>> NARRATOR: Elaborate decoys,
the bow and arrow, rifles and shotguns...
These hunting tools have ensured our survival, altered our
evolution and maintained our dominion over the Earth's
animals. Today, they are the backbone of
a multibillion-dollar sports industry.
Now, "Hunting Gear" on <i>Modern Marvels.</i>
>> NARRATOR: After two million years of evolution, man stands
as the world's greatest predator.
Millennia of developments in hunting technology have
outfitted the modern hunter with every conceivable advantage,
gadget and gizmo to bag wild game at will.
Take Airscan, a Florida-based company that scouts new hunting
areas by aircraft. Each plane is equipped with
video cameras, infrared, and multi-spectral sensors that can
count animal herds, assess tracking routes and monitor
habitat. The data is provided to hunting
clients and gamekeepers to manage wildlife and target
specific animals. While still employing ancient
skills, today's hunter treads a fine line between sport and
high-tech overkill. The best way to see the selling
and celebration of all this cutting-edge hardware is at the
annual Shot Show, the largest hunting gear convention in the
world. Each year, more than 100,000
manufacturers and retailers stalk this bull's-eye bazaar for
equipment that would have been unimaginable to their ancient
brethren. One popular appliance is the
stealth cam, a 24-hour-a-day digital camera mounted on trees.
A scout can enter an area briefly, post the camera, and
retreat without leaving telltale human scents that can spook
game. >> DOUG MANN: People will buy up
to three or four of these things, stick them to various
places, in the areas they usually go hunting.
And they can come back a week later, two weeks later.
They get the camera, develop the film.
If they want to hunt turkey, and they get a bunch of raccoons,
then they know this is not the place for them to be.
The main feature is the PIR sensor, passive infrared.
It's located behind this white shield here.
It uses heat and motion to activate the camera, to take a
picture. The reason for that is that if
you did the motion detector-- a tree branch would set it
off. So, we had it heat-activated as
well. This camera is programmed to
take between one and nine pictures each time the
intrusion area is activated. >> NARRATOR: But if you want to
see your quarry in real time, these range-finder binoculars
fire an invisible laser beam, which bounces off a target and
returns to a receptor inside the binoculars.
>> ARIE PRILAK: If we know the speed of the laser, which is the
speed of light, and if we can calculate the tiny amount of
time elapsing between when it leaves and gets back, then we
multiply the speed of light by this tiny amount of time, and
that's what gives us the distance.
>> NARRATOR: Software inside the binoculars quickly computes
distances up to 1,100 feet, which significantly aids
tracking, identifying prey and shot accuracy.
And for those seeking their inner animal, there's the
Power Muff Quads, an ear device that comes with four separate
high frequency microphones to amplify the sounds of nature.
>> DENNY SNYDER: It increases your normal hearing five to
eight times and lets you hear those distant sounds like
turkeys gobbling, leaves rustling, but it automatically
shuts off at the report of the muzzle blast.
It's great for the shooter on the range because you can hear
the range commands. >> NARRATOR: Once game is
targeted, predators can now have a moment-by-moment record of
their time in the field. Adirondack Optics, a New York
manufacturer, recently introduced a device that gives
new meaning to the word "shoot." >> TERRY GORDON: Very simply,
what this is is an integration of a digital camera with a
telescopic rifle site, with the idea being it captures
a digital photograph when you discharge your firearm.
It also has a manual shutter release on it, so you can take a
digital photograph with it without discharging your
firearm. Inside here, there's a recoil-
sensitive switch called an accelerometer, which senses
recoil. And through special software
designs, it reaches back into the memory, and a few
thousandths of a second before the recoil will sense, pulls
that image out of the memory. And that is the actual image of
what you saw, when you decided to pull the trigger.
>> NARRATOR: Today's cutting- edge hunting gear at the Shot
Show is a far cry from the rudimentary instruments used by
our prehistoric ancestors for their safety, survival and
sustenance. Archeologists believe the first
hunting tools were created about 2.5 million years B.C. and
involved flaking off the edges of small stones into crude
knives. Man then found ways to surround
animals by using fire and other herding methods.
>> JAMES SWAN: Early man hunted with his wits, and catching
animals often in places where he might have advantage, as much
as anything else-- in a canyon, driving animals over a cliff
into a swamp, into water. Also you might build a pit and
drive them into the pit, or lure them into the pit with meat or
some other kind of food. So, essentially, you were trying
to use the natural features to be able to entrap the animal
with a little human help. >> NARRATOR: Once the animals
were cornered, man then used his rudimentary weapons for close-in
killing and butchering. By about 500,000 B.C., hand axes
began to appear, which provided the hunter with more leverage by
affixing a blade to the end of a stick.
Around 60,000 B.C., spears were invented using wooden shafts
with points hardened in fire, which were compressed, cured and
dried by the heat. The weapon gave our ancestors
increased thrusting and throwing power.
>> PHIL SPANGENBERGER: The spear gave him great leverage, it gave
him the ability to kill an animal, because man with his
bare hands is a pretty... pretty harmless creature.
So man has to have tools and man's ability to work with
tools-- this is the way man is able to become an equal and even
a superior to the beasts that have much greater strength than
he does. >> CHRIS DORSEY: There's really
no mystery as to why man developed these hunting tools.
Obviously when you live with hunger every day, you're
looking for ways to feed yourself.
Hunting tools were also protective tools against other
tribes, against animals. Um, you got to keep in mind that
there wasn't a great deal of distance between man and the
rest of the food chain early on. >> SWAN: There was something in
human nature that drew us to eating meat.
As they ate more and more meat, that protein came and actually
fueled growth in brain cells. So you start to see cranial
capacity developing, and with increased cranial capacity, you
see the tools start to evolve. >> NARRATOR: With the invention
of the bow and arrow around 30,000 B.C., we drastically
increased our hunting prowess by being able to kill at a
distance. Our ancestors could hunt larger
game much more safely and efficiently.
By 19,000 B.C., the atlatl, a shortened spear that was
thrown with an attached stick, gave hunters mechanical
leverage and faster, more lethal projectiles than those
thrown by hand. As hunter-and-gatherer cultures
evolved into more stable agrarian societies with the
planting of seasonal crops, sport hunting began to appear.
Ancient Egyptian drawings on friezes around tombs, appearing
about 1,500 B.C., show rulers hunting fowl with nets, spears
and bolas, sometimes with the aid of chariots and greyhounds.
>> SWAN: The seeds of sport hunting probably go back to the
Fertile Crescent and to Egypt, where people gained control of
land and extra resources. And they were able to use those
in ways that created somewhat... differences in caste and class.
The origins of sport hunting are associated with royalty simply
because they did not have to hunt for survival.
>> NARRATOR: Falconry was also a popular pastime of Egyptian
noblemen. >> SPANGENBERGER: They would
carry the falcon around on a big gauntleted hand, keep a hood
over the falcon so that it wouldn't either be nervous or be
distracted. And then when they would sight
the game, the hood would come off, and they would be, uh,
unleashed from whatever restraint they'd be on.
The falcon would go up and capture it in midair.
>> NARRATOR: While falconry remains virtually unchanged to
to this day, other ancient weapons have been completely
transformed by technology. Next: bows and arrows, hunting
knives. For thousands of years these
tools determined our survival. Now their cutting-edge science
is coveted by sportsmen. The Cybertec is the
state of the art in bow hunting-- a compound bow with
a high-strength aluminum handle, and limbs with multiple
laminations of carbon fiber and fiberglass.
Its graphite arrow shafts have steel razor blade tips, which
fly at 300 feet per second and expand upon impact.
In the field, it is virtually soundless-- space-age technology
applied to a weapon from the Stone Age.
From roughly 30,000 to 15,000 B.C., the bow and arrow arose
all over the world. Often called the "third
invention," after fire and the wheel, it became our most
powerful hunting weapon for thousands of years.
>> DORSEY: The real value of the bow and arrow was the fact that
no longer did man have to put himself directly at risk by
shoving an instrument into an animal that was very, very
close-- sometimes a dangerous animal.
So he was able to take animals from a greater distance, plus he
was able to use greater velocity on the... on the thrust of that
projectile to get into an animal.
So you could actually kill larger animals.
So that meant more... more meat, more game, and more effective
use of your time when you're hunting.
They were constructed out of very flexible materials.
Maybe, uh, wood from the ewe tree or another tree that was
very flexible. And, of course, gut was used--
dried gut that was flexible. And then very crude, rudimentary
arrows were created with-with stone points.
>> NARRATOR: The bows were often carved out of tree limbs using
stone tools. The discovery of the bow and
arrow also led to a new kind of music.
>> SWAN: Cast yourself back in time 15,000 years, and you're
sitting in a cave, and it's cold outside, and you... you're a
hunter with a bow beside the fire.
Maybe idly you pick up your arrow and start to hit it
against the string. A musical note is struck.
Then you discover that if you put a little pressure on that
string while you're striking it, you've changed the pitch.
There's the birth of the stringed instrument.
>> NARRATOR: But it was definitely not used to serenade
animals. By 7500 B.C., the "composite
bow" was invented-- an instrument that used a variety
of materials. Animal sinew was glued to the
wood with fish-based adhesives. Animal bone, horn and hides were
grafted on to the center of the bow.
This greatly increased the flexibility, range and
durability of the weapon. About 1200 A.D., in the Steppes
of Asia, the Mongols came up with a major improvement.
>> GREG EASTON: The shorter Mongol bows was one of the
beginnings of what we would call a re-curve bow-- with a counter
bend already in the bow. So once you string it up and
get it into the normal bow shape, it's much stronger of a
bow and has much more energy in the bow.
>> NARRATOR: The Mongols were expert horsemen-- and the light,
compact, and powerful re-curve bow was the perfect weapon for
their mobile hunting style. As firearms began to develop in
1300 A.D., the technological evolution of archery virtually
ceased. Ironically, interest in the
weapon as a hunting tool was revived with the appearance--
from out of the bush-- of an exhausted and emaciated Indian
in Oroville, California, on August 29,1911.
Ishi was the last surviving member of the Yahi, a Northern
Californian tribe that had been exterminated by white settlers.
As North America's last wild Indian-- barely clothed and
starving-- he was quickly put under the care of
anthropologists at a museum in the San Francisco Bay area.
>> EASTON: One of Ishi's doctors was Dr. Saxton Pope.
They became very good friends, and they spent a lot of time
together in the woods, where Ishi actually taught Dr. Saxton
Pope many of the skills he had in building a bow and arrow,
stalking game, and understanding the skills necessary for hunting
with a bow and arrow. >> NARRATOR: The result was
Pope's pivotal book,<i> Hunting</i> <i>With the Bow & Arrow,</i> which
reestablished an interest in bow hunting.
A young Californian, Doug Easton, was greatly influenced
by the work and began tinkering with different equipment.
The outcome was a 1930s invention that reinvigorated the
sport-- the aluminum arrow. Previously, arrows had always
been made of wood and used feathers which created drag that
stabilized their flight. >> EASTON: One of the challenges
with wood arrows is that they're all a little bit different.
My grandfather began experimenting with and developed
and perfected the aluminum arrow, which created a much more
consistent arrow, both in terms of weight and in terms of
spine, which is the stiffness of the arrow...
As the archer uses any number of arrows in his quiver, they're
all the same and are going to hit the same spot.
>> NARRATOR: Today's arrows also generally use plastic instead of
feathers for stabilization. In the 1950s, American Fred Bear
created hunting bows of wood covered with fiberglass
lamination. The new bows could be flexed
thousands of times without cracking.
They also had more power, accuracy and were weatherproof.
Several years later, another invention changed bow hunting
forever. >> EASTON: In the mid to late
'60s, Hollis Allen created what is today called the compound
bow, and this was a shorter bow than the traditional re-curve
bows. And by using a system of pulleys
and wheels and cables, was able to create a much more powerful
bow. An old longbow would maybe have
to be 100 pounds of-of strength that an archer would have to
hold in order to propel an arrow at a great distance, and-and
accurately. The compound bows would allow
that archer to have that same amount of energy, but only
really have to hold 20 or 30 pounds once he got the bow back.
This opened up archery and hunting to a greater percentage
of the population. >> NARRATOR: While use of the
bow and arrow has rebounded, one hunting tool has always been
mandatory. In prehistoric times, hunting
knives were used to hunt and kill.
Today, they are employed for post-kill activities such as
field dressing. Among the most famous are buck
knives, manufactured in El Cajon, California.
The company's first knife was made in 1902 by Hoyt Buck, a
Kansas blacksmith. >> CHUCK BUCK: He ran across,
uh, a method. He called it a secret process,
but a method of actually heating the blade and, uh, quenching it
in oil. And then it would come out, uh,
much more tough, uh, as opposed to being brittle.
And that worked real good for a knife blade and for edge
holding. >> NARRATOR: For decades, Buck
made each knife by hand, using worn-out files as his raw
material and shaping them using a grinding wheel.
In the early 1960s, Hoyt's son Al greatly increased the
company's fortunes by creating the model 110 Folding Hunter
Knife, a collapsible knife of stainless steel.
>> BUCK: In 1963, we saw a need for a knife that would fold and
be a safe knife. It would be enclosed so that the
blade wouldn't cut anybody. If a guy fell off his horse
hunting, and he had a fixed blade, it could cut his leg.
>> NARRATOR: The knife also locked open, using a spring-
operated metal bar that prevented the blade from closing
on a person's fingers. Today's manufacturing of buck
knives begins by punching a knife shape out of a steel
blank. Thicker blanks are cut by a
laser programmed by a computer. A double-disk machine then
uniformly grinds the steel on each side to stringent
specifications. A three-step heat-treating
process begins by hardening the blades in a 25-foot furnace at
2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The blades are then plunged into
a deep freeze of 120 degrees below zero, making them hard
but brittle. Then back into a tempering oven
at 350 to 900 degrees to lower hardness but increase
durability. A hollow grinding machine
produces a thin edge, making the blades ready for final assembly
and sharpening. While the evolution of knives
spans millions of years, the real revolution in hunting gear
is a result of the last 700 years.
The Blazer rifle is one of today's most versatile firearms.
It comes with five interchangeable barrels that can
accommodate 20 different calibers of bullets.
A hunter in a variety of terrain can routinely dismantle and
change his gun to stalk widely diverse types of game, from bear
to deer to wildfowl. While today's guns pack a lethal
punch, it all began with the invention of black powder in
China, about 900 A.D. It was initially used in
fireworks, toys, and for signaling.
By 1300, Europeans were using it in hand cannons, which, when
lit, fired projectiles through rudimentary pipes cast out of
copper and iron. The first practical bullets soon
followed. They were round and molded in
lead. More ingenious inventions, like
gun locks, were then created to ignite gunpowder.
The wheel lock employed a hammer laced with soft iron pyrite,
which was pressed onto a serrated iron wheel that turned
with the aid of a spring when the trigger was pulled.
The resulting sparks lit the charge.
>> GARRY JAMES: You could actually carry a gun-- loaded,
primed, cocked-- and all you had to do was raise it and pull the
trigger. >> NARRATOR: In the early
1600s, one of Europe's first big game guns was the Jager rifle--
a short, blunt, powerful firearm used for close hunting of stags
and wild boar in the dense forests of Germany.
Hunting was generally restricted to the landed gentry, who
owned almost all the land and the game in Europe.
Poaching was often a capital offense.
>> SPANGENBERGER: When a lot of the Swiss and German immigrants
came to the New World, they brought with them their Jager
rifles. They quickly found out that the
game that they hunted in America wasn't the same as the game in
the European continent. >> NARRATOR: The New World and
its vast open spaces were a hunter's Eden.
While hosting bounteous amounts of deer, moose and elk, America
was also teeming with smaller game, such as rabbit, turkey and
ducks. The new German immigrant
gunsmiths realized they needed a lighter, more flexible gun that
could fire with greater range. The result was the Kentucky
rifle. >> JAMES: They were longer, more
delicate, better balanced and, generally speaking, more
accurate, and you could have smaller bullets firing greater
distances at greater power. >> NARRATOR: By this time, the
shotgun-- which fired a cluster of pellets simultaneously-- was
also created, greatly aiding the killing of quicker, more elusive
game. By the 18th century, guns became
even more lethal by using conical bullets cast in lead.
The new weapons and ammunition allowed early European
immigrants to establish themselves on the growing
American frontier-- helped by the lack of hunting restrictions
so common in their home countries.
>> JAMES: You could go out and shoot and hunt and feed your
family with relative impunity. >> NARRATOR: In the early 19th
century, alchemists knew that when fulminate of mercury was
compressed, it detonated. Its combustible qualities
were soon used to ignite firearms.
In 1835, French gunmaker Kasimr LeFaucheaux created the first
practical application of a revolutionary invention-- a
self-contained cartridge of ammunition.
A fulminate of mercury percussion cap, a charge of
powder, and the bullet were completely enveloped by a paper
case inside a brass base that could be placed in a gun barrel.
A pin rested on the percussion cap and protruded above the
barrel. A falling hammer struck the pin,
which exploded the cap... sparked the gunpowder...
and fired the bullet. In addition, the cartridge was
loaded by cracking open the breech of the gun, a 16th
century invention that was a vastly quicker and simpler
method than muzzle loading. >> SPANGENBERGER: The big
advantage in a breechloader to a hunter is that he's got fast
follow-up shots. He doesn't have to change the
position of his rifle, break out all the accessories that go with
it, and the powder, the caps, the flints, all the other things
that go with it. He simply cranks that gun open,
shoves in another cartridge, closes it up, and he's ready to
fire at his game or protect his life, whatever.
But it's rapid fire, rapid controlled fire, which is what
brings meat to the table. >> NARRATOR: One of the first
guns to carry multiple cartridges-- allowing rapid
firing without having to reload-- was the 1873 Winchester
lever-action repeating rifle. It was a key tool used by the
rural hunter in the settling of the American West.
The gun user would place one finger on the trigger and the
other three fingers on a lower lever that, when cranked, would
move each cartridge into place after firing.
Each firearm held up to 15 cartridges, lined up
horizontally, one behind the other.
>> SPANGENBERGER: The ability to carry a lot of ammunition in
your rifle was a great boon, not only to frontiersmen of all
sorts, but especially to hunters, because if they're-
they're shooting at running game, they've got fast follow-up
shots. They can fire one shot and even
if that animal is hit and doesn't go down right away, they
can lever quickly, take aim again, and-and a lot of times
the levering was so easy they could lever right from the
shoulder and not lose much of their target, their sight
picture. >> NARRATOR: All this firepower
would lead to a dark chapter in the history of the West.
Around the mid-19th century, the Sharps rifle was invented-- the
firearm most responsible for the virtual extermination of an
estimated 60 million buffalo, and the collapse of many Native
Americans' way of life. In the 1870s, market hunters--
feeding the frenzy for buffalo robes and coats on the East
Coast-- began a slaughter that had no legal restrictions, and
the .45 caliber Sharps rifle was the perfect big-game killing
tool. >> SPANGENBERGER: It was a big,
powerful, single-shot rifle, and the buffalo hunters liked it
because they could place one shot into an animal, and
usually that would down that animal.
Generally, because buffalo are a matriarchal society, the buffalo
hunters would look to see which seemed to be the lead female
running the herd, and they would fire at that animal, drop that
animal. Then, as the others would mill
around, they would look for the animal that seemed to be in
charge or taking charge next, and they would drop that one.
And because buffalo were very bewildered-- they didn't
understand what this was-- the buffalo hunter could sit there,
generally, for hours, and they would shoot as much as their
skinners could skin in a single day, without leaving one
position. >> NARRATOR: After only a dozen
years, the giant herds were almost completely gone.
The Sharps rifle used a 500- grain bullet-- about one-tenth
of a pound. But British colonials in Africa
in the 1860s were creating even larger weapons, their own
"elephant guns"-- huge double- barreled firearms for hunting
big game. These behemoths used bullets
that were up to three times the size of the buffalo gun bullets.
>> JAMES: When the British took over most of the Earth, they
also took over a lot of hunting ground, especially in
Africa and in India. You're dealing with some pretty
serious game. You're dealing with a cape
buffalo or a rhinoceros, or an elephant, so you wanted the most
powerful, most reliable firearms that you could get.
In the middle of the 19th century, this took the form of
the double rifle. You had two shots, rather than
one, which gave you kind of an extra backup.
You want a big bullet to-to knock them down.
This meant you're shooting a bullet, or a round ball, that
weighs a quarter or a half a pound.
The recoil on these things was considerable.
It's a miserable experience. It causes as much damage on
the back end as it is on the front.
You don't want to shoot it a lot.
It can rattle your teeth and cause retinal detachment.
>> SPANGENBERGER: Nothing else is as fast.
And if you're being charged by a wounded or an aggressive animal
that's a very dangerous animal, you want that fast second
follow-up shot, and there's where a double rifle excels.
>> NARRATOR: At the end of the 19th century, one of the most
fearsome hunting weapons was formally introduced: the 98
Mauser bolt-action rifle. Its cartridges were stacked
vertically, allowing the use of more potent pointed bullets-- an
impossibility with lever action repeating rifles, which had to
use flat-nosed bullets because of the explosive potential of
stacking them end to end. The 98 Mauser had a bolt handle
which, when pushed in and down, locked a fresh cartridge
into the chamber, hermetically sealing the ammunition and its
gases. The locking system allowed for
more lethal and powerful cartridges.
It's a model still in wide use today.
But the rampant use of these gruesomely effective new guns,
along with human population growth, commercial hunting and
the loss of animal habitat, began to outpace wildlife's
ability to replenish itself. >> DORSEY: Most people
don't know that Archduke Ferdinand, the person whose
assassination led to the onset of World War I, was the most
prolific hunter in the history of the world, having taken some
300,000 animals in his lifetime. And what he would do is
literally get on a train through his Austro-Hungarian Empire,
ride on the train with loaders on either side of him and
literally shoot everything he could see.
And following his train was another train, where people
would literally pick up all the animals that he took.
>> NARRATOR: Such outlandish slaughter and the near
extinction of dozens of animal species eventually led to
worldwide conservation laws. In 1900, the U.S.Congress
passed the Lacey Act that regulated the interstate
transportation of commercial game.
From 1901 to 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt's
administration increased federal land reserves from 45 million
acres to 195 million acres. In 1937, President Franklin
Roosevelt signed the 'Pittman- Robertson Act,' which levied an
excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition to pay for wildlife
restoration projects. And though hunting guns have
grown in lethal efficiency, the new laws restored much of the
nation's wildlife. Though conservation is the
current creed, the modern hunter still hungers for any gear that
will provide advantages in the field.
After President Theodore Roosevelt passed a series of
Federal Land Reserve acts in the early 20th century, the quality
and quantity of game began to blossom in the United States.
The result was an exponential increase in sport hunting that
was strictly controlled under game management guidelines.
Today, the hunting industry in America is a multibillion-
dollar business that caters to more than 14 million hunters.
But it's not just about guns and ammo.
It's about accessories, too. In 1912, Maine resident L.L.
Bean was one of the first entrepreneurs to take advantage
of the boom in recreational hunting.
Tired of his old moldy, leather hunting shoes, Bean created the
Bean Boot, a thick-heeled rubber boot perfect for inclement
weather. >> DORSEY: When L.L. Bean
came out with his catalogue, and came out first with, uh, the
Bean Boot, suddenly it ushered in, uh, really a whole new era
of-of hunting gear and products available to sportsmen.
You know, prior to that, they were using work boots, and-and,
uh, canvas, uh, clothing and things like that to-to do their
hunting in, which wasn't necessarily the best, uh,
equipment to be wearing when you're out in wet conditions.
>> NARRATOR: A host of other accessories followed, and in
1924, Bean developed a top-grade, waterproof cotton
field coat with multiple pockets to carry every necessity.
The tough woven fabric and hardy design is still sold to this
day. While a hunter can wear all the
right clothing and carry the latest weaponry, he still has to
find game. That often means using
attractants. Employing scents is one
relatively modern and effective technique that has grown
increasingly sophisticated over the last 20 years.
>> JOHN BURGESON: Scents are important in hunting because
animals detect danger from scent.
They can tell what's going on in their territory with other
animals from scent. They find food from various
scents. It's one of their most important
senses. >> NARRATOR: Our ancient
relatives used meat to bring in prey.
In the early 19th century, American trappers employed
castoreum-- a bitter substance from beaver sacs-- to draw in
other beavers. Today, natural scents such as
doe-in-heat urine, gland scents and curiosity musk are collected
from live animals, sprinkled on trees, on the ground and in
foliage to bring in quarry. Manipulation of smells is one
key attractant. Employing a little visual
trickery is another. Native Americans created duck
decoys made out of bark and twine.
Until the practice was outlawed in 1920, American
hunters used live ducks tied to posts.
>> SWAN: Decoys are used primarily for waterfowl hunting,
because you've got flocking birds, and they're looking
for... flying around, looking for a place to land to feed.
And also just to flock. It's a colonial organism.
>> NARRATOR: Wide use of decoys started around the mid 1800s on
the east coast. Early decoy wooden ducks were
hand-carved and painted, an art form that is still practiced
today. By the early 20th century,
thousands of wood birds were produced a year by a network of
small artisan workshops. Beginning in the 1950s, decoys
using synthetic materials, like plastic, fiberglass and
cardboard-- all lightweight, flexible and portable-- were
mass-manufactured for a rapidly expanding hunting
market. >> DORSEY: Now there's decoys
for virtually everything you want to hunt.
And they're really designed to be used in concert with calls
and with scents. >> NARRATOR: One of the latest
innovations are mechanical decoys powered by batteries.
>> BRAD HARRIS: You add a little bit of movement with some of
these mechanical devices where... actually, the wing just
sits there and spins, it's just a spinner blade that has a light
and dark side to it, and as it spins it catches light, and from
above, it looks like ducks landing.
It's a great attraction. We also have decoys, uh, they're
like rabbit decoys for predators, to call coyotes in
and it's on a timer and every 15 seconds that little rabbit jumps
around. It's that visual that brings him
on in close for a closer look. (<i> duck call blowing</i> )
>> NARRATOR: Sounds can also bring game running.
>> HARRIS: Depending on the time of year, the food source, the-
the breeding season, whatever might be, animals are
continuously communicating to find one another, seek one
another, to ward off one another, depending on the
situation. So, you could utilize their
language to attract them. The American Indians were very,
very good at imitating certain birds and animals to help them
lure those animals close. >> NARRATOR: Native Americans
used wedged blades of grass, the bones of turkey wings, and crude
horns made of bark to create animal sounds.
>> SWAN: Initially, animal calls were just mimicry.
(<i> man cawing</i> ) (<i> squawking</i> )
Or they were crow, raven. (<i> squawking</i> )
Now how about an owl? (<i> man hooting like owl</i> )
>> NARRATOR: Today's hi-tech instruments can imitate
predator, alert, distress or mating calls.
>> HARRIS: It's molded plastic, has three different reeds in it.
It'll do the owl. (<i> imitating owl call</i> )
It'll do the woodpecker, which is a loud and noisy bird.
(<i> high-pitched chirping</i> ) And you twist the tone again and
it'll do a coyote. (<i> imitating coyote cry</i> )
>> NARRATOR: Many of the new instruments are made with a
rigid Mylar, or hard plastic, that allows virtually anybody to
sound a call of the wild. >> SWAN: This is a box hen
turkey call. (<i> imitating turkey call</i> )
Contrast the hen turkey with a gobbler, all right.
(<i> imitating turkey gobbling</i> ) This is a modern snow goose
call. (<i> imitating goose honking</i> )
This would be a hailing call, "Hey, come on over here."
(<i> imitating duck quacking</i> ) "Good food."
(<i> quacking low</i> <i>and rhythmically</i> )
This is a widgeon. (<i> high-pitched chirping
rises and falls</i> ) "We're going to get into a
fight." (<i> deep, rhythmic rumbling</i> )
>> NARRATOR: But locating quarry is not all about reeling them
in. Sometimes a hunter needs cover
to get close to prey and a little help from a few gadgets.
>> (<i> whispering</i> ): Be sure you're really quiet.
>> NARRATOR: Next: stands, masking scents and blinds,
and other handy tools that greatly increase a gamesman's
chances. >> narrator: Because of the
predatory nature of their environment, many animals have
a heightened network of senses to ensure their survival.
Effective close-in hunting of this game involves masking
the human sights, sounds, and smells that can cause
an animal to bolt. Indeed, many of today's stealthy
hunting devices and methods have their roots in Native
American techniques. >> The Indians, because of
the primitive state of their weaponry, they had to rely
on almost becoming an animal themselves.
They learned to distinguish tracks; they could tell
whether an animal was walking, whether an animal's running.
They--often because they knew the terrain, they would know
if the animal was heading to water or not.
>> Indians could get on rocks high above their prey.
They could utilize trees-- big oak trees.
And animals that weren't used to being preyed upon
from above would never look up. >> narrator: Today's tree stands
are portable, camouflaged, lightweight contraptions
that allow sportsmen to hunt from the heights and wait
for hours for the right shot in relative comfort.
>> These type of tree stands are utilized to hunt big game
animals--animals like deer, bear, elk, moose.
I mean, big game animals that you need to go in and you need
to get elevation where you can see them approach,
you know, cover their travel routes and trails
and their water holes-- where you might ambush them.
>> narrator: For those who prefer to hunt on terra firma,
duck blinds provide an elemental disguise.
They are usually custom made and come in a variety of shapes
and materials. Elaborate models are made
from heavy-gauge steel welded into a rectangular box.
Typical sizes are from 10 to 20 feet long.
They can be dug into the ground or by the water in proximity
to large flocks of ducks. The tops can be set open
or propped up for quick shots. >> The whole premise of all this
is simply to hide from ducks that have terrific vision.
And keep in mind, ducks travel in flocks a lot.
So you're looking at multiple birds up there--lots of
different sets of eyes-- and they'll identify you
if you're not well covered. >> narrator: Though an animal
might not see you, he's probably got a good
chance of smelling you--a fact not lost on Native Americans.
Indians typically rubbed themselves with cedar and sage
to mask their own odors. Today's sportsman often
wears clothing lined with charcoal to absorb human smells
or sprays his clothing with scent elimination chemicals.
Synthetic felt infused with acorn oils are strapped around
boots to mask human odors. Scent drags are dipped in fox
urine and pulled behind a hunter to cover up his trail.
Gamesmen often use attractant and cover scents together.
But if you still can't find your prey with all these
accessories, you should be able to at least find your car.
The handheld 'Global Positioning System' helps hunters pinpoint
their exact location, by means of a receiver that picks up
radio signals from at least three orbiting and
interconnected satellites. The receiver then compares the
signals, and through triangulation, calculates the
precise latitude, longitude, and altitude of the user.
>> You can navigate to a favorite area.
If you--for instance, if you're fishing or you're hunting and
you identify just a great bit of cover, a place where you've
seen a lot of game, you can press a way point,
mark that point. You know how to get back there.
So it's very much a safety device.
>> NARRATOR: The 12-channel receiver comes loaded with a
basemap that displays specific topographical features, such
as mountains, trees, and roads. A 5.3-ounce receiver like this
one has a battery life of up to 18 hours, and can download even
more detailed maps from CD-ROM. It is accurate to within ten
feet. The GPS and all these other
modern tools and techniques are part of a sophisticated
industry that has replicated the sights, sounds,
and smells of wildlife; managed the quantity
and quality of game; and honed our hunting gear
to perform within inches and milliseconds.
The development of these weapons has granted us
godlike powers of control, responsibility, and fate
over the Earth's animals. How wisely we use future
hunting technology and foster game conservation
will determine the delicate balance between predator
and prey that has existed for millennia.
