A hunting decal is a decorative vehicle sticker depicting hunting equipment name brands, game animals, or clever phrases. Hunting decals are typically self-adhesive and usually placed on the rear windows of cars and trucks or placed on boats, all terrain vehicles, and hunting weapon cases. Hunting enthusiasts use these stickers to demonstrate their support for brands and their affiliation with hunting.
The most common material used to make hunting decals is vinyl. It is durable and waterproof, and certain kinds of vinyl cling to glass without adhesive. It is also easily printable.
There are many different hunting decal designs. Like any other type of decorative vehicle sticker, hunting decals have a wide variety of images and colors. Usually hunting decal images are not true-to- life images, like photographs. Hunting decals normally look like silhouettes or sketches in black and white. Full color decals are also available but are not quite as common as black and white decals.
Usually hunting decals are simple, two-dimensional designs, though there are some hunting decals which have three-dimensional aspects. One example is a deer with a spring loaded head that bobs up and down with the movement of the vehicle. Another example is a plastic fish head surrounded by the image of water so that it appears to be leaping out of the car window.
The size of hunting decals varies. They may be quite small, as little as 3 inches (7.6 cm) in height. Usually a hunting decal with wording is large enough to be read a car length away since many hunting decals are placed on the backs of vehicles. Some hunting decals are large enough to cover the length of a rear window.
The wording on hunting decals is usually a short catchy phrase or a play on words. One example is an image of an arrow head which reads, "Give 'Em the Shaft," playing on a phrase that means to cheat or mistreat someone and on the word "shaft," which is the thin body of an arrow. Some hunting decals use rhyme to be memorable. For instance, one duck hunter decal reads, "If it flies, it dies!"
Some companies offer a personalization service for hunting decals. A phrase, date, or name can be added to create a unique decal. There are also some decal kits that can be used with a personal computer and printer.