tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post111028783286368001..comments2024-03-26T22:16:26.572-04:00Comments on Terrierman's Daily Dose: The Archeology of HuntingPBurnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-66516028790546240052014-11-25T20:27:35.157-05:002014-11-25T20:27:35.157-05:00As you point out however- it sounds like any dog- ...As you point out however- it sounds like any dog- even a pug- could entice the birds as long as they could help in other ways too- the whole idea of a special breed doing this sounds like BS. No breed history here.Jeff T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01520811975339950553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-1443558931690493722014-11-25T20:25:19.965-05:002014-11-25T20:25:19.965-05:00I read the article at poodlehistory.org and it doe...I read the article at poodlehistory.org and it does sound like there were little dogs who messed with the birds so they'd follow... "A fox-coloured dog, with a good brush, is always a successful Decoy dog, if he otherwise does his work well. [Payne-Gallwey is amused to describe (p. 49) a Pug successfully decoying.] Ducks therefore follow dogs and foxes from curiosity, from hatred, as well as from braggadocio, and also because when he retires from them they imagine that for once in a way they are driving off a cruel oppressor--a natural enemy. They flatter themselves that their bold looks and assembled numbers bring about this satisfactory result...." I love this guy's animal behavior analysis...Jeff T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01520811975339950553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-2038231255277773462014-11-24T16:17:06.164-05:002014-11-24T16:17:06.164-05:00The role of dogs in medieval duck netting is consi...The role of dogs in medieval duck netting is consistently overstated for its novelty and, I would suggest, in order to sell dogs and books.<br /><br />Ducks are greedy eaters and will readily flock to even stranger birds. <br /><br />Both facts are are still used today when duck hunting. <br /><br />Corn fields near ponds are often not cut over for that reason (or are cut and left), while live and artificial decoys (wood or plastic) are used to get ducks and geese to light on ponds and lakes all over the world.<br /><br />In the Middle Ages and up into the early 20th Century Century, tame live ducks were acclimated to follow floating food. Floating food was dependent on wind direction, which was why duck decoy ponds had so many "legs" despite their considerable digging and netting cost. <br /><br />After live trained "resident ducks" were let out onto ponds to attract passing wild flocks, these trained "Judas birds" were then lured up the netted ditches towards more food, and their wild brethren would follow on. <br /><br />So how were dogs used? For the most part, dogs worked with men to drive ducks up the pipes. A dog swimming in slow pursuit is a very reliable pusher of duck and geese, especially when the birds are already in a netted pipe and the way forward looks clear and other ducks who seem to know the way are headed there.<br /><br />Does that mean that a duck will not follow a small dog? No, but that's not the thing you counted on day-to-day in order to net 1,000 ducks a sitting. If ducks chased dogs so reliably, we would be using dogs today to lure ducks to the gun, and the old Medieval duck netting ponds would not have been situated to wind and trained ducks would not have been needed at all. It's telling that the "Toller" dogs used today are actually used as retrieving spaniels, and when the experts say tell the story of how the dog came to pass, everyone in Maryland laughs. >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2011/09/dances-with-ducks.html<br /><br />For graphics of the duck ponds, descriptions of the drives, see >> http://www.poodlehistory.org/PDUCKTR.HTM<br />PBurnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-23972939637080361792014-11-24T11:45:15.895-05:002014-11-24T11:45:15.895-05:00Sir,
With regards to duck decoys, the history...Sir,<br /> With regards to duck decoys, the history is actually much more interesting; a specific and now extinct breed of dog being involved. <br /><br />All of this activity took place before the invention of firearms good enough to take ducks on the wing, so back then if you fancied duck for dinner, your only option was to net them. Netting ducks, however, isn't easy to do once and ducks are actually quite good learners, unlike pheasants. With ducks, you have to be clever.<br /><br />A duck decoy pond consists of a big pond with a long, thin arm coming off it, which gradually narrows. Along the side of this arm would be set wickerwork hurdles, angled such that the ducks coming into the inlet couldn't see what was on the other side, but set at an angle so that it wasn't a continuous fence. <br /><br />To lure ducks in, the decoy master would go to the pond in the company of a small, brown, foxy-looking dog that was traditionally called "Piper", for obvious reasons. The dog was trained so that on command it would trot out from behind the hurdle, turn away from the ducks and run out of sight, leaping over a small jump as it did so (to make it more visible, presumably).<br /><br />What the ducks see is a known predator, a fox, running away from them. This is strange behaviour and ducks are curious animals. <br /><br />After a few times round one hurdle, the pantomime moves down a hurdle, and so on. The ducks thus get lured ever further down the long, narrow inlet of water and fail to notice that overhead after a certain point the inlet is covered by netting; further in is just a tunnel of netting culminating in a small netted enclosure. Usually the inlet is tree-lined except for the far end, which looks open and relatively unobstructed and an easy flight-path away, if you're a duck.<br /><br />When the ducks are well down the funnel, the decoy master nips back a few yards and comes out from behind the hurdles, shouting and waving his coat to panic the ducks. Seeing this, the ducks simply take off and head for the light at the end of the tunnel, which turns out to be a net bag.<br /><br />As you might imagine, things do not end well for the ducks at this point. <br /><br />The advent of the percussion cap as a means of firing a gun spelled the end for the duck decoy pond and for all the dogs called Piper. Suddenly hunting ducks was much easier to do (flintlocks have a very long lock time, hence are very difficult to use to hit a moving target even with a big charge of shot). <br /><br />When flighting ducks became possible, almost nobody used decoy ponds any more. The last few operating in Britain are used only for ringing birds for research (although I'd wager the operator does have the old wild duck for dinner now and again).Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02618328278732100203noreply@blogger.com