Fishing – trapping – and vermin destroying – Decoys – Duck
Reexamination Certificate
1998-02-28
2002-01-08
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3643)
Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying
Decoys
Duck
C043S002000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06336286
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
Description of Prior Art
Decoys imitate animals and have been used for quite some time in hunting to lure game animals into shooting range. Decoys are currently used to hunt a variety of different animals, including deer, antelope, turkeys, crows, and waterfowl.
Ducks and geese are the most popular types of waterfowl birds hunted for sport. In the 1800's and up until the early twentieth century in what is now referred to as the market days, wild ducks and geese were commercially harvested. During this time period hunters used live-birds to decoy the waterfowl into shooting range. This practice was stopped by federal legislation in the early 1900's. Such illegalization has since led to the paramount importance of decoys to the success of the modem day waterfowl hunter.
Waterfowl decoys come in a variety of different types and styles depending on their intended use. For example, there are duck and goose decoys specifically designed for use on water, and others designed for use on land and ice. Most ducks and geese travel each day between bodies of water and agricultural fields or feeding grounds. The birds rest on the water and feed in the fields. As a strategy taking advantage of this daily flight pattern, hunters set out floating decoys on the water and attempt to lure the birds into shotgun range when the birds return from feeding in the fields. Accordingly, as another strategy taking advantage of this daily flight pattern, hunters set out decoys in the fields and attempt to lure hungry birds into shotgun range while attempting to imitate a flock of feeding live-birds with a group of decoys or a decoy spread.
Probably the most popular method of hunting geese is decoying in agricultural fields. Common types of field decoys for goose hunting include, shells, full-bodies, silhouettes, rags and kites. Silhouettes are flat two dimensional cutouts from sheet material of about an eighth of an inch thick, and are staked above the ground in a vertical position so as to be clearly seen from a side view by approaching birds. A second type of two dimensional cutout decoy is laid flat on the ground so as to be clearly seen from above by circling birds. Shells, full-bodies, rags and kites are generally a more realistic representation of live-birds than the two dimensional decoy types since they utilize all three dimensions to decoy, and therefore are seen from all angles by approaching and circling geese.
Full-body and shell decoys are generally the most popular types of decoys for goose hunting on land and ice since they appear the most realistic from all angles. Both full-body and shell decoys have a decoy body and a head-and-neck section or piece. The head-and-neck section may be removably attachable or integral with the decoy body. Full-body goose decoys have a fully enclosed spherical body and generally have attachable leg-and-foot pieces. The leg-and-foot pieces give the decoys the added realism of legs and feet, which better imitates standing, feeding birds. Shell decoys have semi-spherical bodies which have an open underside so as to be stackable upon one another during transport. Shell decoys are most commonly laid flat on the ground and best imitate resting birds or birds that are feeding while laying down. Shell decoys however, may also be positioned above the ground so as to provide the enhanced realism of standing birds. Standing shell decoys are most generally positioned above the ground with stakes, but may also use attachable leg-and-foot pieces.
Most standing decoys require the use of stakes at all times to help maintain them in a standing position. Other standing decoys rely solely upon the base and/or leg-and-foot piece for balance, and therefore do not require the use of stakes, except for in windy conditions. Most types of shell decoy and full-body decoy leg-and-foot pieces have a plastic base that is directly molded to the feet which helps balance the decoy. The feet of other standing shell and full-body decoys' leg-and-foot pieces contact the ground directly to aid in maintaining the decoy in a standing position. Some decoys whose feet contact the ground have oversized feet and utilize only the feet to maintain the decoys standing, except for in windy conditions where stakes are required. Other decoys whose feet contact the ground use stakes at all times in addition to their feet, to maintain the decoys in a standing position.
Maintaining full-body and standing shell decoys in a realistic standing position is very important to having a realistic decoy spread. Attempts in the prior art have been made to increase the effectiveness and ease of maintaining shell and full-body decoys in a realistic standing position, but these attempts have their own problems as well. Some of such problems revolve around decreased realism of the decoys individually. For example, disproportionate body parts such as oversized feet or a large base attached to the feet, and stakes protruding from the decoy bodies look unnatural and can scare away wary geese. Also, when prior art standing decoys are positioned on uneven ground, as is very common in hunting conditions, the decoys are commonly tilted at unnatural angles since the feet or bases get tilted by the bumps and depressions in the ground. This will especially alarm approaching geese. Other problems associated with maintaining prior art standing decoys in a realistic standing position include inconveniences and time involvement the hunter must put up with when installing stakes, and when attempting to secure the decoys in a standing position to ice or frozen ground, especially when in windy conditions.
The more a decoy spread imitates a flock of live-birds the more effective it will be in providing hunting success. The realism of a decoy spread is dependent on not only how realistic each individual decoy is but on how the decoys as a group duplicate the active flock effect of the live-birds they are imitating.
Attempts in the prior art have been made to increase the realism and effectiveness of field decoy spreads for waterfowl hunting, but these attempts have their own problems as well. Since all prior art waterfowl field decoy spreads have decoys with identical shaped decoy bodies where the legs and feet attached to such decoy bodies are all substantially exactly identical to each other, the ability of prior art decoy spreads to effectively and easily create the imagery of a flock of actively feeding live-birds is limited. For example, all prior art decoy spreads of standing full-body and standing shell goose decoys with legs and feet, exhibit “tin-soldier syndrome” wherein the legs and feet of each such decoy are straight, parallel and identical to each other. A decoy spread of such decoys gives the appearance of a battalion at attention. Nothing could be more uncharacteristic of a flock of feeding geese that is actively walking around searching for and consuming food.
It is apparent that there are needed improvements in the realism of decoys.
It is apparent that there is a need for a decoy that is capable of being easily secured to hard surfaces such as to frozen ground and ice.
It is apparent that there is a need for a self-standing decoy that is capable of being secured in a standing position upon uneven surfaces so that the decoy is not tilted at an unnatural angle.
It is apparent that there is a need for a decoy that does not portray any disproportionate or unrealistic shapes when secured in a standing position.
It is further apparent that there is a need for decoys which have the same decoy body but which have legs and feet that are not identical to the legs and feet of the other decoys having the same decoy bodies, so as to create decoy spreads that more realistically imitate the active flock effect or imagery of feeding birds, that are walking around looking for and consuming food.
It is yet further apparent that there is a need for three-dimensional standing goose decoys which have legs and feet that are not identical to each other, so as to create decoy spreads that more realistically imitate the a
Collins Timothy D.
Poon Peter M.
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