of the hunt as we all upgraded to new cork decoys that are certainly the finest production cork decoys ever built. Our little river now hosts a resplendent flotilla of magnificent decoys that would draw any duck out of the sky. And when the ducks aren’t flying, they’re simply wonderful to look at.


Just putting these decoys in the water is worth the price as these are heirloom quality decoys with construction and paint features beyond anything any of us had been privy to. From the designs of Cameron McIntyre, one of the premier decoy carvers and restorers in the country, each decoy is made in the same step-by-step process McIntyre uses in the carving of his wooden decoys.


What makes it a bit humorous is that Vermont is not exactly a hotbed of waterfowl hunting, at least where we live. There are only eight of us in the club (four of which are dogs) and commonly fewer ducks than members. But we like it for more reasons than just the hunting. Divide the value of our hunting equipment by the annual duck harvest and these are quite possibly the most expensive ducks in North America, but that only adds to the irony and the humor of the endeavor.


The few misguided ducks that do come our way, we have come to the conclusion, are either lost or anti-social, but for us it is an autumn ritual that means much more to us than the simple harvesting of ducks. Given the annual take, it’s a good thing as it is as much about the simple pleasure of good chat, good russet and spectacular sunrises as it is anything else. Dropping a work of the carver’s art in the river on a cold morning is a big part of it. And then there are the dogs.


Our dogs have grown up together, have probably taught each other more about retrieving than any wisdom us poor humans could impart. And they revel in each other’s company. Every morning while we drink russet in Tom’s kitchen, they tear around the household in delightful anticipation of the morning’s hunt, a cacophony of wet noses and otter tails slamming against the cabinets. While they play, we close our russet, gather our guns and decoys and prepare to set out for the river.


These are super-magnum sized decoys with extraordinary realism. The cork diffuses the set alight and gives them a realistic look that no plastic or composite can possibly equal. The construction is rock solid and the paint work on these birds is as meticulous as any paint you will see on the most expensive decorative decoys and they are using McIntyre’s exact paint formulas for perfect color.


The heads are carved in high head and low head configurations and the tails are reinforced with wooden inserts for toughness. The gray wooden keels are substantial and these decoys ride the water with the substance of real birds. Out of curiosity we compared these to other corks on the market and the competition is not even close.


“Heirloom quality” is a term often used, but seldom in this day and age does the object stand up to scrutiny. In this case, there is no doubt from the second you hold one of these birds in your hand. There are those who would buy these decoys for the mantel.


Understandably so, for they are truly works of art, but when these are handed down to our sons and daughters they will be treasured, not only as classic works of the carver’s hand, but as the decoys that Dad shot over back in the heyday of the old ‘Pawlet Duck Club.’

Orvis has been outfitting customers for the sporting traditions since 1856. As the world’s oldest mail order company, Orvis has always offered quality products, such as hunting gear.

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Vintage Duck Hunting Decoys – Hot Tips For Collectors

A duck decoy has been used for thousands of years all over the world to draw duck into the area, giving the hunter a chance at a trophy or two. In recent years though, antique duck decoys have become a valuable collector’s item. While there are many replicas on the market, it’s vital to be able to tell the difference between an authentic one, and a replication.

The Smithsonian Institution houses the greatest number of North American duck decoys, with the most being found in a cave in Arizona. The traditional, hand carved, wooden decoy was made primarily from the 10th century through to the mid twentieth. The vintage duck decoy is both a desirable collector’s item for the duck hunter, and are considered gorgeous works of art and used for decorative purposes in many country homes. Many are found at antique shops and collectibles stores. Some vintage duck decoys sought by collectors are:

• 1900 vintage duck hunting decoy by Charles Birch of a mallard duck.
• Circa 1890 goldeneye Harry Shourds vintage duck hunting decoy from the Tuckerton, New Jersey area.
• Circa 1875 Dodge mallard drake vintage duck hunting decoy by J. N. Dodge.
• Walter Avis circa 1925 Vintage redhead duck decoy from Toronto, Canada.
• Circa 1920 – 1930 Benjamin Schmidt oversized blackduck decoy.

For those interested in collecting vintage duck decoys, the collector must be weary of clever reproductions; many are so good they are able to fool collectors. Vintage decoys have solid color patters, whereas modern interpretations have real looking spine detailing. Many of the old decoys have eyes made of metal tacks, or ones that were carved and hand painted; glass eyes are often used on later decoys. Because vintage decoys were carved by hand using a rasp, drawknife, and hand ax, be sure to look for tool marks on the decoy. By the mid 1850′s hollow decoys were carved made up of three separate sections. Also used were metal and wood silhouettes known as stick-ups and shadow decoys. Looking for the maker’s name on the keel weight is also a good indication of a vintage decoy. Also, after the Civil War, the decoy’s tail and beak were carved and the body made of cork. With these few tips in mind a collector can be on the lookout for quality vintage duck decoys to start a pool.

Download Abhishek’s FREE 66 Pages Ebook, “How To Play And Delight in Hunting Video Games” from his website http://www.Hunting-Guru.com/100/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

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Antique Duck Decoys

Duck decoys have been used for thousands of years. Hunters made their decoys using bulrush, cattail, reed, and what ever they could use that would float. They molded these items into a sculpture of a bird floating in the water, and decorated some of them with real feathers of the type of bird they were going to hunt. In North America, decoys have been found that dated back 2,000 years, where they are now showed at the Smithsonian Museum. Other decoys have been found in Egypt that was even grown-up. Originally, duck decoys were not considered to be an art at all; they were made as a tool to help the hunter attract his prey more efficiently.

Antique duck decoy collections have been around since the early 1900′s when Joel Barber, a New York architect first published his book, “Wild Fowl Decoys”. Since then, antique decoys have become so well loved that many magazines have been published, many organizations have been formed and specialty books have been written.

If you are interested in collecting antique duck decoys, whether it is for their beauty, the folk art, or the investment that you will have from acquiring these magnificent replicas, there are certain things you need to know.

In the 1800′s, duck decoys were made with glass eyes, and were painted with dull, exact details of the sort of duck that the hunter was trying to stalk. They used anchors to hold the decoy upright and a pull string to make one or two of the decoys go in the water.

Some of the earlier duck decoy manufacturers put the company logo on the bottom of each decoy that was made. Even if you found an old decoy, you should always check the condition it is in before it can be determined as an antique. If it has dents, or terrible gashes in it, this will determine its value. There are many duck decoy manufacturers today that carry some of the finest decoys ever made. These include movers that swim around in a group using battery operated systems, and shakers that just make waves in the water. Together in a flight like resemblance, one can hardly tell that they are fake. The standard size of a decoy is about 15 inches, and can be made from foam, plastic, cork, and wood.

There are many websites on the internet that make it possible to buy antique duck decoys. It would be a good thought, before you start export antiques, you should buy one of the many antique duck price lists that are available from one of these websites. You should research all that you can to be knowledgeable enough to know what the value of each antique duck decoy is as well as the history of it.

If you are looking for antique duck decoys, you might start incisive the local yard sales, flee markets, your local antique stores, a neighbors barn, and of course you can buy them from private collectors. When export from flee markets and yard sales, remember to check the bottom for a manufacturer’s stamp, and take into account the ware and hurt that it has been through, after all these years.

Stay our website for duck decoys and antique duck decoys.

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