Late-season duck calling tips

As many manufacturing processes trend toward computerized, assembly-line production techniques, there are still some things best done the old-fashioned way — like Faulk’s Game Calls.

With roots dating back to the 1930s, the Faulk family has been handcrafting wooden duck and goose calls for the better part of a century in Lake Charles.

Clarence “Patin” Faulk founded Faulk’s Game Calls as a hunter and trapper in the Big Lake area, handcrafting calls from his home, with his son Dud picking up the craft and taking the business on the road in the 1950s to spread the name.

Today the longtime Southwest Louisiana call-making tradition is carried on by Dud’s grandson. A native of Lafayette, Canaan Heard has the waterfowling bug just as his grandfather and great-grandfather had before him — and he has the call-making skills to match.

As we hit the home stretch of the Louisiana waterfowl seasons, Heard offered his Top 3 tips when heading out to chase late-season ducks.

1. Don’t call if you don’t have to. If the decoys are doing their job and birds are coming in, stay off the call. Focus on putting out the best decoys you’ve got, and let them do the talking.

2. Don’t blow long hail calls. It’s not a contest out there. A few quacks strung together and a feeding call will work just fine. Pay attention to how the birds are reacting and adjust accordingly. Less is definitely more at this point in the season.

3. If the ducks are circling and appear interested, keep calling to a minimum — if at all. When you do call, try working in alternative species calls like a wigeon or pintail whistle, or a mallard drake — anything but the usual mallard hen quack they’ve heard for the last two months.

For more information on the full line of Faulk’s calls, visit www.faulkcalls.com.

About Darren Digby 69 Articles
Darren Digby has been hunting and fishing the marshes of Southeast Louisiana since childhood. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife Ella.