Two millennia ago on an icy fall morning, a Native American hunkered down in the thatch of a tule marsh in what is now northwest Nevada. A frigid north wind brought with it great clouds of wildfowl that hovered over the marsh like a clinging mist. Offshore a few yards, a group of ‘ducks’ crudely fashioned from tule reeds, white feathers, and red ochre paint pitched in lapping waves, moored to the muddy bottom by stone anchors. In the distance a swiftly moving flock of Canvasbacks banked shorewards toward the tule ducks, drove headlong in and cupped their wings to land. From the shore, a swoosh of an arrow and twang of a bow-string! Then again, and again. Two of the arrows hit their marks.
The ingenious idea of the hunting decoy — to deceive and lure wild birds within range of arrows, nets, and guns to gather food—was born, and its pivotal role in North American hunting traditions would be without precedent in the world.
Early Native American decoys were observed and copied by European settlers eager to exploit the millions of edible birds in close proximity to colonial settlements along the eastern seaboard from Nova Scotia south to the Gulf Coast. Durable decoys that could be used season after season were needed. In the late 1700s, Americans began carving wooden birds just as ‘gunning’ became the preferred method of harvest. Hunting decoys needed to create a quick impression, yet capture the essence of a wild bird’s form and color in order to successfully lure their target. Carvers in each flyway or gunning area developed their own decoy styles that evolved over generations of trial and error. Regional decoys reflected the local wildfowl species occurrence, particular styles suited to water conditions, and materials at hand (basswood, cedar, cypress, cork).
Decoys tell a rich and uniquely American story of ingenuity, followed by unabashed exploitation and eventual reckoning. Wildfowl were a seemingly inexhaustible source of food in the 19th and early 20thcentury. Professional market hunters supplied the demand of a growing and hungry population. Some commercial hunters sought the plumes of herons or terns, whose feathers were staples of the millinery trade of the late 19thcentury. Sport gunning burgeoned after the Civil War and private hunting clubs sprung up all over North America. All this demand required decoys, and lots of them.
By the late 1800s, overhunting had decimated duck, plume, and shorebird species. Labrador Ducks and Great Auks became extinct, and numerous other species, including Passenger Pigeons, were on the brink. Outrage over these alarming trends spurred the formation of the first Audubon societies and other conservation groups. In 1918, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) was signed into law by Woodrow Wilson and put an end to commercial harvest and interstate sale of wildfowl.
Following the passage of the MBTA and restrictions on waterfowl hunting, demand for decoys waned and carvers stopped producing “snipe” decoys when shorebird hunting was outlawed in 1928. Forgotten or discarded, many waterfowl and shorebird decoys were lost or burned in woodstoves in hunting shanties on cold winter evenings. Around the early 1930s, the first decoy collectors became tireless promoters of the decoy as an important American art form. Renowned decoy collector Joel Barber wrote in his seminal book Wild Fowl Decoys (1934) “Of all birds susceptible to decoys, I am, perhaps, the most susceptible bird of all.”
Fortunately, dedicated private collectors, museums, and contemporary carvers continue to support this uniquely American folk art heritage. Many North American museums curate extensive decoy collections, including Vermont’s Shelburne Museum, Maryland’s Havre de Grace Decoy Museum and Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Quebec’s Canadian Museum of History, and New York’s Long Island Museum.
My own fascination with wildfowl decoys melds my love of birds, antiques, and wildlife conservation. Decoys can be appreciated on so many levels....historically, romantically, utility, artistically. Perhaps most intriguing to me is how simply and evocatively they convey the essence of a bird, imparting the inanimate with life and movement. For me, this elevates decoys beyond the merely utilitarian into the realm of folk art and natural history.
Let’s take a dive into the world of wildfowl decoys and look at the forms, colors, and je ne sais quoi that evoke the living birds that inspired their creation.
Thanks for stopping in for this short history of the wildfowl decoy. Hope you enjoyed the tour.
Please share what’s flying, feeding, or fascinating you bird-wise in your neck of the woods.