Where Did Duck Decoys Come From?
The first record of hunting duck decoys goes back as far as the early as 20th century. Those records show that 11 hunting duck decoys were found in a cave while mining back in 1911. They were found along with ancient artifacts in a Nevada mountain cave that was used by indigenous Americans for probably nearly 3500 years according to archaeologist.
The hunting duck decoys were made from marsh bulrush mainly but had real duck feathers attached to them. They were dated back as far as 200 A.D., and carefully buried in individual wrappings in a pit dug into the floor of the cave. These are still recorded as the oldest known duck decoys in history.
The first decoys to be made in mass quantity came from Salt Lake city, Utah and they were made mainly of rubber although earlier decoys were carved from wood, which was hard to keep a float as they would either tip over or become water logged. A newer invention for a duck decoy was having them carved from cork, which would float without a problem, and they were lighter to carry out hunting then the traditional wooded decoys. The only problem with cork decoys was that they didn’t last very long. Nowadays these cork decoys can be worth allot of money to antique dealers and decoy collectors.
As we walk down memory lane there were another type of hunting duck decoy made from Urethane Foam and Styrofoam but they both were easy to damage and not very durable.
With a need for realism and more detail the next type of decoys had to be made to last, be light, durable and detailed with an exact resemblance to waterfowl. Blow molded decoys made of high-density polyethylene now fit the bill and with the many different variations on the market you have many to choose from. Variations now include: Motorized decoys, Wind motion decoys, floaters, resters and magnums (Larger then normal) hunting duck decoys that last allot longer then any other decoy in history.