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SCWA Chapter Local Volunteer Conservation Carp in Lake Murray |
Our Questions on Duck Calling
By Henry Brabham
Most people are immediately hooked on duck calling when they finally hit the right note and see that far off leaving mallard over the pines turn and come back to buzz the decoys one more time. He is coming to you and his wings are still and look sharp like thin black blades against the sun as he drops altitude. Your heart fills with blood and thumps against the inner wall of your chest and you know that whether this bird crumples and crashes into the decoys or just flanks too far out across the edge of your spread, you turned him around. You convinced this wild duck to come back to you.
If you are a beginner at the time of this breakthrough, then what probably comes next are “how to call tapes” strung out all over the house and in the vehicles, duck calls in the bathroom and on your rearview mirror, and a dismayed wife at 7:00 am during one of your pre-work calling lessons in the kitchen.
Duck calling is a musical art that has to be practiced like with any other musical instrument. But like with a guitar for instance, you do not have to be a world-renowned professional to enjoy playing and be successful in drawing in your audience (ducks). With duck calling, what you should do is try to learn from the world-renowned professionals that are willing to pass on what they have learned while perfecting their craft through the years.
This type of giving professional duck callers and call makers come to Camp Woodie each summer to influence and entertain our campers not only with their expertise on hunting and fishing, but also with positive experiences in their own lives. During a camp week, in moments other than duck call lessons, blind building or decoy placement these professionals can be seen helping campers prepare a wild game dinner or explaining the value and importance of school-even for a career in the outdoors.
Such professionals-Butch Richenback (Rich-N-Tone), Eli Haydel (Haydel’s Game Calls), Jeff Foiles (Foiles Migrators), Gregg Hood (Gregg Hood’s Southern Game Calls) took time off from the youth lessons at Camp Woodie to answer some questions from an office of eager novices.
We believe our first question and the answers that follow it illustrate the invaluable role that youth play in the future of waterfowling.
Q: How long have duck calls and calling been an important part of your life?
Butch Richenback: “Since I was about eight years old. I used to ride my bicycle out of town to hunt with an old burlap seed sack my mother made for me to cover up with…I could sit on a rice levee and the ducks would never see me. These days if a kid rode a bicycle out of town with a shotgun, he would probably get arrested. I miss those days. In turn, teaching kids how to blow duck calls is really my specialty.”
Eli Haydel: “I’ve been duck hunting for about 50 years.”
Gregg Hood: “As a kid growing up in Mississippi, we used to have so many ducks we didn’t have to call. All we had to do was stand in the timber and shake the water and the ducks would fall in, or we would stand in the cotton fields and shoot the ducks as they flew over from break to break. When I began hunting in Nashville, TN, I quickly learned that if you didn’t know how to blow a duck call you wouldn’t get any shooting. So, about 18 years ago I made up my mind that I was going to become the best I could and I began to work to master the call.”
Jeff Foiles: “I started duck hunting at the early age of six on the Mississippi River with my dad. I started watching and listening to him call some 40 years ago. I have some great memories of calling ducks in many different parts of the world, but calling in a bunch of high-flying migrators all the way down into the decoys on the Mississippi River can’t be topped.”
Q: Over time, duck calls have changed appearance considerably, but have they changed much in function?
Jeff Foiles: “As far as appearance goes, there are a lot of styles out there. There is a lot more that goes in to a duck call with an Arkansas tone board than a lot of people know. It is a very touchy process getting the right recipe together to make the sounds to fool an ole’ mallard. I think we have come a long way in 100 years with all of the calls on the market today.”
Butch Richenback: “Well that all depends on your point of view. Except for materials and wood finishes, the basic appearance of duck calls in general has not changed that much since Chic Majors first started making duck calls in the thirties. As far as function is concerned, the basic function to call ducks and sound like ducks is still there. However, the trend the past several years has been to make calls that are louder and louder, for both the contests and hunting.”
Eli Haydel: “They have not changed very much since the beginning. It’s all in the radius of tone, chamber and reed. Modern calls are realistic sounding.”
Gregg Hood: “The change has been tremendous. I remember standing out in the yard with my father and some of his “big duck hunter” friends and they had this one duck call that is still made today. They were blowing it thinking it sounded just like a duck. I did too, but comparing it with today’s calls, it actually sounded nothing like a duck, and the amount of air that passed through the call without being utilized was unbelieveable.”
Q: Have the changes in duck calls been positive/practical?
Gregg Hood: “This question is like a double-edge sword. Sometimes things can be good in one hand and bad in the other. Many duck callers today sound so real that the ducks can’t tell them from real ducks. This makes flocks more call shy than they have ever been before. In today’s hunting environment, being realistic or calling using imprinted sounds in the duck’s memory is very important. This is not always a quack, but can be the squeal of a duckling or the whistle of its mother.”
Jeff Foiles: “One of the things that has changed is the use of acrylic. This is a very hard material that gives you a nice, crisp, loud and sharp sound besides all of the different colors available. The woods that we use today also make a lot of difference as we are using a lot of exotic woods from all over the world giving a lot of different tones. Also, the way injection molding is done today gives you a lot better call as a tone board can be duplicated and thousands can be molded without a flaw.”
Butch Richenback: “That is a good question. As with anything, progress has made some improvements in the way duck calls are built. Today’s machinery has allowed us to make more duck calls in a day than you could ever dream about with a basic wood lathe. However, the final stages are still done the same way. As far as function, I have got to say that duck calls have gotten too loud. You can only get so much out of one and still be able to control it, especially for a contest.
Eli Haydel: “I see more contest style calls and they will call ducks. The better hunting duck calls are not practical for contests.”
Q: In teaching a beginner, what type of call would you use?
Eli Haydel: “I would use a double reed call that you do not have to grunt for proper sounds.”
Butch Richenback: “I always believe it is best to start out on a single reed duck call. A single reed duck call will make every sound a duck will make and then some. Also, once you learn how to blow a single reed the right way-you can blow anything. I see folks all the time that come in here wanting to buy a duck call and they tell me they have been blowing a double reed all their life, and have trouble learning to blow a single reed. If they would have started with one they wouldn’t have any trouble.”
Jeff Foiles: “I will always start them with one of my double reeds. You can blow easy into the call and a duck sound will come out. As a caller progresses just take out our sanaprene cork, pop out the top reed, reinstall the cork and in a matter of seconds you have a single reed.”
Gregg Hood: “I believe the “Nasty Boy” with the back pressure system that I have put into the call, lets a young caller or beginner develop faster with more control.”
Q: Are there principle differences in duck calling out in the field on a hunt as opposed to calling for a contest? In other words, would you teach each differently?
Butch Richenback: “The basic fundamentals of operating a duck call are the same regardless if you blow in a contest or just hunt. I teach both future contest callers and hunters the same. Although, the calling style is different from contest to hunting, the better you are able to handle a duck call the better you will become at calling ducks.”
Eli Haydel: “There is a difference in contest and field calling. I would teach each differently. Fewer notes are used in hunting.”
Gregg Hood: “This is a question from people that don’t have the ability to play a call like an instrument that want to believe that they are as good as a champion caller. It is the same as asking a professional baseball pitcher if he can pitch in the minor leagues-either you have it or you don’t. You don’t stand in a field and just blow a routine. You have to read the ducks and with the ability that competition calling teaches you-you know what pitch and what sounds the duck likes and be able to produce it at any given moment.”
Jeff Foiles: “There is a lot of difference. In a contest you are showing your talent of calling-starting with a hail call, greeting call, comeback call and right back into your decoys. You have 90 seconds to do this. This takes a lot of practice and the routine is very important to get right. In the field it is a completely different situation most of the time. You are actually watching the ducks as you call. Most of the time the problem is that we have over-called.”
Q: How do you express to someone when to call and when not to?
Jeff Foiles: “Watch the ducks and learn to read the ducks. Call to get their attention. Call on the corners(when they are circling) and give them some soft single cut feed calls on their way in.”
Eli Haydel: “Call when the duck is not doing what you want it to. Normally ducks will circle before coming in. I like to call at their rear end.”
Gregg Hood: “This falls into learning to read ducks. When the ducks are coming to you, there is no need to call at all unless you can predict what they will do. If the ducks are flying across from you or away from you, needless to say you have got to get them back online. This is what old-timers call blowing at wingtips and butts. It still holds true today.”
Butch Richenback: “A good rule of thumb is to only call at wingtips and tailfeathers once the ducks are working your decoys. I suppose I can sum it up with this: I can tell you things about when to call, when not to call, what to say what and not to say, but I believe the best advice I could give anybody is to let the ducks teach them what to do and when. Just get out there and start doing it. If you ever learn it all let me know, because when you quit learning, you ain’t having fun anymore.”
Q: What are some of the most common calling mistakes people make in the field?
Gregg Hood: “Calling too loud and too much and not varying the rhythm or the tone of their calls. One big thing I noticed in the last couple of years, hunters do not do enough contented sounds and quit calling too early and the ducks pull off or land too far away.”
Butch Richenback: “In my opinion, most folks call too much. Now that is not to say there aren’t times when you have to call them all the way to the decoys. There are just times when you are better off letting off of them, especially in the woods when the ducks break the trees. At that moment you should let them settle in. There is no exact science to duck calling, as I said earlier, experience in calling ducks will teach you more than I ever could on paper, just keep in mind that, less is sometimes more.
Eli Haydel: “A lot of beginners over-call. They blow the same routine over and over. I like to mix it up.”
Jeff Foiles: “Always remember that you are in the critter’s bedroom. They know if something is not right. Camo yourself (including your face), make your blind a part of the terrain and do not over-call.”
Q: What are some misconceptions on calling ducks?
Eli Haydel: “When ducks do not respond people like to blame the call. You call in every duck you see? Even a real duck can’t do that.”
Butch Richenback: “Lets see. Where do I start? You always hear that ducks are easier to call on cloudy and rainy days rather than “bluebird days.” Personally and for most folks around the shop, whether in field or timber we prefer bright and sunny day with a nice breeze. Another one is that saying that you want a soft call in the woods and loud in the field. Well there are times when I think the exact opposite is true.”
Gregg Hood: “That all ducks are the same, that all ducks sound the same, how a feeding duck really sounds and what are contented sounds and not understanding even though wind direction is consistent each flock can be different.”
Q: Does your style/approach in calling change during the season?
Jeff Foiles: “I call a lot different at new birds rather than the birds that have been around awhile. I call very aggressive to new ducks and very relaxed to the ones who have heard it everyday.”
Eli Haydel: “I usually call less later in the season.”
Gregg Hood: “Not only does it change during the season, it changes from flock to flock. Cloud cover, wind direction, the amount of hunting pressure, temperature and how close I have to my decoys I have to hunt. The best prepared hunter is going to be the most successful one.”
Butch Richenback: “Yes and no. I will sometimes use feed and contentment type calls in different situations. Early in the season you may call to some ducks with a short 5-note series on the corners while ducks are working the decoys. Later in the season you may get the same response by using a loud feed call. You need to tailor your calling by the day and the way the ducks are acting. Always be willing to experiment.”
Q: Is there a duck calling etiquette or unspoken rule when a group of callers are hunting in a small area?
Gregg Hood: “This is a fantastic question. I find that there are so many greedy hunters today that hunting ethics and etiquette seem to have been thrown out the window. My grandfather used to tell me that the best hunters were always those who thought of other hunters first. In hunting a small area, as ducks approach that area they are open to everyone, but once they make that turn in the direction of another hunter’s spread, you should lay off and give the other hunter time to work his ducks in. If the ducks widen their circles and begin to pull away from his spread then they are anyone’s ducks again. If the ducks again turn to another spread, lay off. In that situation, there should never be any loud calling, because there will be no ducks for anyone.”
Jeff Foiles: “I have hunted some of the most populated state public places. There are usually a lot of ducks and hunters. There is nothing better than enjoying the company in the mornings of a fellow duck hunter and nothing worse than seeing that same guy shoot the 1st Mallard hen that got close while you had 100 others circling!!! I have seen some of the worst screaming matches that you could imagine! I think that yes we are a smaller group than any other hunters compared to deer and turkey and we as a group of concerned hunters can get along and work together and make a duck hole a great place to spend our time. Just talk to your fellow hunters and when you see them have a bunch workin’ them give them a break, stop callin’, don’t shoot that single that flew over 30 yards and let them have some fun, and I guarantee they will do the same. It can be that simple. Thanks a lot and Good Huntin’!
Eli Haydel: “Most people try to out-call the next group. Sometimes you do well by not calling at all.”
Butch Richenback: “Yes if it is a group of hunters hunting together, pick a lead man and let him call the shot and finish the ducks. Once you get used to hunting together then everyone can work together-calling. If you are hunting as a guest or with a guide-leave your call in your pocket until asked to use it and then be sure to let your host finish the ducks. Don’t try to call ducks off of another group. Always refer to the adage of treat others as you wish to be treated, respect their area and don’t set up too close. If someone gets there before you do-find a new spot. If you are there first and someone wants to hunt on top of you, try and hunt together instead of getting into an argument. You will have more success as one group than working against each other. Always remember to be respectful of others and always take a kid hunting, because they are the future of our sport.”
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