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Decoys, used by Native Americans were the first to use them, a hunting tool used to lure wild game, made from reeds and other natural materials, with the European-Americans began carving decoys from wood sometime in the late 1700s, with wood and cork being the traditional materials used for making decoys, but both don’t perform as well as plastic.

One of the most decoys used to imamate waterfowl during different activities such as feeding and resting to convince the birds into believing the place is safe.

I’ve used decoys for years, for waterfowl, spearfishing, dove, deer, antelope, predators and turkey hunting.

You’ll find that almost every company dealing in hunting, has some type of decoys, which include; spinning wing, socks, full bodies, flags, silhouettes, and kites just to name a few.

Some of the first waterfowl decoys were constructed Native Americans, 2,000 years ago, using reeds, straw and other natural material, with the newer style decoys made from plastic, solid foam and from a composite material with a heavy textured cloth laminate.

They not only fool waterfowl during different activities such as resting, feeding and sleeping, they’re also used to attract deer, antelope and turkeys during the breeding season.

I used several styles of decoys for hunting waterfowl, which included, duck and geese field decoys, and floaters.

The new generation of waterfowl decoys are molded, replicating every detail, every feather and shape, the mirror image of the waterfowl they’re hunting.

During with the Rut, deer decoys are used to attract the bucks, bringing them within range for a clean shot.

Antelope, are very curious animals, can be decoyed, especially during the rut, using a life like antelope decoy. when they have their harems and not tolerate other bucks coming close to the does, they’ve gathered.

On one of my first antelope hunts in Wyoming, we were parked on a hill, glassing the terrain below us, when my hunting partner, hung his sweatshirt on the vehicle’s mirror and as the wind moved the shirt, a buck, out past 700 yards, moved towards us, coming up to 125 yards from our vehicle.

I’ve been in love with spring gobbler seasons for years, there’s nothing I like more than decoying a big gobbler, especially when he’s hung up out further than shot gun range.

When hunting gobblers there are times, when all you need is a single Jake and others, you’ll need several, I always carry at least three and sometimes more than one.

Another type of decoying for gobblers is to take the fan from one the toms you took in the past and dry so that it looks like the fan of a gobbler, which when brought up and move around it drives the gobblers crazy as to them, it’s another gobbler invading their territory.

I’ve also used the fan to sneak up on a gobbler that was hung up by holding the fan in front of me as I slowly approach the bird.

One of the strangest decoys we used was one that resembled a cow, as cows didn’t spook geese, it took a little longer to sneak up on hundreds if not thousands snow geese in a field.

But when I finally decided to go along with the cow decoy, to put the sneak on the birds, I wasn’t sure how this would turn out, and was having a tough time not to laugh as we approach the snow geese.

The two hunters that put the cow decoy together, were really thinking, as they used a very thin piece of plywood, painted it up to look like a cow, added two-gun holders, viewing ports and two handles, allowing them to move the decoy.

As we got close enough for a shot, the hunters dropped their decoy, opening up on the geese that had no idea what was going on.

From that point on, whenever I was offered the opportunity to use decoys, no matter how crazy the hunt sounds, I’m packed and ready to go.