10/22/2007
Buck Gardner Calls’ 20th anniversary promotion will be featured on an upcoming segment of Outdoor News on the Men’s Outdoors & Recreation (MOR) channel.

In recognition of its 20th year in the business, Buck Gardner Calls (BGC) recently announced a Bag a Duck with Buck promotional giveaway.

Outdoor News, which like BGC is based in Memphis, TN, includes information on the promotional as part of its 30-minute weekly news show set to run on Friday, July 13. The show is broadcast weekly on Fridays at 10 p.m. (CDT) on DirecTV (channel 604) and the Dish Network (218), along with more than 25 other cable system throughout the U.S. Outdoor News made its MOR debut on March 30.

In addition to hunting and fishing news, Outdoor News presents news of note concerning wildlife and its habitat, shooters and shooting sport, dog trials and canine health, game and fish laws, federal legislation, outdoor technology news and new product reviews as well as important product recalls.

Larry Rea, BGC’s Media Director, will explain the rules and regulations for the promotion during the segment. Several of Buck Gardner Calls products will be displayed during the segment.

MOR, a division of The Media Group ( www.watchmor.com), is available to 33 million cable and satellite TV households nationwide. Each day MOR delivers 24 hours of shows. Outdoor News is patterned after regular news programs, but it features nothing but outdoors news . . . and has a new show each week. Earle Farrell is the show’s anchor.

TMG’s The Networks Group TNG is wholly a wholly owned subsidiary of TMG, formerly known as Turner Media Group, which provides interactive TV advertising, direct response programming and transactional TV networks, including Men's Outdoors & Recreation, Beauty & Fashion Channel, Healthy Living Channel, Resort and Residence, The Men's Channel, iDrive, iShop TV, America’s Preview Channel, and The Water Channel. Comprised of three divisions, The Ad Group, The Networks Group, and The iTV Group, TMG reaches an aggregate of more than 100 million homes nationwide through DIRECTV and DISH Network satellite TV and in select regional Time Warner, Bright House and other cable TV markets. Visit www.themediagroup.com, HYPERLINK "http://www.watchmor.com" www.watchmor.com.

By Larry Rea, Media Director

06/19/2007

Brady Stoppel Wins Intermediate Division at the Texas State Duck Calling Championship

His goal as a competitive duck caller is to win.

Not just here and there, but everywhere.

Whether he’s blowing a duck call at the Texas State Duck Calling Championship or the World Championships in Stuttgart, Ark., it matters little to Brady Stoppel, 15, of Russell, Kansas.

“My goal is to win every one of them,” Brady says. “Not just once, but twice. I’ve got two more years in the intermediate (calling level) and I’m hoping to go down there (Stuttgart) and win it this year and the next year after that. Then, get in the World and win that, too. That’s my main goal – to win the World and then the Champion of Champions.”

Big words, you say.

Well, Brady is the “real deal” according to those who have followed his calling career, including Buck Gardner, president of Memphis-based Buck Gardner Calls. In fact, it was Buck who helped coax Brady into competing in his first World Championship event in 2004, where Brady admits he was “shocked” to even place, much less claim third runner-up in the Junior World Championship.

In 2005, Brady won the Junior World Championship title.

“Brady is a very special youngster who happens to have a God given talent for blowing a duck call and combines that gift with a lot of hard work practicing. He is a competitor who comes to win, but knows how to behave like a gentleman when things don’t go his way,” Buck says.

And the beat goes on for Brady, who in mid-May captured top-honors in the intermediate division at the Texas State Duck Calling Championship, which was held in conjunction with the Gulf Coast Regional Duck Calling Contest, both of which are the premier sanctioned duck calling events in Texas. The competition was held near Buffalo, Texas, about midway between Dallas and Houston off I-45.

Russell, which is about 2 hours north of Wichita, has a population of about 4,500 and lies in the heart of duck hunting country. In fact, another Russell native, Wyatt Boomhower, captured the Junior World title in 2006. “Wyatt and Brady will have a great time in the future competing with each other and that rivalry will be great motivation for both of them to get better and better. Wyatt also has that special gift from God and it is going to be fun watching the two of them go at it for quite a while to come,” says Buck.

So, it’s not surprising that Brady started going duck/goose hunting with his dad, Blaine, even before he was old enough to pull the trigger on a shotgun.

By the time, Brady was 10 he’d entered his first competitive waterfowl calling contest.

“He started out with an old flute goose call and he won a contest with that,” says Brady’s dad, Blaine, who is in the construction business. “He had a good friend (Ken Walizer) that we hunt with and he was showing Brady a duck call. After Brady won the world (Junior) in 2005, we now teach a little class every Wednesday night during the school year and Brady helps out.”

Blaine says it’s not unusual for he and Brady to travel to as many contests as we they can through the year, including two or three before they head to Stuttgart for the World Championships.

“We met Buck over in Great Bend, Kansas,” Blaine says. “Buck heard Brady call a couple of times and he told him in 2004 that he needed to come down and blow in the World. ‘Buck said, ‘If you can’t find a room, I’ll take care of you.’ So, we took him up on that and Brady ended up being the third runner-up. The next year he won it (Junior World Championship).”

The Stoppels have known Buck for several years, and, in fact, spent a week hunting with him during the 2006-07 season in East Arkansas.

“We think a lot of Buck and he has been a great guy,” Blaine says. “He’s helped Brady out a lot. We’ve had a lot of fun together.”

Buck and Blaine agree that Brady’s talents are “God-given.”

“That’s what my dad is always saying,” Brady says with a laugh. “When I first met Buck it was at a show in Grand Bend (Kansas). I had a cheap (duck call). I was looking for one that had a little more volume. Me and Buck got to talking and I kept calling him and getting more and more tips. He has really helped me.”

Buck’s even planted a seed in what could become a career-changing decision for Brady.

“Like I said, my main goals are to win the World Championship and the Champion of Champions, like Buck did, and then retire and then get into the (call) business.”

05/01/2007

At 52, Joe Bradshaw calls himself a “dumb old hillbilly.”
That’s “hillbilly” as in smart enough to have spent a lifetime hunting one critter after another over the hills and hollers of the rugged and beautiful landscape near his home in Ozark, Ark., which, we might add, is an appropriate name for the home of this born to hunt retired Arkansas State Trooper.
It’s also why Bradshaw is proud to be a member of Memphis. Tenn.-based Buck Gardner Calls’ pro staff and involved with some of the company’s hottest new products.
“I am very honored to work with Buck in the design and development of a line of exceptional predator calls, and look forward to the challenge,” said Bradshaw, who is married (33 years) with three children, two boys (ages 26 and 22) and a girl (age 21).
Hunting, for sure, comes naturally for Bradshaw.
You name it, he’s probably hunted it.
His hunting list includes ducks, geese, deer, turkey, small game, quail and dove.
In the last few years, Bradshaw has added predator hunting to his resume “in a big way.”
Almost, he said with a laugh, “to the exclusion of other forms of hunting.”
So much so that his passions are now coyotes and bobcats.
Bradshaw was involved in the design and creative of Buck Gardner Calls’ new Distressed Rabbit predator calls, which come in four unique sounds, including the super loud coaxer, raspy cotton jack and 2 Fur. We’re talking about calls capable of long-range calling rabbit screams, along with rodent coaxer/squeaker for close-in calling. All four calls come with a 100 percent lifetime warranty and easy to follow instructions on how to use them. The suggested retail prices range from $9.99 to $12.99.
Also new on the market for 2007 from BGC is Buck’s Yellow Ghost and Buck’s Grandslam slate calls. Both have suggested retail prices of $24.99. The Grandslam features a slate surface with maple striker, creating that perfect wide range of sounds from high pitched yelps to soft clucks. As for the Yellow Ghost, it features a double glass surface and rosewood striker capable of producing loud, high-pitched calls and unbelievable realistic hen talk.
Just the kind of stuff, Bradshaw loves to hear.
“Being retired allows met to spend many days afield each year and I appreciate each and every one of them,” Bradshaw said. “I find it (predator hunting) to be the most challenging and satisfying hunting I have ever experienced.”
Bradshaw is also a custom predator call builder/designer and owner of Arkyyoter Game Calls, www.arkyyoter.net. He’s also co-owner of KO Predator Solutions.
“I started making calls as a hobby in my shop, a huge barn behind the house,” Bradshaw said. “I have been told I was born with a gun in my hand. I have hunted and fished all my life. I have always been an outdoorsy kind of guy and enjoyed everything from camping to hiking and fishing.”

It didn't take long after his career ended as an Arkansas State Trooper to realize he needed to acquire some new hobbies to keep myself busy.
“At first I started building things with wood, refinishing antique furniture and making some small furniture pieces,” Bradshaw said. “As it became easier and easier to handle the wood and machines, I thought I would combine one of my loves, hunting, and my newly acquired wood-handling skills. Soon a call business was born.”
As for his association with Buck Gardner Calls, Bradshaw said, “I am excited about seeing the sport (predator hunting) grow and assisting others in their quest to become more successful in all aspects of calling predators.”

03/04/2007

Of course, Shawn Stahl is excited about not only being a part of the Buck Gardner Calls team, but also the newest member of the Avery, Greenhead Gear and BGC team.
“I worked for them (Avery) a few years ago and then went off and did my own video stuff,” said Shawn, 37, who has won more than 25 goose calling titles, including the 2000 World Goose Calling Championship and the 2002 World Team Goose Calling Championship. “Now, it feels great to be back with them doing some sponsorship. They are a major sponsor now. They do everything from blinds to decoys to accessories. In their product lines, they make the best stuff that’s out there.”
In other words, Shawn now has “all the best products” at his finger tips, he said, as a member of one of the waterfowl industry’s most exclusive and sought after position as a member of Avery’s Team Waterfowl.
The feeling is mutual at Avery, which, like Buck Gardner Calls, is based in Memphis, TN.
“It is no secret that Shawn is among the elite when it comes to waterfowling and we are very excited about the relationship between him and Avery,” said Chad Belding of Avery. “Shawn’s videos rank among the best and we feel that the Avery and Greenhead Gear product lines will be a perfect fit for him and Fowl Pursuit.”
As for Shawn, he said, “There’s no doubt I’m blessed. To be able to do something that you really, really truly enjoy everyday is awesome, and then to be matched up with a company like Buck’s and a company like Avery. They all share the same passion and thrill of doing the same things I like to do.”
From now on, Shawn, like BGC president Buck Gardner, will use only Avery accessories and GHG decoys.
Shawn grew up in SW Michigan and still lives in Allegan, Mich., which is a town of about 3,000 to 4,000 in southwest Michigan near Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. He played sports growing up, but for the most part his after-school hours and holidays were spent hunting and fishing, starting when he was 5. At that age Shawn wasn’t allowed to carry a firearm, but he tagged along with his grandfather.
Michigan, after all, is known more for its deer hunting than waterfowl hunting.
“We have 750,000 plus deer licenses sold each year in Michigan,” Shawn said. “We’ve got roughly about 60,000 waterfowl stamps sold. So, I went deer hunting (at an early age) and back then you could only shoot one deer. I shot my deer on the second day of the season and I thought, ‘Well, now what?’ ”
Shawn’s “now what” turned out to waterfowl hunting.
Of course, it helped that there was a small pond less than a mile from his home.
That’s about the time Shawn asked his dad about going duck hunting.
“My dad had about a dozen paper machete decoys in the garage and he told me I could use them,” Shawn said.
From there, Shawn got a metal reed duck call and headed for the pond with the family dogs, a Springer and a Lab.
“I shot two wood ducks (that first trip),” Shawn said. “It was just me and my two dogs. I didn’t have any waders. It was too deep to get out there (in the water), so I’d tie the decoys to a bush and throw them out into the water. Those two wood ducks just came in and lit. They sure didn’t come in because of my calling. That’s the way I hunted for the rest of that season and the next.
I think I shot something like 4 ducks.”
By the time Shawn was 18, he no longer had the desire to deer hunt.
Waterfowl hunting had become his passion.
“Michigan isn’t a duck rich area,” Shawn said. “Saginaw Bay is like Stuttgart (Ark.) as far as nostalgia and everything, but you’ve got to drive about 4 hours to get to it.”
Goose hunting is another thing.
In fact, Shawn said he lives near a refuge, which at one time had upwards of 35,000 geese from the middle of October to the middle of November.
“To this day I live 15 minutes from there and we still hunt there,” Shawn said.
It wasn’t long after he started goose hunting that Shawn made his first decoys out of ¾ inch plywood.
“That’s all I had,” Shawn said with a laugh. “We had half a dozen sheets of plywood lying around the house. I painted them black and white with gray breasts.”
As for his goose calling abilities, Shawn credits that to growing up near a public hunting area.
“We literally hunt around the perimeter of the refuge in standing corn, and you’re separated from other groups of hunters by 25-100 yards” he said.
For his high school graduation present (1988), one of Shawn’s presents included a Ken Martin goose call. After that, Shawn started reading magazine articles and watching videos on goose hunting/calling, as there was no Internet back then.
“I wanted to be able to say I could half-way blow a goose call,” Shawn said. “Then, I got into contest calling.”
When he was blowing competitively, Shawn still lived in town on the second floor over a lawyer’s office. A Catholic priest lived on one side of him and an Episcopal Church was on the other side. The county sheriff’s office was across the street not far from the offices of the American Red Cross.
“I’d start blowing that goose call on my front porch and people would be coming to church and hear me blowing and they’d start looking in the sky for a goose,” Shawn said, excitement growing in his voice as if the story he was telling happened yesterday and not years ago. “There were many times I’d start calling and have geese circling over the house as they made their way to the river down the road.”
Shawn admits, he’s “living a dream.”
When he was “really going it at” as a competitive goose caller, it wasn’t unusual for him to be on the road 16 to 20 weekends a year. Add to that having a regular job as a manufacturing engineer for new product development for the Herman Miller Company, being married and preparing to start a family and it was a busy, busy time for Shawn.
He also started producing goose-hunting videos.
“You want to blow in a contest and prove that you can win,” he said. “But once you prove you can win – without sounding arrogant – how long do you have to stand at the top the hill beating your chest and telling everyone you can blow a goose call? There isn’t any relevance in me still competing. I know in my heart that I can blow a goose call. And in reality that’s the only reason I started blowing in competition. It was just to prove to myself that I was good as the people I’d read about. Once I did that, I was done.”
Calling contests were a challenge at one time, now the challenge has switched to developing a line of Shawn Stahl Signature Series Goose Calls for BGC, instructional CDs and, of course, DVDs. He’s also lent his expertise to refine and improve Buck Gardner Calls’ already top-self Canada Hammer Series Goose Calls.
For 2007, Shawn is producing Fowl Pursuit V in conjunction with his three-year deal with Avery. The video should be out in April, he said. He’s also doing some other things on the side, including a dog training video. With Buck Gardner Calls, Shawn said, “We’ll probably get more aggressive with some of the stuff we’re doing in the call line.”

By Larry Rea, Media Director

Chess Game Honkers

Growing up in Southern Illinois hunting 200 yards from the famous Crab Orchard Refuge, I was always fascinated at how you can force a goose to try and land 10 to 15 feet in front of your pit blind, despite a spread of nearly 1,000 decoys scattered across a 10 acre field. Most of it was calling as the honkers always seem to go to the calling 9 times out of 10. But I couldn’t help but being intrigued at how you could force a honker to a particular spot on the field despite the calling by a simple decoy pattern. Not to mention forcing him to stay 200 yards away if you don’t have your decoys out right.

You would have thought I was going to school to be an art professor the way I spent my study halls drawing out hundreds of decoys spreads on my notepad with various scenarios’s and weather conditions. But just when I thought I had found my go to spreads while hunting tree rows, and pit blinds, I moved to Kansas in 1999 to attend college and start a type of hunting I wasn’t used to by hunting in the middle of 40 to 80 acre wide open Sow Bean and Winter Wheat fields while hiding under supermag goose shells and then later layout blinds. I soon learned after trial and error that the traditional basic half moon or Nike swoosh symbol spread was the way to go as it produced success time in and time out in the field. However it didn’t take long for me to start trying something different and going with the more “natural” spreads instead of standard patterns, by mixing it up with just blobs of geese, tier dropped shape spreads, family groups spread all over, and diamond shape spreads, you name it I have tried it.

After a few years of trying to go outside the box and display these newly designed decoy spreads, I came to a conclusion on a field that had more geese in it then you could shake a stick at. The night before the hunt we estimated approximately 8,000 geese using this fresh sod field that was only 200 yards from the roost pond, we were going to film the hunt so we decided to stick to the edge of this corn patch that conveniently came out into the middle of the field. But to our luck the wind was the biggest problem it would force us to look into the sun and have our decoys in a ice covered part of the SOD verses the nice Green sod that was directly behind us, the birds had been sitting in a line and scattered all week, so I figured we would set the decoys up just how the birds were and put them in a weaving line along the edge with them scattered out in front a bit. We started out the morning killing a few birds close but with a weak 2 mph wind the geese decided they would come in backwards and land in the nice green grass. After watching about 30 minutes worth of group after group circling and not finishing the way I wanted them, and even scaring off a few hundred that pitched down about 100 yards behind us, I stood up out of my blind and explained the urge to move some decoys. My partners thought I was crazy because we had tons of birds still in the air and coming at us. I knew they wouldn’t finish if we stuck it out the way we were so we all pitched in. We moved our decoys in a hurry putting them behind us in the Sod forming a small half moon with the landing hole to the left and out front in hopes that they would come over our left shoulder and pitch in-front of the blinds we knew it could be challenging because of the fact that the wind would now be in our face, but with-in 5 minutes after the move we landed group after group and after 10 minutes we filled our 6 man limit of 18 big honkers.

People that hunt with me know they have to be on there toes and ready to follow my lead when it’s not working because I’m going to try and fix it and in a hurry. Sometimes they think I am crazy, but hunting Canada geese in my opinion is like playing chess. You put out what you think is the best decoy pattern and when you’re not executing, you have to make another move to put the odds in your favor. You just have to figure out how the birds are reacting to your spread and make a change to your advantage, sometimes this means making the wrong choice in decoy placement and having to learn from that mistake. If birds are sliding off the right side, put a wall of decoys on the right and stop them from sliding off. If they are landing out too far, bring your decoys in a bit, and last but not least if your in a situation like us in that Sod field with little to no wind and the birds want to land behind you, by all means turn around.

After that hunt I started thinking back about what changes were consistently making the difference in finishing geese and I noticed that 99 times out of 100 making a noticeable landing zone would consistently finished geese where I wanted them. This meant going back to the basic’s, hunting over the same old half moon and Nike Swoosh spread. They may be by the book, but they kill geese.

Now here is the trick to all of this, because you may be thinking “if everyone shows them a half moon decoy spread all season the geese are going to get use to it really fast”. The only thing important about a half moon spread is that the inner lining of the moon is a big opening with sides to force them in the middle of the landing hole. With that said, you can make the rest of the moon look how ever you want. I will often make my moon very deep putting the blinds at the back half, and put a few family groups branching all over the back side of the spread. Sometimes my two arms that create the hole will be 2 or 3 different family groups spaced out like they are feeding into the main spread of decoys, and incase you were wandering, I still spend hours drawing out decoy patterns on notepads.

All in all the most important lesson to take from all this is that if it isn’t working and concealment doesn’t seam to be an issue then make changes until you find what works. If it means moving the blinds and decoys 17 times, then move them 18 times just to make sure.

By Casey Self

02/28/2007

About 15 years ago, Jeff Maidens was doing what he loves best – hunting.
He was in the field watching three coyotes chasing a doe through the woods on his family’s West Virginia farm.
“It made me realize the dead deer we were finding were not necessarily being shot by poachers,” Maidens said. “We also saw a decrease in our turkey population starting around the same time.”
That’s when Maidens started reading everything he could find related to coyote hunting in the eastern U.S. When he wasn’t reading, Maidens was talking to other people who shared his passion for learning about coyotes.
Little did he realize his studies would one day lead him to become one of the Mid-South’s top authorities on coyote hunting . . . and with it a member of Memphis, Tenn.-based Buck Gardner Calls’ pro staff.
“That knowledge laid the foundation for me to become a successful predator hunter,” said Maiden, 31, who was born in Moundsville, W.Va., and now works as the customer service lead for Bass Pro Shops in Memphis. “I have hunted predators for close to 15 years and have loved every second of it.”
He also loves being a part of the Buck Gardner Calls team.
“I like being involved with Buck Gardner Calls because of their local ties in the Mid-South,” Maidens said. “Their passion for this region and the rich outdoor heritage is the driving force behind them and the best calls on the market. It’s easy to stand behind a product that is well made and works.”
Maidens is talking about Buck Gardner Calls’ new Distressed Rabbit predator calls, which come in four unique sounds, including the Super Loud Coaxer, Raspy Cotton Jack and 2 Fur.
We’re talking about calls capable of long-range calling rabbit screams, along with rodent coaxer/squeaker for close-in calling. All four calls come with a 100 percent lifetime warranty and easy to follow instructions on how to use them, suggested retail on these calls is between $9.99 and $12.99.
For Maidens, who has an architectural degree in computer aided drafting, BGC predator calls are part of his must-have field equipment.
Here are some tips that he says every predator hunter needs to remember:

-- Predators use the lay of the land and every ounce of cover that they can when they come to a call. Small ditches, thickets, fence rows, etc… are some of their favorite places to sneak in on you.

-- Predator calling is a lot like turkey calling, don’t overcall. Don’t use the same distress sound over and over day after day. If you are calling coyote, call an area once every couple of weeks at the most. The more a coyote hears a call and you miss that coyote or that coyote winds you. The less likely you are to call that coyote again. They are extremely intelligent animals… they learn from their mistakes!

-- Mix your calls up on stands… using jackrabbit / cottontail on the same stand is not uncommon. Use a lot of different calls like: woodpecker distress, fawn distress, pup distress, and even chicken distress!

-- Howling is not the “Magic Bullet” that some lead you to believe. Learn the differences in the howls and why / when the coyote uses them. This will make howling more productive.

And, lastly, one that he can’t emphasis enough:

“Watch your wind,” he said. “In fact, he believes in this so much that he usually reminds people at one of his seminars not once, but three times to “watch your wind.”

Maidens, who is married (wife, Bridget) with two children, Ricky, 8, and James 1, takes his passion for predator hunting throughout the Mid-South. In late January, he served as the guest speaker for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Predator Management & Hunting Workshop at Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center at Jonesboro.

By Larry Rea

01/31/2007

It’s one of those perfect fits: Avery, Greenhead Gear and Buck Gardner.
For one thing, they are three of the most recognized names in waterfowl hunting, Buck for his game call company as well as his Champion of Champions duck calling credentials, Avery as the #1 waterfowl hunting accessories manufacturer in the world and GHG as the #1 decoy manufacturer in the world.
Oh, did we tell you, they all happen to be based in Memphis, Tennessee?
So it was with obvious satisfaction, these well-known and respected names in the waterfowl industry recently announced a partnership with Buck, who now joins one of waterfowl hunting’s most exclusive and sought after positions as a member of Avery’s Team Waterfowl.
“I think it’s something that is going to be great,” Buck said of his involvement with Avery. “We’ll be right here in town with the guys who manufacture a big percentage of things we use to make our hunts successful. The cool thing about Avery is that the guys who run that company are all serious duck and goose hunters - they’re just like us. On the Avery side we’ll have everything from ground blinds to bags to gloves, and on the GHG side we’ll be covered with every specie and style of decoy we could ever need for any situation we might encounter. Heck, with the hunting pressure today the birds aren’t getting any easier. You have to possess all the traditional tools like a good call and the ability to use it, but now you have to hide better, and your decoys had better look like the real thing. The status quo just doesn’t cut it anymore, and between my calls and the Avery/GHG equipment we’re putting the odds back in our favor.”
If it sounds like Buck is excited, he is.
And so are the folks at Avery. Started in a garage in 1994 with the Quick-Set Waterfowl Blind, Avery has grown into a complete one-stop shop offering hundreds of duck and goose hunting products. GHG hasn’t been around quite as long, but they already have the most extensive line of decoys in the world. Using a team of nine (9) world class carvers, they have built a line consisting today of 64 different carvings which cover 25 species. Their realism speaks for itself, but innovation is at the heart of the program.
“I know all of us at Avery are excited about this partnership,” said Bill Cooksey, Avery’s director of media relations. “Our friendship with Buck goes back years and years, and a business relationship just needed to happen.”
In fact, Buck said he’d talked off and on with Avery for at least a year, but it wasn’t until about a month ago that the conversation got serious.
“We finally agreed recently that we ought to sit down and talk about it,” Buck said. “And when we did, you know what? It just makes more sense than anything we’d ever done because they (Avery) started with a boat blind and now, well, they’ve got it all, from bags, blinds and decoys to every kind of waterfowl accessory known to man.”
From now on, Buck will only use Avery accessories and GHG decoys.
All of which meant Buck had to cut accessory ties with some long-time friends.
To make things right, Buck said he met personally with one company to tell it why he was making the change.
“I don’t like to write letters or make phone calls on something like this,” Buck said. “It wasn’t something that they were crazy about, but I know they appreciated me coming and telling them face to face.”
That’s the only way Buck knows how to operate.
He’s up-front on everything, whether it’s calling ducks or dealing with business clients.
Not only is Buck joining Avery’s Team Waterfowl but so is world champion goose caller Shawn Stahl, who in 2006 joined forces with Buck Gardner Calls to develop a new line of Shawn Stahl Signature Series Goose Calls and instructional CDs and DVDs. In fact, Buck and Shawn will form one of Avery’s ultimate waterfowl team units.
Most anything Avery makes, you can expect it to show up on a Buck Gardner Calls video.
“When I put on pair of waders I’m going to have Avery ankle garters on,” Buck said with a laugh. “If it’s real cold, I’ll have on their polypropylene underwear.”
Buck also said he and his video crew will be filming a lot locally during the 2006-07 waterfowl season.
“We’re like everybody else,” he said. “We’re praying that it rains and fills up all the river bottoms.”
True to Buck’s convictions, these will not be guided hunts and all hunting will be on public land.
“Most of this year’s video will be shot in the good ol’ USA,” Buck said.
And you can be sure Buck will be utilizing Avery & GHG gear!

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