When I was a neophyte duck hunter several decades ago, I noticed something unusual about the behavior of decoying waterfowl. While hunting in a vast marsh where anything that stuck up above the scant grass cover was treated with suspicion by ducks decoying at close range, I would move the boat or wade out to adjust the decoys, stand up to catch the warm sun or send my retriever out to fetch a downed duck.

Many modern motion decoys balance on heavy, stable bases, rocking and swiveling like feeding ducks. Photo by Mike Marsh.

Waterfowl hunters are routinely told to sit still and keep movement to a minimum, but I found that doing the opposite could actually prove useful from time to time. Suddenly ducks would appear above the decoys, catching me off guard. In the beginning, I seldom had my shotgun close at hand, so I learned to use a sling to carry it at all times.

Over those first few seasons, I tested my duck-attraction theory. Sometimes merely raising my arms above the boat's camouflaged covering and waving to the birds caught their attention; at other times I'd rock the boat by shifting my body, or use a paddle to create ripples. Sometimes, I'd occasionally send my Lab after a bumper for a quick retrieve.

To the amazement of hunting companions still mired in the traditions of staying still and keeping out of sight, these tactics worked -- and worked extremely well, such that we'd fill our limits on bluebird days during which not a whisper of wind rippled the water to make the decoys appear realistic.

PRIMITIVE MOBILITY
In this heyday of gadgetry, it's frequently difficult to believe that some hunters stick to the old ways. Nevertheless, conventional methods for imparting motion to decoys or the water surrounding them remain extremely effective.

A hunter in a flooded-timber situation, whether it's in a river bottom during flood conditions or a beaver swamp, may not need any decoys at all: Motion alone can lead to full bag limits of ducks. The tried-and-true method of hunting in areas of thick cover is simply to kick your foot while simultaneously using a call. The call attracts attention to the concentric circles created by the hunter's foot movements. Deceived into believing that ducks swimming unseen in the standing trees are responsible for the movement, birds on the wing will drop right down to the water for a look. Grabbing a limber sapling that extends into the water and shaking it, or tossing sticks or stones into the water are equally effective ways of setting off ripples in flooded timber situations.

The next step up in the primitive-motion category is the pull-string or "wiggle string." Tying a string to a decoy and twitching the string makes the decoy dip and wiggle. Some hunters simply tie the string to the forward eye of the decoy's keel or around the decoy's neck and jerk the string using nothing but the decoy's standard water anchor as a counterweight; others stab a piece of limber wood or a fiberglass rod into the bottom and tie a connecting string to the rear of the decoy's keel to add a rearward return motion that helps to keep the decoy in position.