Robert Thomas Coats – A Winnebago, WI Decoy Carver

29 Sep at 2:20 pm

A Decoy Corner Article

By Bruce Urben, WWA President

Pictured above: the carver, Robert Coats. Photo credits: Robert Coats

I have written about many of the great decoy carvers from the Winnebago Lakes area of yesteryear in Decoy Corner—those who carved from the late 1800s to the 1950’s. I am happy to report that the tradition continues with young waterfowlers carrying on the heritage of those vintage carvers. This month’s Decoy Corner spotlight is on one of those up-and-coming carvers!

Robert Thomas Coats was born in Oshkosh, WI, in 1991. Robert has two younger siblings. He currently lives in the same family home he grew up in Winnebago County, WI. Only a stone’s throw from some great waterfowling marshes. While he was always interested in the outdoors and hunted deer with his father, his uncle really introduced him to waterfowl hunting at a young age. Robert began decoy carving about 10 years ago when he wanted to lure ducks with his own handmade decoys! You can describe Robert as a self-taught decoy carver, as no family members were involved in carving. This seems to be an exception among decoy carvers. He had a mentor he met at a decoy show; Bob Badtke from Shiocton, WI, was instrumental in helping Robert fine-tune his carving methods. Robert is a natural artist and credits his High School art classes that brought out his potential in painting decoys and in his flat art!

Robert’s full-time job is at the Winnebago Co. airport in Oshkosh, and in his free time, he and his wife raise Chesapeake Bay retrievers and horses to show and participate in horse pull competitions. He does, however, reserve time each fall for duck hunting with his wife and each winter for his carving.

Robert carves his decoys out of pine and also uses some cork. Almost 100% of his carvings are working decoys, but he has carved some fish as well. He calls his style “Old but New,” with modern and accurate species depiction and simple paint. Robert carves with hand tools and power carving tools. He paints with artist acrylic paint by brush but has experimented with using an airbrush. Robert has carved nearly every waterfowl species in the past 10 years. His first decoy was a canvasback drake, which he still hunts over in his rig. Robert’s favorite duck hunting water is Lake Poygan and the Aurora Millpond! To date, he has carved about 300 decoys and decoy urns. He also has some for sale for his hunting rig.

Robert has entered several decoy competitions in the last two years to see how he could do. While he enjoys the camaraderie of the carvers, he doesn’t like the pressure of judging! I can say that he has done well in the competitions he has entered. In his own words, however, “I shoot the best judges of my decoys”… the ducks!

Robert enjoys collecting vintage decoys but claims to be a novice at collecting currently.

You won’t have much trouble identifying one of Robert’s decoys, as he brands each on the bottom with RTC, and they are excellent floating sculptures based on his judges (the ducks).