An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

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Southern Sportsman
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An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by Southern Sportsman »

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The man on the left is my Uncle Jerry. My great uncle technically. He’s 91 and I personally watched him stand up, draw down on, and smash several ducks this year. I've seen him do the same a thousand times before. He’s been killing ducks in West Tennessee for the past eight decades and did it with unwavering proficiency for the great majority of his life. This picture is from a few weeks ago. He and my cousin (his grandson) hunted by themselves and killed a full limit by lunch. Uncle Jerry held his own. He always does. My granddad didn’t hunt, so Uncle Jerry was the one who took my dad hunting as a kid. My dad fell in love with it and in turn took me. So I’ve always felt greatly indebted to Uncle Jerry.

When I was in high school 15 years ago, Uncle Jerry lost his duck call lanyard and all of his bands while hunting. He didn’t have a lot of bands, especially compared to the number of ducks he’d killed, but they were all cherished. We looked forever hoping to find them. Even in the years after they were lost we looked in the mud around the blind and boat dock but they never turned up. He was hunting in the river bottoms. It floods every time the Obion River gets over 30’ which happens several times every year. In the winter we catch the river water to hunt. In the spring and summer on dry years we disc and plant several acres of it. Every year we bushhog it. After a couple years of that cycle, it was acceped that we wouldn’t find Uncle Jerry’s lanyard. He replaced his call, has added a few new bands since then, and his son ordered replicas for the ones he lost. But there’s something special about the real thing.

Today my cousin (pictured above) was hunting the same area. There’s a fair amout of grass around the blind this year and it’s shallow enough to drag the prop in places, so it’s pretty common that you’ll need to raise the prop out of the water, pull off grass that binds up, and continue on your way. My cousin raised the prop and began this process, but mixed in among the grass and mud he pulled out of the prop was an old nylon lanyard with a few weathered bands on it. The old wooden Yentzen duck call long since gone.

He doesn’t remember when they were lost; he was 6 years old at the time and he’s now a senior in college. But my cousin had the unique honor of washing the mud off those old bands, getting back in the blind, and handing them to his 91 year old grandfather who happened to be hunting with him today. One day all too soon they will be family heirlooms, but Uncle Jerry got to see them returned.

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Last edited by Southern Sportsman on January 19th, 2019, 12:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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jryser
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by jryser »

That is unreal! Thank u for sharing that.


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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by Hoobilly »

Oh man how awesome is that!!!!!!! Amazing that they were found! one very cool post! Are you on the refuge forums?? they would love to read this story
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by Southern Sportsman »

hoobilly wrote: January 19th, 2019, 12:09 am Oh man how awesome is that!!!!!!! Amazing that they were found! one very cool post! Are you on the refuge forums?? they would love to read this story
I haven’t gotten on there in a long time, but I think I signed up years ago. I'll post it there.
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

Man that's amazing. Makes them bands more cherished, I truly hope you end up getting one
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by SwampDrummin »

That’s crazy.
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by spider316 »

An absolutely amazing story, great things happen to good people !
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by RapscallionVermilion »

Great story, thanks for sharing.
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by Hognutz »

How neat is that. Great story! It couldn’t have ended any better!
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by Grumpy »

:thumbup:
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by guesswho »

Wow, that's something!
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by swampchicken »

Very cool story! Congratulations on the find!
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by ncturkey »

Wow that awesome.
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by crow »

Great story, and great he is still getting out there to enjoy the hunt.
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by 202P&Y »

That's awesome!
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by Deputy 14 »

Good stuff man.
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by Cut N Run »

Very cool story! What are the chances that Jerry happened to be there when it was found?
Thanks for sharing.

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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by GLS »

For him, age is just a number and not a limitation. Thanks for sharing this. Gil
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by ncturkey »

hoobilly wrote: January 19th, 2019, 12:09 am Oh man how awesome is that!!!!!!! Amazing that they were found! one very cool post! Are you on the refuge forums?? they would love to read this story
is that the Duck Hunter’ Refuge?
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by Hoobilly »

ncturkey wrote: January 20th, 2019, 8:55 am
hoobilly wrote: January 19th, 2019, 12:09 am Oh man how awesome is that!!!!!!! Amazing that they were found! one very cool post! Are you on the refuge forums?? they would love to read this story
is that the Duck Hunter’ Refuge?
Yessir
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by chipper »

Awesome stuff right there!
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Re: An Old Man’s Duck Call Lanyard

Post by misfire »

WOW!!! Great story and even better to see those reunited.
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