RetrieverTraining.Net - the RTF banner

Duck Commander Products (GDG)

7.7K views 30 replies 22 participants last post by  ADB391  
#1 ·
Okay, let's keep it clean and honest.
Ive been out of the duck hunting scene for a good ten years or more. Back then Duck Commander calls were not all the range, but were great calls. I used to love the videos too. Now, with the whole Duck Dynasty thing, I am hesitant to purchase them. I am quite the opposite of a band wagon jumper or fad follower. When I go to the stores, all I see are Duck Commander Calls, Duck Dynasty this Duck Dynasty that. It's all up in your face. So I wonder. are their hunting products still worth anything or has fame taken it's toll and killed the quality and value of them? Honest response please. And again, let's keep it clean. I'd actually like to buy some new calls and normally wouldn't hesitate on DC, I just hope they're still good and that I'm not gonna look like a fad junky.

(And yes, I'm typing this while watching Duck Commander: Before The Dynasty)
 
#3 ·
they make a good inexpensive duck call, easy to use,and if you misplace it or the dog chews it, or your son's mama takes it away because its giving her a migraine, its easily replaceable...

They used to endorse Browning shotguns,then Benelli, now its Mossberg...they should have stopped at Browning

Still a fan of the show, its amusing and mindless entertainment
 
#4 ·
They still make a decent sounding call for the money. Their Teal call is the best out there as is their wood duck. For a mallard, their 1972 series is a excellent double reed for the money. Also, a better"cheaper" call I think is a Echo Polly Timber. I blow a Echo acrylic Timber, but do like my DC 1972 Burnt hedge.
 
#6 ·
For a low end call I would choose them over some of the other brands. I'm pretty fond of my Insane Custom Calls but i will say you get a little more nervous carrying something like that through the swamp versus a cheap replaceable call.

I was in a bind last season when my waders tore during a hunt. We were leaving for the camp in Louisiana that evening. After checking all the local stores, bass pro shops was the only place with my size and you guessed it, they were duck commander brand. I'll have to say, for the money they aren't a bad backup pair to keep around.
 
#9 ·
I bought thier wood duck call, I tried all the ones that Bass Pro had available and thier call sounded the best to me, plus it was realtively inexpensive, I bought it because I liked the sound not because it was a "Duck COmmander" call. I think the pimos classic wood duck call sounds good too.
 
#10 ·
I bought thier wood duck call, I tried all the ones that Bass Pro had available and thier call sounded the best to me, plus it was realtively inexpensive, I bought it because I liked the sound not because it was a "Duck COmmander" call. I think the pimos classic wood duck call sounds good too.
Me too....and it is on my lanyard with some modifications to the inners. :)
 
#11 ·
I have there wood duck call and I actually like it a lot. I never pay a lot for wood duck call and it is as goos as any other. Same with the teal. For the guns they sponsor and UA they seem like good products. but they really have nothing to do with them. Just sold there name to the companies. I have never shot the DC version of the Mossberg but in general they make a good low end duck gun.
 
#12 ·
I'm a fan of the show and was when there was just the Duck Commander shows. I'm also a fan of their teal and wood duck call. My go to call though is a daisy cutter. My wife has finally decided to start hunting with me and needed a shotgun, after all the ones we tried, she liked the Mossberg 930 and it was the DC model. I can't fault them for being famous and selling their name to companies willing to pay for it. I'd do the same as would many others.
 
#13 ·
Back in the early 90s I saw either in an ad somewhere or a catalog something on their mallard drake call--the green plastic one. I ordered one and tried to blow it and all it sounded like was a whistle. This was before the internet so I wrote them a letter stating that I thought the thing was a POS. A couple of days later Phil Robertson called me up to teach me how to use it and spent an hour with me on the phone until he was satisfied with my ability to use the thing. I still have that thing and it sometimes is just the ticket but I was always impressed with what a nice guy Phil was. I never watch the show though.
 
#19 ·
"Green dynamite," he called it. There for a while it seemed like every other hunter through our camp door tried to give me one, but I could do the same, worthless to me, drake calls on any whistle.

Robertson was good to me, too, in the "way back when..." he was still worried about the first video paying for itself. Fixed me up with a second Cutdown Reacher (and a fist full of reeds to experiment with) after the CR had been pulled from their first market appearance for poor sales, and my hunters shot thousands of birds over them before I moved on to something else. Their wood duck call remains the best I've tried. (Wasn't a fan of the teal, even after trying a second because folks kept raving about them.) And a few years back I gave a young grandson an old wooden Commander I found in a drawer. and he could have called ducks with it that day. Super easy call to get ducky on.

But I'm useless as reference on their current production. Sorry.
 
#14 ·
I liked my duck commander calls - I started using them in the 1990's and I like them better than my old man's Faulks so I kept with them - I had a bunch - original commander, cut down magnum and ole raspy - before and I killed lots of ducks - never could justify paying more than $50 for a call and still can't -
 
#15 ·
I have really enjoyed their specialty calls (Wood Duck, Teal, and Gadwall), with my favorite being wood duck call. I have always heard people say you can't call a wood duck, well after learning to use this call I beg to differ. They seem to work and sound very good. As for their other calls I have never used or heard any of them.
 
#21 · (Edited)
I've been duck hunting pretty hard these past few years. I've seen it all. From $15 plastic,
to $200 Acrylic. Best I can tell, most folks dropping $100 plus on calls isn't b/c it sounds (more)
like a duck than a $30 poly carbonate call. It's b/c they want to and the calls look cool.

That is a fact. More expensive does not equate to more realistic sounding.
Plus half the time most of the folks I see while guiding duck hunts have little experience
calling Ducks anyway. Surely not enough to justify spending hundreds of dollars on calls.

With that said, I do have a couple of DC calls and a few other custom calls. We kill ducks all day using them. is it b/c of the calls themselves?...likely not. But the calls ain't scaring them away.

I find the DC Triple Threat one of the easiest most versatile calls I've ever used. It is my #1 Go To.
Mainly because I can get real high or real low and soft with it b/c of the three reeds in it.

The DC Sarge is a very Powerful call with a good raspy low end.

I also use a 6 in 1 whistle and a custom cut DC Teal call.

I probably have a dozen more calls I'll mix in there but
the Triple Threat, 6-1 Whistle and Teal call from DC stay on my lanyard.

.....my use of these products have nothing to do with the Duck Dynasty.
We've been watching the Robertson's on TV since the VHS era.
 
#23 ·
Can a $5 call call ducks? Yes. Can a DC call call ducks? Yes (especially if you dont know how to properly run a call). Are the RNT, Zink & Echo cheap poly calls better for learning how to properly call? Yes.

Does that $150 acrylic version of the zink PH2 run a hell of a lot better than the poly PH2? Absolutely. And it doesnt crack when you sit on it.

Think what you want about high end calls, but let it be known that I will pay Stump at RM Calls whatever he wants for a Gold Digger any day over having to use a DC call.
 
#27 ·
I agree.

In my opinion, the best way to view the beauty of a duck call is not with one's eyes, but with his ears.

In general, Ronquest, Cullum, Copley, Stephens, Allen, etc. would all sound a thousand times better on a $20 injection molded call from China than the vast majority of today's waterfowlers would on a high dollar custom acrylic turned in the USA.

Most all who have watched duck dynasty have heard one of the crew randomly pop an insert in a barrel and rattle off some extremely ducky sounds. While they may have pre-spotted one that's tuned just right, to enhance the sound, I'm confident that today's duck commander calls can be used to produce very ducky sounds.

P.S. the last time I was in Stuttgart on a stage I was behind the curtain sitting right next to Buck Gardner. The late Bernie Boyle got his 3rd win of the Men's world that night. It was an experience and a memory I will hold on to as long as I can.

Chris

And lots of times, the best call to make is no sound at all. Stay still, cover up, and take'em when they're finishing.