~History~
I grew up hunting whitetail deer near my hometown in Illinois. I thought deer hunting was the greatest thing in the world when it came to hunting. UNTIL, a few years later I went on my first goose hunt. From that day forward I was hooked on waterfowl. Deer hunting took a back seat. We are blessed to live in an area of Illinois that is a hot stop for migrating ducks and geese. Braidwood lake and surrounding areas are known to hold upwards of 600,000 ducks and geese during peak migration. For me, its the whole experiance of the duck hunt. . you just cant beat it. The climax, however, occuring when the ducks or geese cup thier wings and they're committed. .
Before I knew it, I had quite the collection of duck and goose calls. Some were CNC'd by machine but some were true custom works of art. Done by a man in a shop. That allure really struck me. A wood turned duck call on a lathe has a soul. It sets its self apart from the rest theres no question about it! I began to study the history of call making.
My family began to take notice of my passion for calls and calling. My grandpa bought me a wood lathe. From the day I turned my first piece of wood I was hooked. Eventually, my grandpa and I began to fool around trying to make a call. He says we wrote our own book so to speak. We didnt have anything to go off besides the little bit I knew of what made a call tick. There were many frustrating moments along the way. Our first two toneboards we made didnt even make a sound (I didnt realize that was even possible to do). But we learned as we went. It took time and PATIENCE! But we improved and finally got a call to make sounds similiar to a duck. Now through trial and error, I have a duck call that is of TOP QUALITY to sell to the public. If it werent for my grandpa's exceptional intelligance and master wood working skills, it would have taken me MANY MANY years to get to where Ive gotten today.
Later on in my life, I become very interested in the calling aspect of waterfowling. I experimented with almost every brand of call on the market. Some were good and some werent. The thrill of calling to a duck or goose in the air and seeing the reaction of the bird to the call took my experiance to a whole new level.
~Committed Custom Calls~
-- THANKYOU TO ALL OF MY FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND CUSTOMERS FOR YOUR SUPPORT -- GARY