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  • The Art of Duck Calls!

    "Little Miss Judy’s Believe it Or Not”


    This was daddy’s favorite duck call and sometimes he used it and sometimes he didn’t. He could make all kinds of noises without any aids!






    My father was an avid bird hunter. I was very fortunate to have spent time with him as he went on his bird hunting escapades. He loved to hunt doves, quails, quails, ducks, and crows. His favorite as well as mine was the art of hunting ducks. I call it an art, because that’s actually what it is. I think that you will agree especially after your read this article.


    The first thing you needed to know was how to dress properly. When you went hunting for ducks a little swimming could be in your future. Some duck hunters call it “wading in your waders.” However in my case it was most always swimming in my waders, which means water outside and inside of them. For those of you that are not duck hunters then I need to make you aware that this art is preformed during the cold months. So therefore when you got wet anywhere it was a “cold to the bone feeling!”


    As a child I was very cold natured. So therefore, I always overdressed, which meant I was extra heavy once I took the plunge into the icy waters. However, daddy didn’t seem to mind too much. It never seemed to bother him as he fish me out of the water.


    The best part about duck hunting was the calls that my father made to attract the ducks. Now that I think about it there were other accomplished calls that he preformed to get the moose and crow’s attention. However my absolute favorite was the “Human siren call.” He could stick his head out of a car window, make his siren call, and over to the side of the road the cars would go. Daddy would do this when he was in a hurry to get someplace or if he had a slowpoke driver in front of him. I just loved! It was so cool! I know I am rambling, but sometimes when certain things come to mind you just have to share them. Now, back to my father signature the duck calls.


    My father had four favorite duck calls. The first was called “lonely duck call.” This one is kind of self-explanatory, when a duck flew by or was approaching daddy made this call. It was suppose to get them to fly towards the duck blind in search of friendship. At least that’s what daddy called it. The second duck call was “plenty of food call.” He used this call when he had numerous ducks flying over. The third call sounded like the first one. It was called the “I’m interested duck call.” The fourth and last that I can remember was the “last chance duck call.” This according to daddy was your best shot at getting the attention of the ducks that just flew straight by without even looking down. He called it “Last Chance” and I called it his “Desperation Call,” which was to me the strangest of all. It really didn’t even sound like a duck call it was more like a cussing call!


    The bottom line was this when my father took aimed he only miss few. Since I was the fetcher most of the time I was always on “ready go!” As my father got older we use to go to Lake Mayer to feed the ducks. All I could think about was how much trouble we both would be in if only these ducks knew the real story.


    Quack Quack!


    Thanks for reading! Captain Judy