A Decoy Corner Article
By Bruce Urben, WWA President
All photos courtesy Wisconsin Sporting Collectibles/Gene Davis
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was a waterfowling hotbed during the early 1900s. With Lake Winnebago on its shore and the Fox River running through it, the area attracted scores of migrating waterfowl. At the time, the waters were rich in wild rice, wild celery, and wopato there for the taking. Sportsmen from all over the Midwest came to the area to enjoy great fowl shooting.
With great waterfowling came great decoy carvers, producing 100’s of thousands of decoys for area sportsmen and their waterfowling needs.
This article is about yet another Oshkosh carver, lesser known but equally talented, who produced 1000s of decoys.
Alfred “Al” Sang’s parents were German immigrants who settled in the Oshkosh area in the 1800s in search of a better life. Alfred was born in 1903 and was an avid waterfowler as a youth because of the seemingly endless number of ducks in the area. Al primarily hunted Lake Butte des Morts just upstream from Lake Winnebago.
Alfred had a natural ability for woodcarving, and he had made everything imaginable from wood. He began carving decoys as a hobby in 1925, but worked full-time from 1930 to the 1950s. His early decoys were carved from cedar, but in the 1930s, he began using cork for his bodies after hunters bought his decoys so quickly. Cork decoys were more easily and efficiently carved at that time.
Al carved more than 1,000 decoys in his lifetime, including canvasbacks, bluebills, mallards, coots, and geese. His pine wood heads had detailed bill carving and were attached to the body with a wood dowel. Al used a straightforward paint scheme on his working decoys using oil-based paint, which portrayed an actual duck on the water. His gunning decoys always had a lead strip attached to the bottom as ballast weight. Al was also known to have produced several waterfowling skiffs and paddles during his lifetime.
While Alfred made 1000’s of working decoys, he also carved about 1000 miniature and full-size decorative, unpainted decoys that he gave away to family and friends.
Alfred “Al” Sang passed away in 1994 at the age of 91.
Today, Alfred Sang decoys are in high demand by Wisconsin collectors, and many are highly valued based on condition. Unfortunately, the majority of his decoys were used hard and were waterfowling warriors —exactly what Mr. Sang intended!
Alfred (Al) Sang, Another Oshkosh Original Decoy Carver.
