Looking Ahead to 2018-2019...

[aunt betty]

Have dissected a few duck throats to see what a "real" duck call looks like.
Still can't figure out how they work but it sure is an odd looking "device".

[SpinnerMan]

Have dissected a few duck throats to see what a "real" duck call looks like.
Still can't figure out how they work but it sure is an odd looking "device".

For some reason that made me think of when I was maybe 8, my grandfather got a domestic goose from somewhere and we were going to eat him. My Dad held him and my Pap chopped his head off or vice versa. About the time his head hit the ground he started honking. It was both funny and disturbing to watch the headless goose honk repeatedly.

[Rick]

They did a video on them yesterday saying they were as close to the first few DC’s as they could get.

Now, where have I heard that before... When it comes to milking the call market, Stephens is the king.

But the thing that struck me in the video is how darn near frail Jim looks. Had a long phone conversation with him a couple months ago that seemed to cover most anything and everything except his health, which I sure hope is alright.

[Ericdc]

Rick he’s fine, he did a post on Facebook explaining that he was too heavy and needed to get into better shape.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rick]

Good to know.

[Rick]

For some reason that made me think of when I was maybe 8, my grandfather got a domestic goose from somewhere and we were going to eat him. My Dad held him and my Pap chopped his head off or vice versa. About the time his head hit the ground he started honking. It was both funny and disturbing to watch the headless goose honk repeatedly.

Sweet Chereaux has a thing for stewing fresh yard birds, and when the grandkids were tiny their excitement over "chicken choppin's" was downright Adam's Familyish.

[Ericdc]

Good to know.

https://www.facebook.com/latendressemed ... 2748498544

Real good write up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darren]

They did a video on them yesterday saying they were as close to the first few DC’s as they could get.

But the thing that struck me in the video is how darn near frail Jim looks. Had a long phone conversation with him a couple months ago that seemed to cover most anything and everything except his health, which I sure hope is alright.

I thought the same, he seemed frail compared to his usual figure I've known of. Was hoping it wasn't something bad

glad to hear he's ok and just taking some initiative on his long term ability to chase birds

[SpinnerMan]

For some reason that made me think of when I was maybe 8, my grandfather got a domestic goose from somewhere and we were going to eat him. My Dad held him and my Pap chopped his head off or vice versa. About the time his head hit the ground he started honking. It was both funny and disturbing to watch the headless goose honk repeatedly.

Sweet Chereaux has a thing for stewing fresh yard birds, and when the grandkids were tiny their excitement over "chicken choppin's" was downright Adam's Familyish.

I loved when we butchered pigs as a kid, but that was because it was a big party with good food. But pigs are freaking scary when they have tasted the blood of their previously fallen comrades. My grandfather would raise about a dozen for all the family and friends that wanted.

We didn't do many chickens as a kid. The one time I remember doing about a dozen when I was little. They hung them on the clothes line. Chop, hang and let them flop. It was quite the gruesome assembly line. But they didn't flop or run around on the ground. Sometimes they really do run around with their head chopped off if you let them.

[Rick]

Beat me to it! I was just about to suggest the same thing. I heard a sound file over on Instagram today and it sounded a little deeper and raspier than my 40th anniversary. Almost had a cutdown bark to it.

My half-scroll era DC was what Jim called "one of the good ones" at the time and had a tone I can best describe as not just extra raspy but harsh. I called it "the Janis Joplin of Susies," and thought it would be the bomb on birds. Until a MVP I got at the same time, and didn't expect to see nearly as much use, repeatedly smoked it in the field. After a few seasons of carrying both, that DC was largely relegated to practice, because practice running it well made the calls I hunted with seem just that much more nimble, and occasional field trips "just to see," because I couldn't get over the notion that it should be killer.

Anyway, that DC was quite limited in terms of tonal range and, to the current point, air-locked on quiet clucks and chucks, drove like a dump truck and was fussy about any little speck of trash on its toneboard. And I'd guess that even with CNCing, there were too many that weren't just on the operational edge but fell over it. Hence, the later modifications to tame it - too much in terms of tone for some tastes, which, as the video pointed out, sparked the "close as we could get it" movement.

The 40th I had was, in fact, somewhat closer than the "close as we can get it" replacement insert they made for me when I broke mine's cork tab. And definitely closer than a DC I bought on the extra cheap from a year earlier than the 40th run, which was quite nimble and raspy, just not as raspy as the 40th.

But if I ever find out where this latest "close as we can get it run" stands, it'll have to be on someone else's dime. (Which isn't to say I haven't put that cheap recent generation DC I still have to the emery cloth and put more curve in its toneboard, "just to see.")

[Rick]

https://www.facebook.com/latendressemed ... 2748498544

Real good write up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, Eric. I'm still a little surprised it didn't come up when we talked, probably didn't want to seem like he was bragging about getting thin while I'm getting fatter.

[Ericdc]

They did a video on them yesterday saying they were as close to the first few DC’s as they could get.

Now, where have I heard that before... When it comes to milking the call market, Stephens is the king.

But the thing that struck me in the video is how darn near frail Jim looks. Had a long phone conversation with him a couple months ago that seemed to cover most anything and everything except his health, which I sure hope is alright.

Yes, they have done really well in the marketing dept. the small batch calls last year and the 40ths in 2016 were big hits.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[aunt betty]

Worked at Plastipak Packing Inc.
The giant blue building at the intersection of I57 and I72.

One of my "buddies" there was a farmer who came there to goof off and weld stuff whenever it needed it.
He was a fine welder. One day just before Turkey-day he was griping about how he was having trouble selling em all. He'd raised a few hundred from poults if that's the right word. So I said I'd buy a younger one andn try to pick one that's around 12 pounds plz.
He shows up with a live turkey in a cage so huge that it's chest drug the ground. It had callous on his chest. lol
Yuge bird probably 20-22 pounds.

I tied a rope around it's neck and tied it to a tree by the chopping log. Another short rope around the feet for the wife to pull on.
Get it's neck over the log honey...wack wack wack. Took three chops oh God.

It was tasty, We named it Wayne after the guy who sold it to us.

[Rick]

I loved when we butchered pigs as a kid, but that was because it was a big party with good food. But pigs are freaking scary when they have tasted the blood of their previously fallen comrades. My grandfather would raise about a dozen for all the family and friends that wanted.

Was a family affair on my mom's side, too. Grandpa always made a point of having one of we kids shoot the steer or hog (after which he always did the sticking to bleed with a genuine double-edged "pig sticker"), and a cousin likely dizzied from sneaking some chew that morning made an indelible memory by flinching on a pig, sending it spinning around the pen squealing like I nothing I'd ever heard or hope to again, and spraying that chaos with, likely Red Horse scented, projectile vomiting.

[aunt betty]

Rick's version of the Deliverance movie sounds better.
Squeal like a pig boy...
Projectile vomiting commencing. lol

[SpinnerMan]

I loved when we butchered pigs as a kid, but that was because it was a big party with good food. But pigs are freaking scary when they have tasted the blood of their previously fallen comrades. My grandfather would raise about a dozen for all the family and friends that wanted.

Was a family affair on my mom's side, too. Grandpa always made a point of having one of we kids shoot the steer or hog (after which he always did the sticking to bleed with a genuine double-edged "pig sticker"), and a cousin likely dizzied from sneaking some chew that morning made an indelible memory by flinching on a pig, sending it spinning around the pen squealing like I nothing I'd ever heard or hope to again, and spraying that chaos with, likely Red Horse scented, projectile vomiting.

Only excitement on that front we had was with a steer. My grandfather shot him in the forehead where he always did. The steer just stood there and looked at all of us. Then turned around and ran to the middle of the pasture and just stood there. Everybody was like OK, what just happened and what the fuck do we do now. Fortunately, not for the story, after all the women hustled all the kids into the house, my grandfather was able to walk up to the steer and this time he dropped immediately as ever other one had.

I didn't think about it until now, but I recently inherited the steer killing rifle. It was also my grandfathers poaching rifle. It was his favorite gun. My father got it after my grandfather passed. And it's now mine. Will be picking it up this week from my brother that has been hanging onto the guns I inherited from my Dad.

[Rick]

In our family it was an octagon-barreled lever action Marlin .22 that went to my uncle Gifford, aka: Robert after he got his PhD. He's passed now, too, so I hope his son has it.

Cute, at least to me, hillbilly story about Giff. Went to work for Anheuser-Busch trying to feed the world on yeast, which didn't work out, so on to their Eagle Brand snack stuff for a while. Lived in an affluent suburb and kept a springer spaniel kenneled in the yard, where it barked at squirrels. So he bought a live trap thinking he'd transplant them to the country, but being a WVa country boy raised on them, just couldn't bear to let them go. Eventually became the neighborhood nuisance squirrel trapper, "releasing" all they could eat.

[DComeaux]

So no one on here runs lares,RM custom calls,Echo,riceland's new duck call? All RNT ?

I know Rick runs a Stanley deceiver as well as his custom RNT and has auditioned most of what I mentioned above

I have a Lares I'll sell you real cheap.

[Ericdc]

I have 3 RNT’s

An 09 or 10 model daisy cutter ( that’s mostly retired now in favor of the 40th DC I bought at Rogers back in December)

Also have a 40th short barrel which is my favorite.

Only other duck call I have on lanyard is a duck commander whistle.

I blew DC and Haydel double reeds until moving to northeast LA and getting exposed to the higher end single reeds.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ericdc]

The cut downs are tough in a pit, couple of my guys have them and they can ring in a pit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ericdc]

I do have a cutdown keyhole olt that was a gift, and I haven’t ever hunted with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rick]

I'd always been underwhelmed by cut-downs and Olts in particular until I heard this guy "bark" on a Mondo:



and thought it might be just the longer-than-MVP-range ticket I was looking for. So I bought three makes: a Mondo like his and the two then current internet favorites, Black Ops and Rolling Thunder. Practiced with all three until I was beyond blue before settling on a self tuning of the Mondo - then ran into the Catch 22 of long distance duck calling: the harder they are to break in the first place, the harder you'll usually need to stay on them to break the draw of wherever they were headed and keep them coming. And I lacked the wind to do that without changing my air presentation.

What turned the trick for me was changing the beginning of each note from a low-tongued "whack" or "ack" to a tongue-gated "dak". Doing so built enough pressure behind my tongue to make getting a cut-down's thicker reed moving much easier.

And with that rub behind me I experimented on birds with that cut-down between and during three seasons before giving up on its effectiveness on game. Certainly not saying it wouldn't call birds, just didn't show me anything special.

But along those same lines, I ran a Lares standard bore T-1 periodically for a season and failed to find its "special" button, either. In fact, in contrast to John, I've yet to find a really raspy call I think compares favorably to a more crisp and clean one over any extended period of comparison. Same with low pitched calls, know some guys love and do well with them, but I've generally gained more leverage with higher pitched calls. (And have an easier lowering pitch through air presentation than raising it.)

Next year's "experimental call" will be my old over-bored MVP with a shorter/higher-pitched reed than I've been running in it. Anxious to see what bringing it's pitch more in line with that of my everyday MVP and the Stanley Deceiver that did so well on the super far stuff last year does for that old call. Might be I've been having the blue ribbon winner for 13 or 14 years without knowing it...

Re: RMs, John, I had a CWF that Ronnie said got extra attention because of where it was going, and I found it pretty much just OK - unless I tried to run it with the toneboard in an unfavorable orientation. In which case it was crap. I sent it back to him and got word that he and another "accomplished caller" found it fine as was. (But I've also heard from others who've had the same issue with them.) Anyway, the ducks I ran it on seemed to think it "just OK," too, and gave me no reason to put up with having to worry about which way the call was oriented.

Re: Riceland, a SIL gave me an early double reed I couldn't learn to like. Haven't tried anything remotely current, duck or speck. (And, "in the interest of full disclosure," have modified the toneboards of the Riceland speck calls I use.)

[Ericdc]

I’ve seen them break a few high bunches or get a response a tough really windy days, but I think they are made for the trees. I like a loud call, but I think they can be too much on working birds in a field.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk