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Show r IB THE GREEN SHEET Thursday, Septemoer 17, 1987 Beckoning Waterfowl Requires A Very Special Knack bv Paula Huff Green Sheet Staff Writer Duck calls are just like reed instruments; they take a lot of lung, MURRAY. Most people think duck calls are like kazoos they expect to - pick them up and immediately start beckoning waterfowl. But Tom Aldrich knows different. It took him three years to learn the art of duck calling. l. iv' tongue and diaphragm control, he said. Most people just cant understand how to work them. But the Murray resident knows more about duck calling than technique. He is a master craftsman at making the waterfowl calls. While living in Colosa, Calif. v Aldrich became interested in making duck calls because he wasnt satisfied with commercial products. There was an old guy there who had a reputation for building his own duck calls, said Aldrich, waterfowl coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources. My neighbor had one of his calls so I pulled it apart and got a general idea about how it was built. Another friend had a wood lathe, which I used to make the call. I spent about three or four days making that first call, he said. Aldrich still wasnt satisfied with the call, so over the next five years he perfected it. Now he can make a call in less than four hours. While commercial calls are usually made of plastic, Aldrich goes to the trouble of building his from coco-bol- o wood, an exotic tree grown in Central America. The wood is extremely dense - so dense it wont float in water - and waxy. Its important that duck calls be made COCO-BOL- Learning to blow a duck call is more difficult than playing a reed instrument, according to Tom Aldrich. But beckoning ducks with the call is the most rewarding part of hunting, he said. It took Aldrich three years to learn the art of duck calling. CALLING DUCKS . . three hours . from waxy wood because youre usually going to be out when the weather is bad and because youre usually putting saliva through them the whole time, he said. Dense wood is important for tonal quality. Aldrich uses a traditional keg and barrel design for his duck calls. The barrel fits around the keg, which holds the reed. And the reed is made of brass. Brass reeds were very traditional in the first duck calls, he said. Duck hunters use to hunt in large areas so they needed a loud and raspy caller. More recently, duck hunters hunt in smaller areas. But the traditional design is still more appealing to me. Aldrichs calls are made for beckoning Mallards, but can also be used for Pintails and Green Winged Teal. And using the one call, he can imitate the three basic noises ducks make. A chuckle is the feeding call, which is the easiest one to learn, ... It takes Aldrich about to make a complete custom crafted duck caller from cocol-bol- Cant you read these signs o wood. Aldrich said. The hen will also use this call to entice the drake to keep other males away from her This call is used when the ducks are very close, said Aldrich The hale call is used when ducks are quite a distance away, Aldrich said. This is usually used as a contact call. The lonesome hen call is used by hens when they are seeking a drake It is also used to call ducks closer Its quite an art to learn how to call ducks, but it is the most pleasurable part of hunting them.he said. And Aldrichs garage will attest to the pleasure he finds in duck hunting. Its lined with hundreds of decoys along with several shotgun shell reloaders. Aldrichs enthusiasm for duck hunting also puts many waterfowl on the dinner table. But unlike most families, the Aldrich clan delights m duck dinner. Ducks are without a doubt the ON THE LATHE . . . Aldrich shapes wood for a a piece of coco-bolduck call. It takes him about IS o UhOh CALL BEFORE YOU DIG. GOT HIM IT WILL PROBABLY COST YOU MORE MONEY NOW IS THE TIME TO SCHEDULE ANY PRUNING OR TREE SERVICE OR GENERAL FALL HOME - CALL 561-165- 2 CLEAN-U- P FOR YOUR NOW, BEFORE THE RUSH, AND WE WILL COME TO YOUR HOME TO GIVE YOU A FREE ESTIMATE ON WHATEVER JOB YOU NEED DONE. PRUNINGTREE SERVICE LANDSCAPING SPRINKLER INSTALLATION GENERAL FALL Something as simple as that little lawn project could turn out to be a real problem for you and your neighborhood. Avoid the problem, call us before you dig. There are miles of telephone cables, as well as gas, electric, and cable TV lines buried all over. A quick call at least 48 hours before you start digging will get someone out to your place, at no charge, to mark the location of underground utility cables. This could help you avoid injury, service disruptions and the possibility of big repair charges for damaged underground utility cables. Check the Customer Guide of your Mountain Bell White Pages Telephone Directory for the Buried Cable Location Service number. Remember, to avoid a big Uh...Oh..., call before you dig. CLEAN-U- P Mountain Bell (SAUL A US WEST COMPANY Answers; best wildlue filet migii' n he said .11 the can't v.oi id (or eating -even tome close, Of course, the secret comes in the eookiip, he added Although Aldrich's duck call has gone thiough several evolutions, the cycle is not complete. He is now attempting to make a goose call The call would imitate a Canadian goose People that hunt geese in Utah are like the people that hunt duck in Colosa - they are really into it Aldrich's custom calls sell for $50 each And all proceeds go toward duck hunting and filet mignon-likdinners. e DONT NEEDS bring cash when you advertise m classified TAKE THE chill off the morning with a heater vou found in classified. BOO-TIFU- L THINGS happen when you run an ad in classified. Call 262-668- minutes to make the barrel from dense, waxy wood |