Born in Stamford Connecticut, Robert Capriola has been carving decoys for personal use and for sale for many years. Raised on the coastal waters of Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake Bay, Mr. Capriola was introduced to waterfowl hunting and shooting at age ten. By age fifteen, he was carving decoys for his own use while hunting the Potomac River Bottoms and Chesapeake Bay shorelines. After a year and a half of engineering school in Colorado, and two years of seasonal conservation work, Robert returned to school in 1980 at Humboldt State University on Humboldt Bay, California.
It was in Humboldt that Capriola met professional carver and bayman Bill Pinches, who apprenticed him for over one year. Pinches introduced Robert to the world of carving competitions and encouraged him to begin selling his work. Capriola carved professionally and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Cultural Anthropology and a Master’s Degree in Natural Resources before taking a position with Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge in 1996. In 1997, he began working for the California Waterfowl Association (CWA) as a waterfowl habitat biologist in the Sacramento Valley and has continued to carve working decoys in his spare time out of his Chico, California shop. Capriola has turned his avocation and love of waterfowl and wetland habitat into his vocation through his efforts in waterfowl conservation with CWA and through his unique expression of form, function, and art exhibited by his working decoys.
Congressman Thompson is pleased to display three of Robert Capriola’s decoys. The two photographed below are the hen and the drake Wigeon.
