When you’re hunting ducks, being able to catch them by surprise is half the battle. Ducks feel safer when gathered in a group, so you can give them a false sense of security by using duck decoys.

Once seen as mere hunting tools, duck decoys have waddled their way into the world of collecting hobbies. It’s easy to see why: These handcrafted works of art are painted with intricate details and ...

Calm days can be brutal for duck hunting. Without wind, ducks can approach the “X” from any angle they like. Plus your spread will appear still and lifeless — unless you’re rigged up with the ...

It’s pretty calm and quiet around Russ Dedekind’s West Lawn home, even though he and his brother share it with hundreds of wooden ducks in various stages of becoming decoys. They must be pretty good ...

Waterfowl hunters tend to believe more is more: 3 ½-inch guns, big outboards, trailers full of decoys, large party hunts. If it can be made bigger, most waterfowlers think it’s better. Yet sometimes ...

MOUNT VERNON — Marty Hanson began carving decoys when he was 10 years old. Some 41 years later, the Hayward, Minnesota, resident is a world-class carver whose decoys are highly sought by collectors ...