To the 19th century carver who made this decoy: your obvious goal was to make something that would be extremely useful. Not only did you accomplish that, but you made it incredibly beautiful as well.

This decoy is from Lake Chautauqua.

For those of you who live in areas where lakes don’t freeze, these are used in the following manner:

1. Carve a hole in the ice.
2. Cover you and the hole with something that entirely blocks out the overhead light.
3. After you get used to complete darkness, submerge the decoy with one hand and ready a spear with the other.
4. Focus and wait.

If this sounds interesting, check out the Minnesota Dark House & Angling Association.