The worst call I ever heard ...

[jnicholson]

A friend I introduced to duck hunting started getting aggressive on the duck call after his second year. He was aweful. I mean really really bad.
No ducks are coming in and he's just wailing and wailing and I ask him if he has any idea how bad he sounds? I told him he doesn't even sound like a duck and of course my other friend is crying he's laughing so hard at us arguing over his calling. I tell him there is no way any ducks are going to come within a mile of his ridiculous calling. He's ruining all duck hunting in Clark County he's so bad and loud. Of course he starts calling even more and he sounds even worse. I keep telling him he doesn't sound like a duck and that he needs to record his calls and play them back to really appreciate how bad he is. He says he sounds exactly like me and continues to make ridiculous whaling noises just to irritate me. Finally he asks me if he doesn't sound like a duck, what does he sound like. I said I don't know, some kind of wounded screaming deer being run over slowly by a bulldozer or something. He blows on and on ...... then finally stops when he gets all red headed and out of air. A few minutes later we hear some crunching on the shore behind us and we peek through the stalks on the back of the blind.

Amazing .... there is a big ole momma doe stepping out in the water towards the blind! True story.

John

[lentz]

Now thats too funny!!! Point proven.

Maybe that doe was looking for a butt-out tool

[Mad Mikey]

wounded screaming deer being run over slowly by a bulldozer

Just spit beer out my ears. Great line....

[TonTo]

Sounding like an old doe that got too close to the Butt Out

Do you keep a butt out tool on your lanyard?

[Gunner]

So thats what that funny looking call on John's lanyard is, I just never got the nerve up to ask.

[Dextreme]

I had just the opposite happen to me. I was bow hunting for elk this year and I had just followed my buddy up a gravel road for about 5 miles on ATV's. I hiked in about 1/2 mile and saw a spike elk and start cow calling with my Hoochie Mamma. The call was so packed full of dust that it sounded like a duck. I honked it 3-4 times thinking it would clean out and each time it sounded more and more like a duck. The spike looked at me and probably thought "what the heck is a duck doing up here?" and walked off. LOL

[adobe wall]

Originally Posted by jnicholson

A friend I introduced to duck hunting started getting aggressive on the duck call after his second year. He was aweful. I mean really really bad.
No ducks are coming in and he's just wailing and wailing and I ask him if he has any idea how bad he sounds? I told him he doesn't even sound like a duck and of course my other friend is crying he's laughing so hard at us arguing over his calling. I tell him there is no way any ducks are going to come within a mile of his ridiculous calling. He's ruining all duck hunting in Clark County he's so bad and loud. Of course he starts calling even more and he sounds even worse. I keep telling him he doesn't sound like a duck and that he needs to record his calls and play them back to really appreciate how bad he is. He says he sounds exactly like me and continues to make ridiculous whaling noises just to irritate me. Finally he asks me if he doesn't sound like a duck, what does he sound like. I said I don't know, some kind of wounded screaming deer being run over slowly by a bulldozer or something. He blows on and on ...... then finally stops when he gets all red headed and out of air. A few minutes later we hear some crunching on the shore behind us and we peek through the stalks on the back of the blind.

Amazing .... there is a big ole momma doe stepping out in the water towards the blind! True story.

John

You guys had to have been at Shilapoo. If you want a demonstration of what not to do with a call go there or else Ridgefield and you will hear some bizarre stuff. One thing I've found though is that few people will believe they can't call or that they're bird eating dog isn't fit to have in a blind.

regards, aw

[Rank Amateur]

Sounds like you should take this guy cougar hunting John.

[Snubber]

Sounds to me like this guy could also find a second use for his call and he would have his own "Butt In Tool".

I'll never forget my dad hunting with his cousin on a rather exclusive club on Sauvie's years ago. Show up, gear is already stowed, slip into your boots, jacket, etc., etc. These were stockbrokers, doctors, etc.
Guy or man on site managing decoys and ensuring all is ready for club members and each morning's hunt.
After shooting a few ducks, my dad was sitting in the blind alone with club mgr. and both mutually agreed that the guys doing the calling could find a better place to put their calls!! The lake was so good that the birds would come in regardless of how poor they were.

This kind of situation really imposes misery or comic relief, depending upon how you view it.

[Duckwheat]

On average, I would say most guys do more harm calling than good from my experience. They tend to fall out in a few groups; call to much or just pathetic at calling. Too much Highball. The only guy that I ever seen do any good with a call was a friends dad who took me hunting for the first time. He only called if they were leaving and did not look like they were going to turn and take a second look. It would work like a charm about half the time. I have never put in the time to learn how to call well.

I have concentrated on knowing where the ducks want to be, and make sure that is where I hunt.

Use to hunt along the Arkansas River in SE Colorado for years with a good friend. Every year there was a guy that would hunt nearby and began to wail on the call. We could not stop laughing for 10-15 minutes then every time he started up again. He never improved from the first time we heard him. He would also begin to call the geese that were about 3 miles high and going somewhere. He was forever the optimist. This is over a ten year period of time. Come to think of it he is probably down there this morning.

DW

[duckboy]

I am one of the worst, but I know it.
there are some that blow and blow.

we do things like ask "Hey man, can i check out that call for a second"
then we smash it.

or we "lose" it

or we super glue the reeds.

I let my buddies do the long distance stuff,

I specialize in pinner whistles
widgeonspeak
and bluebillese

[arkansasbasser]

Some people have a hard time taking a dead serious listen at themselves. I have picked up and moved because the guy blowing a couple of hundred yards away was giving me a headache. I laugh at some of the guys on tv hunting shows that sound awful but they are in Canada on opening day and they really think that they are calling them in.
In Arkansas, hunting timber, you must sound like a duck or you will most likely go duckless. I hunted with a friend once on a tough duck day, that told his rookie tag-a-long to put his call in his pocket and "don't you even quack". We all laughed while he put is call up as his face got red.
People need to really listen and be honest with themselves. If it doesn't sound right, try something different until it does.

[gotZem]

Yep! I call it "The high School Band Syndrome"! They couldn't call a duck with a phone! Goose callers too! Those newer goose calls are very "loud"- and so are the callers! I watch those lease hunters scare the birds by "playing them a song" every time- then we get to shoot as the birds flare! Thanks guys! Shillapoop- WOW! I've hollered out "just stop calling and I'll call 'em in so we can all get a chance to shoot". Some guys never get the just of reading the birds. You call when you need to- and you better sound like a duck!!
gotZem!!!

[PIR8 Hook]

Ask sincerely if you can see his calls so you can tune the reed for him....Then either throw it up and shoot it or throw it in the water and let it sink!

This is how I was taught not to over call.....

[arkansasbasser]

" More duck and geese have been saved by the call, than harvested by the call!"