Page 8 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 10-7-2015

OutdoorsPage 8 • Oct. 7, 2015
The Duck Call
Justin Washburn was among those who experienced a successful opening day to the
regular duck season.-Photo by Lowell Washburn.
Waterfowl hunters
have a good opener
by Lowell Washburn
Iowa waterfowl hunters enjoyed
overall good success during the Oct. 3
kickoff to this year’s regular duck sea- moment -- the orange tinged water re-
son. flecting the impending sunrise, ducks
According to DNR conservation
officers, hunters encountered good to
excellent numbers of ducks statewide
during Saturday’s opener. Although a
scattering of other species were report-
ed, the flight was clearly dominated
by mallards, teal and wood ducks. A
good percentage of hunters took six-
duck limits and most parties left the
field with a “mixed bag” that included
two or more species.
I hunted a small public wetland
in Cerro Gordo County with my
nephew, Justin Washburn. Ducks
started buzzing at first light and we
had a good number of birds already
swimming in the decoys when the
half-hour before sunrise legal shooting
time arrived. We had to hold our fire
though when, precisely at shooting
Dad’s handcrafted calls
are still fall treasures
by Lowell Washburn
When I was a kid, most of my
grade school classmates had two favor-
ite days -- Christmas and their birth-
days. The reason was simple. That
was when everyone got presents.
I was different. My favorite day
of the year occurred early each fall
time, a nice white-tailed deer came when, arriving home from school,
walking out into the marsh to inspect I would discover the top half of my
our decoys. It was an unforgettable Dad’s duck call sitting on the kitchen
table soaking in a glass of water. Al-
though there was no wrapping paper,
flying overhead, ducks swimming ribbons, or birthday candles involved;
around in the decoys just a few yards seeing that call sitting in water was the priate. In the hands of Old Time
away, and a deer standing right in the biggest present of the year. It meant
middle of it all. that after months of anticipation, the
The temporary delay didn’t mat- long awaited duck season was about to
ter. The deer finally walked back into begin.
the vegetation and less than 10-min- For the benefit of younger duck
utes later, I had collected my limit hunters, I should explain that 50 or
of six beautiful teal. There were also 60 years ago, owning a duck call was
some mallards looking things over but a much different proposition than it is
(to me, at least) it seemed foolish to today. First off, duck calls were hard
shoot at half feathered, pinny mallards to come by. When a hunter needed a
when there were hog fat, prime blue- call, he didn’t simply run to the store
wings coming into the spread like no- or order one online. Although a mod-
body’s business. est selection of cheap factory made
Before you know it, all the blue- calls could be purchased at the local
winged teal will have departed for sporting goods, serious duck hunters
Central America and there will still be wanted more serious calls. Serious
plenty of plump greenheads arriving calls were hand crafted for duck hunt-
in Iowa when November winds blow. ers by duck hunters. Demand usually
exceeded supply, and handcrafted calls
were as expensive as they were scarce.
The up side was that once you success-
fully got your hands on one, it would
literally last a lifetime.
Dad had purchased his call in
1942 for the exorbitant sum of $7.50.
To put that price into perspective,
premium gasoline was selling for 19
cents a gallon; a loaf of bread cost 8
cents. At the local sporting goods
store, Carry Lite mallard decoys went
for ten bucks a dozen. Dad was earn-
ing good money; fifty cents per hour
painting houses, which meant it took
about two days’ wages to purchase the
call.
Constructed of exotic hardwood,
Dad’s call was large, heavy and ear
splittingly loud. The call had a 4
½-inch long hollow barrel which
housed a hard rubber reed that, in a
previous life, had been a Double Duck
barber’s comb. The output end of the
call consisted of a threaded brass fit-
ting; flared at the end in a way that
would remind you of the bell of a
trumpet. The bell shape was appro-
waterfowlers, duck calls were nothing
short of serious musical instruments.
The calls did have their down
side, however. In addition to being ex-
tremely effective at luring ducks, these Looking back, I now realize that Dad
handcrafted beauties were also high
maintenance. During the off season,
the call’s “guts” – the internal wooden
trough and stoppers that held the reed
in place -- would dry and shrink to the
point that the components just sort of
fell apart. Soaking the call in water
would quickly swell the wood until all
the pieces would once again fit tightly
in place. Once the reed was adjusted
and retuned, the call was ready to go
to work.
In the fall of 1959, I was finally
allowed to participate in the wetland
adventure. As a shotgun totin’ duck
hungry ten-year-old, I was completely
captivated by the call’s uncanny abil-
ity to lure flocks of wild ducks into
point blank range. In my youthful
exuberance, I quickly came to believe
that upon hearing the call’s siren song,
each and every duck in the sky was
sure to be ours. This was not entirely
true, of course. Here’s an example of
how our hunts sometimes went.
Gazing skyward, Dad would spot
a flock of migrating mallards flying
Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter
American Classics – Handcrafted duck calls. Photo by Lowell Washburn.
so high in the air that they appeared which negatively affected tone qual-
as mere specks against the November ity. No matter. For me, it was love
overcast. at first sight. Following brief negotia-
“Call at ‘em, Dad,” I would im- tion, Bob agreed to trade the call for
mediately plead. a dozen, new-in-the-box canvasback
“Too high,” he would smile. duck decoys. We were both pleased
“No they’re not,” I’d argue. “Just with the deal. As was stated in that fa-
try. You don’t know; they might come mous Dances with Wolves movie line;
down.” it was a “good trade”.
Sometimes, if I nagged long My first order of business was
enough and hard enough, Dad would to repair the crack and replace the
actually send a series of raucous greet- damaged reed. Fixing the fissure was
ing calls toward those distant flocks. simple; finding a reed was a different
But even if those high altitude fliers matter. Fortunately, another local
had been able to hear the sound, there duck hunter by the name of Marshall
was no way in the world that those Hein still owned a couple of old duck
ducks were going to come down. calls and a few odds and ends compo-
nents – including a couple of genuine
blew those notes just to shut me up. Double Duck rubber barber’s combs.
The years passed. Now an adult, Hein promptly fixed me up with a
I began an all-out quest to obtain an comb and I began the task of shaping
original handmade call for myself. a new reed. Following a week of me-
But by now, such calls had become ticulous measuring, filing, and sand-
antique collector’s items and were ing, I finally had a reed that was an
harder than ever to locate. My big identical match to the original.
break finally came in 1978 when fel- Thirty-seven seasons later, I’m
low Clear Lake waterfowl hunter, Bob still blowing that same old duck call –
Humberg came across an old used day in and day out. Like I said; once
duck call at a gun show somewhere. you get your hands on one of these old
It was obvious that the call had been classics, it will literally last a lifetime.
around. In addition to some minor
nicks, the worn hardwood barrel also Enjoy more outdoor tales online
had a thin but lengthy crack. More at Washburn’s Outdoor Journal at
seriously, the reed tip had a large chip iawildlife.org/blog