Around 1910, when Newburyport cabinetmaker Charles Safford was carving his wooden decoy of a sleeping Canada goose, the idea it could one day sell for a king's ransom probably never crossed his mind.

Capt. Jay Barnes, right, a waterfowl hunting guide from Frontenac Fowlers Guide Service in Union Springs, waves a kite-like item on a stick that simulates a Canada goose landing or flapping its wings ...