Tanglefree

It was the last day of the 1971 California duck season and a father and young son labored to pick up their 200 wooden decoys. Like many on the Wheeler Island duck club, Jack and Dan Kiernan picked up each individual decoy rigged with braided nylon and large lead weights. Ever so carefully the two hunters placed them in their boat so that they wouldn’t tangle. During this slow and a laborious task, the two noticed one club member who quickly loaded his decoys into his boat and left the marsh.

Back at the club house later that afternoon, Jack and Dan approached that club member, Fred Cutter, and asked him how he was able to pick up his wooden blocks and leave so quickly. “I’m using tubing for all my decoy lines, and I just throw them in the boat. They don’t tangle.” After inspecting Cutters’ decoys the Kiernan minds began to turn. Being the serious duck hunters they were, the Kiernans thought night and day about how to make a line similar to Cutter’s but green so the ducks wouldn’t see it. After countless hours and ideas the dream would soon become a realization.

In the fall of 1972 Tanglefree decoy line was used for the first time in the Sacramento River Delta. Shortly thereafter, a no knot, lead anchor was designed by the Kiernans. The hunter would simply weave the line through and pinch the line inside the lead. The tubing, combined with the knotless anchors created the Tanglefree brand. The Kiernan’s patented their products in the spring of 1973 and began selling under the Orginal Tanglefree name. From that day forward waterfowl hunters across the globe began to use Tanglefree lines and anchors.

Since that last day of the 1971 California waterfowl season, Tanglefree has continued to grow and develop, and in 2005 bought the decoy division of Bond Manufacturing. With the addition of the decoy business, Tanglefree began its quest to become a complete waterfowl company. Today the company still produces the line and anchors it was founded upon, but also has included an entire product line of decoys, blinds, and waterfowl hunting accessories. Together with some of the best minds in the industry, Tanglefree is developing decoys and products that will help improve your waterfowl hunting success.