Duck Tolling: The Curious Duck
Duck Tolling Dogs Lure Ducks Close to Shore, Within Range of Guns and Cameras
Summary: For centuries, duck curiosity has led ducks into traps. Foxes, Native Americans, hunting dogs, hunters, and photographers have all used duck tolling.
We've all heard that curiosity killed the cat, but curiosity has been no great friend of the duck either. Ducks are curious - so curious that they will swim straight into a trap simply to find out more about it. Duck tolling, luring ducks closer, takes advantage of this trait - and the first skilled duck tollers were probably a pair of wily foxes.
It seems that a red fox rambling about near the edge of the water will catch the eye of any duck in the vicinity, even one that is quite distant. If the fox stays long enough, ducks that are swimming at a safe distance from the shore will move closer to get a better look. Ducks know, of course, that foxes are dangerous, but as long as the fox ignores them, they will approach dangerously close to the shore. If a second fox is hiding in the tall grasses or sedges on the shore, it can rush out and seize a hapless duck before the bird has a chance to flee to the safety of deeper water. Many foxes have acquired a duck dinner in this fashion.
A discussion at The Breeds of Dogs site relates that Native Americans, observing foxes, learned the ruse and put it to their own use - they tied a fox pelt onto a rope and, presumably with a hunter hidden at each end of the rope, twitched the pelt back and forth, arousing duck curiosity in the same way a live fox does. Other hunters hid in the vegetation bordering the water until the opportune moment. Again, many hungry Native Americans were fed.
When hunting dogs came on the scene, small fox-like dogs were often favored because their red coats were highly visible, and they could be trained for both duck tolling and retrieving. In 1886, Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey wrote that the perfect duck dog was "a bright intelligent little fellow, about a third smaller than a Fox, with a curly bushy tail if possible and of a red or yellow colour" (page 48). Today, at least one breed, the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, owes its origins to the efforts of hunters to produce a dog that looks and acts like a fox.
It's hard luck for the careless curious ducks, but they can take some comfort in the fact that many - if not most - Duck Tollers are merely beloved family pets that retrieve sticks and balls but do not toll, and many of the hunters today are just shooting pictures. All of the foxes, though, bear watching from a safe distance: they are still duck tolling to eat.
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