Clinton Decoy Company
Clinton Decoy Company is the brainchild of Art Ladehoff, who grew up in Clinton, Iowa among a legacy of duck hunters. During college and a series of missteps, Art realized his dream was to create a business that combined his passion for duck hunting with his natural artistic ability. Given his history with the type of duck hunting that required large (several hundred), strategically placed decoy spreads where duck calls were ineffective, the decoy business was a natural fit. After all, the decoys of his day were not durable enough to withstand the conditions faced throughout rough Iowa winters, which forced many hunters to make their own decoys.
And so, Clinton Decoy Company (originally called Decoys Unlimited) was born.
Art Ladehoff hand-produced his first cast aluminum decoy mold as he worked to improve the traditional methods of the day. Before long, he and a few friends were in business, selling expandable plastic and aluminum decoy making molds.
In the 1960’s, the goose population was growing and the limit on Mallard ducks was low. After adding his goose decoys to his own hunting spread, he realized he was ahead of the general trend of the time. In addition, he realized that few decoy companies were producing full-bodied goose decoys. A chance encounter with a regional hunting legend led Art to create his masterpiece: the Big Foot Goose Decoy.
After much research that involved finding and photographing as many geese as possible, patterns were made and models were carved. This project represented the first significant improvement in decoy design in decades, and was simply born from one goose hunter hoping to improve his hunting outings. The first Big Foot decoy was made available in 1984 and was priced to reflect the work that went into the project. From the very beginning the Big Foot decoy was popular, and hunters were willing to pay a little extra for such a high-quality product. For the next thirty years, the Big Foot decoy would set the standard for a full body goose decoy, and it continues to be the best bang for your buck today.
Big Foot decoys are exceptionally durable and are designed to stand up to even the harshest winters experienced in the mid-west. In fact, it may be possible that some of those original decoys are still in use! These ultra realistic, polyethylene decoys have weighted keels that keep themselves upright no matter the conditions. Three styles are available, with geese upright, feeding, and floating. If you hunt geese, this decoy is a must-have.