337 
March 2, 1907.] 
Making Duck Decoys. 
Simple Processes of Construction. 
There is not only great fun in the designing 
and making of duck decoys, but profit can be 
derived if the decoys are sold. I know of many 
boys who are getting quite a little revenue be¬ 
sides having pleasure and pastime from model¬ 
ing and manufacturing decoy ducks from wood. 
Decoy ducks are used almost everywhere for 
wildfowl shooting, and the best opportunities arc 
in the localities of summer resorts. Some of 
the mistakes that one finds in decoy duck mak¬ 
ing can be readily avoided. I have before me 
some decoys of wood, very well made and fin¬ 
ished and looking the image of ducks. I try 
these and find that they sink so low in the water 
that they appear quite different from the real 
fowl. The live duck sits well up on the water. 
Most types of decoys sink too low. 
You will need to make patterns for three kinds 
of ducks, namely: Bluebills, canvasbacks and 
redheads. I use cedar. Get a post or two of 
cedar from a lumber establishment and select 
the stock yourself. It should be free from flaws, 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
knife to good advantage in shaping the head. If 
you have a piece of wood that is free from flaws, 
and cuts readily, you can carve a very accept¬ 
able head. Patience is required. Plowever, an 
hour or two is usually sufficient time for cutting 
out the desired model of the head. Fig. 7 is 
a model of one of the heads, showing the pin 
and shoulder portion at c. There is a hole bored 
in the body piece of the decoy duck at proper 
position for inserting the pin. You can get a 
good effect for eyes by purchasing silver or other 
metal plated tacks from furniture stores. 
The Keel. 
Lead keels are preferable. These can be pur¬ 
chased at sporting goods store or at hardware 
store. Twelve ounces makes a fairly weighted 
keel. There should be holes bored at either end 
so that screws or nails can be inserted through 
to grip the wood. 
Gouging Out. 
The process of making the duck’s body hollow 
is effected by sawing straight the portion selected 
for the body. Then secure either side in a vise 
and begin to gouge out with round pointed 
Nebraska Game Measures. 
Lincoln, Neb. Feb. 13. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Neiiraska Legislature has been 
very unjust to the quail shooters, so the latter 
say. One of the members of the Legislature is 
something of a sportsman himself, and as he 
comes from the section of the State where the 
quail are so thick that he says they have a hard 
time to find room to breathe, he made a strong 
appeal that should have had some effect on the 
votes cast for or against the bill. The bill cuts 
out the quail season entirely. Formerly we have 
had fifteen days in which to have some shooting 
at these strong and swift flyers in north Ne¬ 
braska. This lasted from the 15th of November 
till the 1st of December. The facts are that 
there are none too many quail in the southern 
and eastern parts of the State and the thing to 
do was to close the season in the sections where 
the birds were not plentiful. In other words it 
will only be a question of time till Nebraska 
has local laws. Such bungling of the game laws 
as is found in States where the whole power of 
regulation is left in the hands of a few who 
know nothing of the needs will certainly bring 
local option. A. D. Burhans. 
solid, well seasoned and even grained. A post 
about eight to twelve inches at the butt will do. 
Saw this post into blocks about fifteen inches in 
length. Then with hatchet chop down two sides 
of the block until the latter is about seven inches 
thick. Then chop on the other two sides until 
the block is about fifteen inches thick that way, 
making it 7 x 15 inches. I have seen people 
using decoys with these blocks in an unfinished 
state as in Fig. 1. Of course a very defective 
model resulted. To give the decoy the appear¬ 
ance of a duck a head piece was made and shaped 
with the neck attached as shown. The colors 
were applied in an inartistic manner. 
Fig. 2 illustrates another odd form of decoy 
which I saw. It has a neck-piece affair at b 
that can be tilted. The neck is balanced by using 
a piece of metal b which lever is fitted with a 
pin to the body of the duck as shown. The 
weighted end a is calculated to counterbalance 
evenly. There is a spiral spring fixed on the pin 
shaft of the lever and attached to the duck’s 
neck and lever flange so that the neck wabbles 
and bobs quite hddly. 
Getting the Blocks Shaped. 
Figs. 3 and 4 show the blocks in the rough. 
The larger sizes are selected and cut down to 
the shape exhibited in form 5. This trimming 
down is done without much difficulty. You can 
hold the block by hand or adjust it in a vise. 
Fig. 6 is a side view while the former is a flat 
surface view. The proportions are indicated in 
inches on each. 
Construction of the Head. 
The next piece of work involves the modeling 
of the head for the decoy. Cedar may be used, 
but pine is preferred. You can use your jack¬ 
gouging chisel. It will not require long to re¬ 
move surplus. The same is done to the other 
half. 
Assembling. 
The parts are now ready for assembling. The 
edges of the body where sawed can be closed 
together and made watertight by using some 
red lead and thin strips of rubber. The parts 
are drawn together with screws inserted at an 
angle along the binding edges. The red lead and 
the rubber sheeting or packing make the body 
tight. These materials may be obtained at any 
plumber’s. The duck decoy when put together is 
like the model in Fig. 9. The keel is at d, and 
this keel furnishes means for the anchor connec¬ 
tion by using a fishing line cord. Anchors 
should weigh about sixteen to eighteen ounces. 
Usually a piece of stone is used, but it is better 
to have anchors. Neat little anchors can be 
made by using metal balls with rings attached. 
The final work is that of painting. You can 
purchase a few pounds of paint ready mixed and 
ready for use at any paint .goods store. I 
usually run ' over the whole form first with a 
coat of white lead and after this dries paint the 
bills black, or other desired color, the breasts 
black, between tail and breast white, upper part 
of head brown, lower neck black. Redheads, of 
course, require red on the heads. The redhead 
bills are blue colored. I varnish over the whole 
and then the decoy is ready for service. I can 
make them at very low cost, if I make a dozen 
at one time. It is an interesting work. Just 
place a dozen or so of the ducks on a little 
waterway in your front yard and see how many 
people stop to see these decoys floating about. 
If you put up a sign, “Duck Decoys Made to 
Order” you will get plenty of profitable business 
for spare hours. Industrious. 
Old Time Abundance of Michigan Game. 
The Bay City Tribune, of Feb. 17, prints an 
interview with an old settler who came to Michi¬ 
gan in 1851, in which he tells of the great num¬ 
bers of deer then constantly in sight and of the 
abundance of wild turkeys. In those days the 
tables were largely furnished with wild meat. As 
late as the year 1866 there seems to have been a 
migration of squirrels, the speaker having 
counted 1,400, while driving a distance of two 
miles. Passenger pigeons were, of course, enor¬ 
mously abundant. 
M r. W. B. Mershon, who for several years 
has been a student of the history of the passen¬ 
ger pigeon, speaking of the frequent reports of 
considerable flocks of these birds, expresses the 
belief that these stories are absolutely false, or 
that other birds have been mistaken for the pas¬ 
senger pigeon. 
That the wild game is disappearing is obvious 
enough to us all, but with our present knowledge 
it does not seem necessary that any of these 
species should become extinct, almost all of them 
may be reared in confinement. 
New Jersey Game Laws. 
Efforts are being made this winter to so 
change the New Jersey game laws that they 
shall be somewhat more modern than they have 
been heretofore. New Jersey is one of the few 
States that still permits the summer shooting of 
woodcock. Bills have been introduced into the 
Legislature for the licensing of all resident gun¬ 
ners at the rate of $1 per year, nonresidents of 
the State to pay $10 a year and aliens residing in 
New Jersey to pay $25 a year. There is also a 
bill forbidding the sale of game in the State, 
and one for the abolishing of spring shooting of 
all kinds. These measures are all in line with 
those long ago taken by the progressive States of 
the west and more recently by New York State. 
A hearing on game laws by the joint fish and 
game committee of the Senate and Assembly was 
held in Trenton on Wednesday afternoon, 
Feb. 20. A number of protective associa¬ 
tions and individuals were present and a very 
strong talk was made in behalf of better laws 
and of game and bird protection. 
March. 
Brown field and purplish wood, 
Fragments of snow left loitering here and there; 
A crow calls to his mate, 
The frozen lake lies silent, still. 
Can it be that spring is now so near? 
STIMULATION WITHOUT REACTION. 
After a day of enjoyable spmort, it is wise to choose a 
drink which helps to restorde the vital powers rather than 
one which tends to deplete them, as in the case with 
many drinks. Borden’s Malted Milk is delicious, con¬ 
centrated, nourishing, invaluable to the camper, made 
ready for use by adding water, hot or cold.— Adv. 
