Since he was old enough to carry a gun (a BB gun), Jason Stanard has been hunting the fertile lands of the Mississippi Delta. After 23 duck seasons, he has hunted in just about every condition imaginable. From wide open bean fields to sheltered timber sloughs, large resevoirs to tiny beaver ponds. Funny, that the best memories seem to come from the times when hunting is anything but easy.

"One season a long time ago, We had so much rain that every river was out of it's banks. Everything looked like ocean as far as you could see. The ducks were so scattered, they were almost impossible to hunt. Dad had this great idea to build a floating blind on top of huge inner tubes. The plan was to easily move it to wherever the ducks wanted to be. As I remember it, the blind floated away before we even got a chance to use it! And then there were the many times that mechanical trouble forced us to walk miles in our chest waders with 10 pounds of gumbo mud stuck to each foot. Those are the kind of hunts you don't forget."

Jason's first attempt at callmaking in 1997 was crude, but functional. Using a pocket knife, a cypress knee was whittled to resemble a call barrel, then bored through with a hand drill (slightly off center). The stopper was carved from the same cypress knee and tuned using a double reed borrowed from a Duck Commander call.

"It was ugly, and it didn't sound great, but I proudly showed it off to anyone who would listen."

A second call was carved, although this time more patiently, as a Christmas gift to his father. It was this experience that convinced Jason to buy a lathe and attempt to produce top quality calls.

"I still like to do things the hard way...by hand. I fabricated all of the jigs and modified some of the hand tools that I use. Every call I make is very personal. I spend a lot of time with each one as it is turned, finished, and tuned. I sign my name to every call that leaves my shop, so naturally, I want it to be the best call I can make."