Duck!

The use of decoys is an old hunters’ trick. The most common decoy is a life-size wood or plastic duck used by hunters to attract wild birds to within range of the concealed hunter with his gun. Some of these decoys are so beautifully crafted that they’re valuable collectors’ items.

The military uses decoys too also known as dummies. These are low-cost devices that substitute for real military equipment. Dummy tanks for example are set up to fool enemy forces into attacking them diverting fire away from the real equipment.

The “Quaker Gun” a fake cannon was used during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).ColonelWilliamWashingtonthreatened an enemy force that he’d fire it at them if they didn’t surrender. Shortly afterwards all 125 men surrendered without a single shot fired. In the American Civil War (1861–1865) armies of both the North and South used the trick effectively. The name derives from the Quakers a religious group traditionally opposed to war and violence.