A taxidermist has been helping wildlife agencies nail game law violators for decades with realistic robotic wildlife decoys that can turn their heads, wiggle their ears, flip their tails and mimic body heat.
Brian Wolslegel, founder and owner of Custom Robotic Wildlife in Kronenwetter, Wisconsin, encourages clients to use their imaginations. He once got an order for a deer decoy that pooped.
He was happy to oblige, designing a deer decoy that “just dropped M&Ms out of the back end of it,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
Sting Operations
His robotic taxidermy decoys have been used by game wardens in numerous states, including Wyoming.
Using decoys is a time-honored method for game wardens to set up sting operations. They catch people illegally shooting from vehicles, shooting at animals after dark or outside of designated hunt areas, and similar violations.
The tactic is simple. Wardens place a decoy near a road or some other tempting spot. They monitor the scene from a concealed position, waiting for unsuspecting bad actors to pull up and start blasting away at the decoy.
Robotic animals like the ones Wolslegel make are so realistic it's difficult for those potential violators to spot them as decoys.
Wyoming Game and Fish spokeswoman Amanda Fry confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that the agency continues to use decoys to nab people violating game laws.
That might sound like entrapment to some people, but the principle behind illegal shooting and poaching violations is the same as that for hunting-related trespass.
For trespassing, it’s the sole responsibility of hunters to know where they are at all times and to make certain that they don’t stray onto private property.
Likewise, hunters are expected to know and strictly observe all regulations related to safe shooting, knowing if the animal they’re aiming at is in their licensed hunt area, and the like.
Shot To Pieces?
When it comes to decoys with built-in robotics or body-heat simulators, that raises the question: how do they stand up to gunfire?
Pretty well, Wolslegel said.
“The smaller the animal, the harder the hit," he said. "So the ones like turkeys and squirrels get hit hard."
“The big ones, like the deer, elk and moose can take a lot of hits,” he added.
In most cases, bullet damage can be repaired by clients in the field, Wolslegel said.
“We send a fair amount of parts out (for replacements and repairs), but we don’t get a whole lot of decoys back,” he said.
Heated Animals Are All The Rage
Robo-critters with internal heating sources are in high demand, Wolslegel said.
“The thermal deer are the hot item right now,” he said.
They have the same basic design as the other robotic deer, except with built-in heating coils. Those push the decoy’s temperature to up around 170 degrees.
That’s hot enough for them to register in modern thermal imaging rifle scopes. That makes the thermal deer handy for nailing people who illegally shoot at deer before sunrise or after dark in the evenings, he said.
It’s legal to hunt coyotes and other predators with night vision scopes in Wyoming. However, shooting big game animals in the dark is strictly forbidden.
It’s also illegal to shoot any at any animal from inside a vehicle on an established roadway.
Wolslegel said that’s why his robotic coyote decoys are popular in Wyoming, Colorado and other Western states.
Game agents like to set them up in areas where it would be illegal to shoot from a vehicle. Or, where it might be unsafe to shoot at all, he said.
He’s also developed decoys that fall over when observing game wardens push a remote-control button after the first shot is fired.
“That can keep them (lawbreakers) from just continuing to shoot,” he said.
Robotic wildlife decoys, like this wolf, are made by Custom Robotic Wildlife in Wisconsin and used to nab people for game law violations in numerous states, including Wyoming. (Courtesy Brian Wolslegel, Custom Robotic Wildlife) 
Taxidermist Brian Wolsegel of Wisconsin works in his Custom Robotic Wildlife shop with his daughters Riley and Ella. (Courtesy Brian Wolslegel, Custom Robotic Wildlife) 
The Custom Robotic Wildlife shop in Kronenwetter, Wisconsin, builds robotic taxidermy decoys, which are used to catch people violating game laws, such as illegally shooting from roads. (Courtesy Brian Wolslegel, Custom Robotic Wildlife)
How It All Started
Wolslegel didn’t start out with the intention of being a taxidermist, much less one who specializes in life-like robotic decoys.
He went through training to be a firefighter. But before he could get hired on with a fire department, he picked up a job with a friend’s father, who owned a taxidermy shop.
The shop happened to be across the street from an office of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
One day, DNR wardens came over, requesting a decoy and were pleased with the results. Through networking, Wolslegel and his mentor started building decoys for agencies in other states.
Wolslegel said his mentor noticed how well he took to building decoys, including some with “primitive” motion-creating features, and suggested that Wolslegel make a career out of it.
“So here I am, more than 30 years into it. My son’s a firefighter and a paramedic and one of my daughters is training to be one too. And here I am, still building decoys. I’ve never fought a fire,” he said.
His daughters, Riley and Ella, have joined him in the shop.
“Together, we make a great team,” he said.
Wolslegel said he appreciates doing his part to stop poaching.
As in Wyoming, it’s been a problem in Wisconsin, he said.
Elk were recently transplanted to Wisconsin and the state has been trying to build up its herd, he said.
Just recently, “our biggest elk in Wisconsin was poached. They just cut off the antlers” and left the rest of the carcass to rot, he said.
He said that through his experience in working with game wardens he learned that there are “hard core” poachers. And then just regular people who make mistakes, because they couldn’t resist the temptation to push the boundaries beyond the law.
Game wardens have told him that for the latter type, the humiliation of getting caught shooting at a decoy is worse than any fines or other punishments they might get.
“They just hang their heads in shame,” but learn their lessons, he said.
He recalled one humorous story wardens told him about a man who didn’t learn his lesson the first time.
They caught the man illegally shooting at a decoy, fined him and confiscated his rifle, Wolslegel said.
Then they moved the decoy to a new location.
“A couple of hours later, that same guy came by and shot at the decoy in the new location, so they nailed him again,” Wolslegel said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
