Gus Nelow, Another Wisconsin Original Carver
There are 50 or more classic decoy carvers from Wisconsin that have carved thousands of decoys over their careers. A friend of mine recently acquired a Gus Nelow redhead decoy…
Wisconsin Decoy Heritage
Wildfowler Decoy Company
Wildfowler Decoy Company is another successful factory decoy manufacturer that has been in business since 1939. Ted Mulliken began Wildfowler Decoys in Saybrook, Connecticut in 1939 and decoys were produced…
Owen Gromme, Decoy Carver and Artist
Gromme Canada Goose decoy, image courtesy Wisconsin Sporting Collectibles Anyone that is familiar with wildlife art has probably heard the name of Owen Gromme. His wildlife paintings have established him…
Ron Koch Decoys
A Ron Koch coot In previous Decoy Corner articles I have focused on many factory decoy manufacturers as well as those individual carvers that have had an impact on the wood…
Frank Resop Decoys
Frank Resop blue wing teal Frank Resop was born in Poland in 1894 and moved with his family to Berlin, Wisconsin in 1897. While growing up in some of the…
Warren Dettman Decoys
Warren Dettman was another Wisconsin original decoy carver. He was born in 1904, lived in Milwaukee for most of his life, and was employed by the Milwaukee Public Museum from…
L.L. Bean Decoys
All photos courtesy Dale’s Decoy Den The L.L. Bean Company (Freeport, Maine) is very well known to nearly every American, especially those born before 1960, due to its catalog mail…
William (Bill) Koelpin Jr.,
Wisconsin Original Artist/Carver Bill, Jr with one of his winning decoys at the 2018 WWA Decoy Carving Contest We all know about William Koelpin, Sr. and his legacy of sporting…
Paul R. Doering
The “Duckman” of Princeton, WI A Decoy Corner Article by Bruce Urben, President Paul R. Doering was born in 1899 and began carving decoys in the early 1930’s, shortly after his marriage…
Walter Ruppel, Ruppel Decoy Company Of Sheboygan, WI
Another factory decoy maker in Wisconsin was in business in the 1930’s and made thousands of decoys. Walter Ruppel Canvasback Walter J. Ruppel was born in Russia in 1902 and…
Lem & Steve Ward, Wildfowl Counterfeiters in Wood
Lem & Steve Ward While I have tried to focus on Wisconsin decoy carvers and factory decoys produced and used in the Midwest in past articles in the “Decoy Corner”,…
William J. Koelpin Sr., Wisconsin Decoy Carver, Artist and Conservationist
All photos courtesy Bill Koelpin, Jr. Koelpin Sr. carving “Mandarins” decoys Back in April, I wrote an article about a contemporary decoy carver and artist, Bill Koelpin, Jr.. Bill Jr.’s…