NEOSHO — On a quiet lake in rural Wisconsin, a duck sits serenely on the water. Just living a duck's best life. Except there is one problem.
It's not actually a duck. I was fooled.
"I think the ducks fool people sometimes as easily as they fool other ducks," Mark Kakatsch said.
Instead, it was a decoy made by Kakatsch. A decoy is a fake duck designed to attract ducks while hunting.
“I think that’s part of the allure for a decoy carver. It’s a game, right? It’s the skill of how good is he. Is he able to fool those other ducks," Kakatsch said.
For about 10 years, Kakatsch, who now lives in Neosho, Dodge County, has been making decoys. There are only a handful of people across Wisconsin making decoys.
“I think, you know, for the most part, we are declining every day," he said.
He’s helping keep the art of decoy making alive. Starting with a block of cork, he makes the body. He carves out the head from wood, glues it together, and then the all-important paint job.
“The painting is what really pops the duck," Kakatsch said.
Watch A Wisconsin decoy duck carver keeping a tradition alive...
The art of decoy making goes back to the mid-1800s in Wisconsin. But as the manufacturing process improved, decoys became mass-produced from plastic. It was quicker and cheaper. But for hunters like Mark, the old school ways are still the best ways.
“I think when you hunt over something you make, it just has way more intrinsic value, and I think it completes the whole picture for me.”
When an artist makes a decoy, they have to pay special attention to the anatomy of a duck. How the head and body are shaped, or the typical positions that the breed would be in. The more physically accurate the duck is, the better the hunting results will be.
“So one of the poses that they have is they tuck their head in, and they start to rub oil over their feathers," Kakatsch said.
He can make decoys for about a dozen different duck species.
While duck carving might not be as popular as it once was, there are still devoted fans of the art. The Wisconsin Waterfowl Association even hosts decoy competitions. The next one will be from Aug. 21-22 at the Waterfowl Hunters Expo at Sunnyview Expo Center in Oshkosh.
"100’s of talented and well-known carvers from all over the US, competing for Best of Show honors and cash awards. This year, the International Waterfowl Carvers Association championship for the “Style” gunning decoy will be held at our show! You can watch decoys being judged on the water and view a number of carvers demonstrating carving and painting right at the show!" Bruce Urben, the president of the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, said in an email.
For Kakatsch, whether he wins those competitions or not isn't so important. He's just happy to be in his decoy den, doing what he loves.
“I like to just sit in a chair and whittle away.”
Keeping a Wisconsin tradition alive one decoy at a time.
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