Erik,

They were tied to little "rests" that sat under the water so they could stand on them and not get tired during the overnight hunt. They set them up in groups that are marked by all shooters so the "decoys" are not shot accidentally when the real ducks come in. I'd never seen something like that before.

It was funny since my friends said we were going duck hunting and on the way we stopped at a farm. Next thing I know was they handed me a burlap bag and said "go catch some ducks" so I was running arround grabbing farm ducks and putting them in the bag. I had no idea what was going on, I thought what the hell are these ducks for? Is this just in case we don't see any wild ducks, we shoot this guys farm ducks??

Well turns out they use them as decoys.