Whistle up a storm

Learn how to distinguish and imitate their calls and you will lure in the wildfowl to your gun, says Graham Downing

- Graham Downing

For as long as we humans have hunted wild duck and geese, we have used decoys and calls to attract them within range of a gun, bow or sling, or to lure them into waiting nets. Most species of wildfowl are intensely social birds. They will naturally congregate in large numbers in order to feed or roost. The belief that there are others of their kind gathered on a pond, lake or creek is enough to give passing birds the confidence at least to take a second look, if not to cup their wings, set their paddles and drop in to join the party.

So it is no surprise that the skill of being able to call duck and geese is a greatly respected one among fowlers. Stanley Duncan, the celebrated founder of the Wildfowlers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland — WAGBI, now BASC — was a master of fieldcraft and a leading exponent of the art. He would hold a wildfowlers’ meeting enthralled with his demonstrations of calling wigeon and curlew, which he did simply by whistling and with no artificial aid.

In the US, the spiritual home of duck calling, the art has been raised practically to a national obsession. There are duck calling competitions all over the country, the most celebrated of which is the World Championship Duck Calling Contest, which has taken place in Stuttgart, Arkansas, every year without exception since 1936. Victory in the championship is a surefire passport to a career in the shooting industry, while to have your call used by the champion caller is the Holy Grail sought by every manufacturer of duck calls.