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.

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 ...

Bob Jobes’ workshop is messy. Old posters pinned to the low ceiling curl down at the edges. There’s hardly a bare surface anywhere. The air smells of wood dust, paint, tradition. Jobes carves wooden ...