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Nash Buckingham wrote the article about "are we hunting with 8 gauge guns?" or similar title as well. The largest shot load I ever put through my 10 was 1-3/4 ounces, with the exception of a lead turkey load that was 2-1/4. I wish we could go back to the days where a 1 or 1-1/4 ounce lead load...

It's funny because I hunted with a guy in Oklahoma several years ago who was tied in with them when they were just starting out. I wish I'd bought a few calls as a flier, like you say. Hard to know which ones will take off and which are just there.

I guess I haven't bought one yet, so I can't speak to them, but if your assessment is correct, then it won't do anything well. I'm just a traditionalist. Give me a good call with low to medium volume that I can get high end, no break on a highball, a good rolling chuckle, and some low end...

I've never blown one of their calls, but have heard some good things about them.

I hear ya. I can blow a cutdown, but it seems counter-intuitive because it's just bark, and relatively few notes....probably closer to a live duck, honestly. The volume on one just seems like it would be more prone to flare them, but I also remember some of the big Olt 66's that my Dad used to...

I don't know for sure, but down here it wouldn't surprise me if it's 50% or more. Cutdowns were kind of a cult thing, and then a couple guys here in Benton made a molded plastic call that is a replica of a cutdown keyhole Olt. To me, that started the resurgence; Kirk McCullough had been...

It's been a long time since I hunted pheasants in Iowa. Before Daven-dorf expanded so much, it wasn't unusual to see pheasants sitting on the farm fences along the highway in the spring. I know it sounds weird, but that used to be my gauge of whether or not the trout trip was going to be a...

I don’t get the Olt thing, but it’s a thing. There are so many people who blow cutdown variations down here now. It’s almost cliche at this point. I have a couple of takeoffs just for the novelty, but I don’t blow them. And the material of the original keyholes has an effective life, even if...

Yes, I’ve heard about it. They plan to spread the manure on some pasture, but there is so much of it, they can’t guarantee it won’t leach through the soils into the aquifers and affect the springs that feed at least a couple of the better streams in Iowa. As you’ve pointed out, at least one of...

The sad thing is that the Driftless, like a lot of the rest of the sporting world, isn't what it used to be. When we first started fishing it, it was one of those "word of mouth" kind of places. If someone liked you enough to take you there and tell you about those streams, you kept your mouth...

Yeah, Weedman's acrylic calls were called "candy stick" calls back in the day. They were so oddball looking, and I can't ever remember seeing anyone buy them. If I remember, I blew a couple as a kid and they weren't very good, so I never took them seriously, but now I wish I'd bought 100 of...

I was in the Driftless Angler this past August. Nice shop, if that's the one.

From the Wisco side of the Driftless

You are talking about some of my old stomping grounds now… Used to fish Spring Branch regularly and even got to play net handler for the DNR on a shocking survey there when I was 16/17….some of the fish they rolled out from the bank hides were unreal. Caught my first trout on a fly on Waterloo...

Steve, More good input…I love this site for this very reason. Thanks for adding to this! Edit to add: I have a couple of Eastern Cottonwood planks that have been air dried for several years, but I haven’t made anything out of them yet. Thick enough for head stock, but that’s about it. The...

I’ve had tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) ripple on me like that. For as amazing as it can be, sometimes it gets some oddball grain and/or a big difference in the hardness of the growth rings. Thanks for adding to the discussion! This is great stuff.

What do you use for the tails?

I know it's illegal, but man...I would love to lay out in a battery with 300-400 decoys around....