Figure 1:

Map source: Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Image 1

A market hunter poses with a day’s kill of canvasbacks on Heron Lake, Minnesota, circa 1910.

Photograph courtesy of Morton Smith, Jr.

Image 2

Charles Althoff

Princeton, IL (1859-1942)

decoys: mallard drake and hen, circa 1920

wood, pigment

Museum Purchase 2008.17.1-2

Image 3

patterns for pintail decoy

Used by carver John Fischer

Peoria, IL (1913-2002)

Gift of John Fischer 1989.12.1

Image 4

decoy carving tools

Used by carver Herman Glick

Havana, IL

drawblade, rasps, gouge, chisel, knives

Gift of Merle H. Glick 1996.34

Mississippi Flyway

Four major flyways, or migration corridors, traverse North America – the Pacific, the Central, the Mississippi, and the Atlantic Flyways (Figure 1). These flyways encompass multiple routes that usually conform closely to major topographical features – coastlines, mountain ranges and river valleys. Migrating birds fly immense distances, surviving challenges caused by human development and severe weather. The Illinois River Valley is part of the longest migration route in the Western Hemisphere, extending from the Arctic Coast of Alaska to the southern end of Patagonia in South America.

The Illinois River has been an important source of income and food for many people throughout history. The Illinois River Basin is part of the Mississippi Flyway, over which millions of ducks and geese migrate north in the spring and south in the late fall. This seemingly endless supply of birds allowed waterfowl hunting to flourish from 1860 to the early 1900s as a source of income to market hunters and a form of entertainment for sportsmen (Image 1).

Sport hunters were able to bag hundreds of game birds in a typical day’s shoot. Market hunters, who supplied the tables of Chicago restaurants and homes with duck and geese, harvested countless thousands of birds each season. The increased human use of the river led to the depletion of waterfowl and game bird populations, causing legal restrictions to be placed on market hunters in the early 1900s, although sport hunting continued to thrive. In 1935, the federal government banned two popular methods of attracting birds: using trained live birds as decoys and baiting waterfowl with food, increasing the need for carved decoys.

Although the waterfowl habitat has been greatly reduced by farming and an increasing human population, waterfowl conservation efforts have ensured that ducks and geese continue to thrive along the Mississippi flyway. The Emiquon Nature Preserve is an excellent example of such conservation work. To learn more visit its site.

History of Decoys

More than 200 carvers produced handmade wooden decoys in the Illinois River Valley for the hunters who shot waterfowl for food and sport. Many carvers were hunters themselves, carving decoys during the off-season. Carved wildfowl decoys were used as lures to draw wild ducks and geese into gunshot range. Decoys needed to look real enough to fool the wild birds into approaching a blind (a shelter hiding hunters from view), but also needed to be sturdy, lightweight, portable, compact and inexpensive (Image 2).

Wooden decoys continued to be commonly used until the 1930s and 1940s, when plastic decoys were introduced as a lighter, cheaper alternative. Despite this change, decoy carving continued to thrive as wood decoys moved from the water to the fireside mantel. Today, decoys — especially those made at the turn of the 20th century — are very valuable and are highly sought after by private collectors.

Types of Decoys

Handmade decoys were either working or decorative decoys. Both were often works of art with fine detail and highly realistic. There were two types of working decoys. The most common were mainstay decoys of the actual prey – mallards, pintails, canvasbacks, and other wild ducks. Goose, dove and crow decoys were also common mainstay decoys. Working decoys could also be “confidence” decoys. These were carved in the form of herons, coots, owls and other birds. They were placed around the mainstay decoys, and gave wildfowl confidence to land in water where they saw several kinds of birds swimming, wading, and feeding, giving the illusion of a safe environment.

Construction of Decoys

Construction methods ranged from embalming ducks, to attaching the skin of a duck to a wooden form, to carving wooden ducks. While some hunter-craftsmen carved their own decoys, several companies mass-produced wooden, cork, canvas, and inflatable models. There were even attempts at mechanical and motorized decoys.

Most decoy carvers used the same construction process. Wood, typically white pine in two-inch thick boards, was cut into simple oval shapes using patterns that approximated the shape of a particular bird (Image 3). To achieve a light buoyant decoy, the carver used a gouge to hollow out the halves of the decoy body before joining them (Image 4). The blocky exterior was transformed into a smooth form with a drawknife, rasp and sandpaper. Keel weights balanced the floating decoy. Usually cast from lead, keel weights often carried the carver’s or manufacturer’s name.

Much of the maker’s skill went into carving the head. Charles Perdew reportedly was so adept with a jackknife that he could carve a perfect duck head while holding the block of wood under the table and carrying on a conversation. Details in the carved head, such as the shape of the beak and the placement of the glass taxidermist’s eyes, help to distinguish one artist’s work from another.

After carving and assembly, the carver, or another person, such as a family member or friend, painted the species markings on the decoys. As ducks and geese flying overhead can easily be convinced by a decoy that is simply, even crudely, painted, the detailed care lavished by decoy painters on their subjects was due to a pride in craftsmanship. Some painters took care to make the decoys as realistic as possible, even with the correct eye color and plumage for the season. Others focused on making the decoys aesthetically pleasing. These creations often contained less detail but included beautiful sculptural lines.

One of the most admired painters is the wife of the carver Robert Elliston, Catherine. Using a graining comb dragged through partially dried paint, she produced an effect simulating overlapping feathers. Catherine developed her naturalistic painting style through careful observation of live birds in their natural habitats.

Decoy carvers in each hunting area of the country developed regional styles. Illinois River decoys are distinctive in their rounded bodies, V-shaped bottoms with lead strip weights, finely carved heads and colorful painting.