There are three general styles of carving; decoy, decorative and interpretative. Decoy style is simple in design and must encompass the character of the natural bird, which is considered the true style of decoy carving for it most closely reproduces the true shooting decoy. In carving decorative decoys, carvers are allowed much greater freedom in expressing their carving skills. The Interpretative style only requires a decoy to clearly depict the character of the natural bird, allowing the carver freedom from conventional restraints.

Decoys are customarily carved from cork or woods such as cedar, white pine and basswood. Basswood carves well and shows few grains, though it is soft wood susceptible to surface abrasions. Cedar is tougher, however if not thoroughly dried it can experience checking, which is a splitting along the transverse axis. White pine is heavier and denser than cedar, however the sap it contains will gum the craftsman�s tools.