The
successful use of silhouette
decoys has been well
documented for centuries.
Originally, they were hand
fashioned from whatever
material a goose hunter could
find and hand painted to
resemble a goose. Often times
these homemade “shadows”
were heavy, had a
cumbersome stake and were
far from weather proof.
Having
grown up hunting ducks, Darrel
Wise was 16 years old when he
saw a television show about
hunting geese in his home
state of Washington. As fate
would have it, the show was
sponsored by a Sporting Goods
store in his hometown. The
store was a typical sporting
goods store, hunters would
stop for supplies or just to sit
and chat. Darrel became a
regular at the store trying to
“soak” up all the knowledge he
could from the goose hunters
that would stop.
Finally, one
of the older goose hunters
invited him along for his first
goose hunt. Darrel was
surprised to find a decoy
spread consisting of entirely of
handmade silhouette decoys.
That day Darrel shot his first
decoying goose and he was
hooked for a lifetime.
Now armed
with unlimited desire to hunt
geese, but very limited
“resources”, Darrel began to
study live geese and decoys.
His intentions, with the help of
a local plywood factory, were
to make his own silos
fashioned after the ones he
had seen in action. His original
decoy spread consisted of 60
silhouette decoys and they
served him well for a number
of years.
When
Darrel moved to accept a new
job with a manufacturing firm,
his original silhouette decoys
were lost in the move. When
he told his new co-workers
how sick he was about losing
his prized decoys, the Real
Geese idea was born. Since
his new company was in the
manufacturing business and
Darrel believed so strongly in
the power of silhouettes, it
seemed only natural that they
could produce them and offer
them for sale to goose hunters
everywhere. The partnership
called Webfoot Outfitters was
formed and Darrel went to
work on the designs.
The first
advertisement for Real Geese
silhouette decoys, offered in 12
different poses, appeared in
Wildfowl magazine in 1991.
The phone rang off the hook!
The
popularity of commercially
made silhouette decoys grew
steadily through the 1990’s and
Darrel and his partners were
forced to make another
decision; move the
manufacturing of Real Geese
to a larger, more modern
manufacturing plant.
In 1996, he
got in his Suburban and began
a cross-country track that
landed him in Fremont, Ohio.
There he found a small
manufacturing company with a
proven track record for quality
products. It seemed a natural
fit and Licensed Specialty
Products began producing Real
Geese decoys.
Over the
next couple of years Darrel
began his outfitting business in
Alberta. With that business
monopolizing a large amount
of his time and production
going well at License Specialty
Products, an agreement was
reached to purchase Real
Geese from Darrel and his
partners.
Since 2000,
our product base and market
has grown steadily. Without a
doubt, our largest innovation
has been the introduction of
our patented, non-reflective
Pro Series line of decoys.
“Made by hunters; for
hunters” is a common
statement used by companies
that manufacture hunting
equipment. That's true here at
Real Geese, however, we have
always put the quality and
durability of our decoys and
the reputation of our company
first in order to bring waterfowl
hunters the best possible
products. Perhaps the term
“work when we should, hunt
when we can” better fits the
Real Geese business
philosophy.
You can
now find Real Geese being
used across North America, in
parts of Europe, Russia, New
Zealand, England and Iceland.
