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How To Make A Duck Call Lanyard

Use parachute cord to make a duck-hunting lanyard for your waterfowl calls

A good waterfowl call lanyard has a purpose above and beyond keeping calls handy and organized. It's insurance against damage and loss—deep water and swamp mud aren't friendly to $60 duck calls. You can make a strong and comfortable lanyard in about two hours out of 100 feet of 550 parachute cord for less than $10.

Photo by Pete Sucheski

Braiding The Body

[1] Cut a length of 550 cord twice as long as the intended finished length of your lanyard. Double it over and hang it from a sturdy nail. This will be the core of the lanyard that will loop around your neck. Another piece about 90 feet in length is the knotting cord: Start with the midpoint of this piece behind the core about 4 to 6 inches below the nail (roll up each end and secure it with a rubber band so you won't have to pull 45 feet of loose cord through your loops). Create a braid by tying a series of square knots around the core: Bring the right knotting cord behind the two core strands to the left side. Take the left knotting cord and wrap it under this end of the right knotting cord, over the core strands, and through the loop created on the right side. Repeat this step but reverse which sides go over and under the core strands to complete a square knot around the core. Continue tying square knots until you reach the desired length—in this case, 40 inches.

Finishing The Lanyard And Droppers

Photo by Pete Sucheski

[2] Double the length of braid on itself. Pinch the first and last knots together so the initial loop that hung from the nail lies against the remaining core.

Photo by Pete Sucheski

[3] Bind the two (loop and core) together with four to six additional square knots. Pull very tight.

Photo by Pete Sucheski

[4] Snip one side of the loop where it emerges from the final knot and use that strand to bind the remaining four cords with a wrapped knot.

Lastly, tie a slipknot on each of the four remaining tag ends; these are the droppers that will hold the calls. You can attach each duck call to one dropper with a slipknot around the groove under the band of the call. Heavy calls can be attached using two droppers.

Comments (45)

Top Rated
All Comments
from Winchester 92 wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

This works perfectly and is really easy i made two already and they look sweet. the parachute cord only cost 6 dollars at the army navy store. try it!

+6 Good Comment? | | Report
from whitetailkjf wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

THANK YOU i just used a realllllly long shoe lace but it still worked

+3 Good Comment? | | Report
from hengst wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Thanks, a new project cnt wait to get started looks good. TY Winchester for input

+3 Good Comment? | | Report
from fliphuntr14 wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

im going to try it i have a few duck calls i don t duck hunt much but i need a good project and it looks pretty cool...

+3 Good Comment? | | Report
from HuskyKMA wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Nice, I have a bunch of paracord laying around and I need a new lanyard. Sounds like a good project.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from TheEasternShore... wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

it is kind of confusing

+3 Good Comment? | | Report
from abiddle013 wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

Why not just braid three strands to length...? This seems a little over-complicated. Plus, braiding would take less cord.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from codyboyd wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

This would be stronger and it looks nicer than a 3 strand braid.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from pigman45 wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

First time That I ever made a post. My father wanted a lanyard, and liked the idea of the one in your article in f&s. He realy liked the thought that it was homemade. I bought one thousand feet of 550 cord for sevendy dollars at army supply store. It took me three hours since I am not a boy scout and did not know how to tie knots. It turned out great and he loved it. Now all his duck friends want one. Glad I bought more cord than I needed. You can't make gust one.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from whattheduck wrote 2 years 6 weeks ago

Is anyone else finding this as difficult as I am? I think I'm somewhat intelegent but dadgum I can not figure this out for the life of me. I love the idea of this and have tried to do this project several time which ends the same way. Me throwing the rope and shouting at the magazine.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from j-johnson17 wrote 2 years 6 weeks ago

Excellent article - now I just need to try it. I don't have enough parachute cord on hand...

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from mopedfredd wrote 2 years 5 weeks ago

I REALIZED THAT....you need to "weave between" the two original chrods. Duh!!!
Thanks for this project. Keep 'em coming.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from mopedfredd wrote 2 years 5 weeks ago

I meant. "chords".

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from wiegs1992 wrote 2 years 5 weeks ago

I made one for my dad for xmas and he loved it.very easy to make!

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from deer dropper wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

i've tried it and its hard but i used a shoelace and it probably takes practice.

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from trapper wrote 2 years 1 week ago

I'm going to tie this right now

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from mjbooth wrote 1 year 50 weeks ago

Works great! Thank you

-1 Good Comment? | | Report
from Nolan wrote 1 year 42 weeks ago

Thank You! This really works great. Why buy a
$20.00 lanyard when you can make your own?

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from best wrote 1 year 28 weeks ago

Best Costumes 2010

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from Raven1 wrote 1 year 13 weeks ago

Got pretty confused about the square knots until my wife straightened me out. Sad, but that's what it took. Could have used more detail about the "wrapped knot" at the end, and it took some thinking to get droppers along the lanyard, instead of all at the end where the calls would beat each other up. At the finish it worked; I'll make a few more as Christmas presents :}

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from chrismerrill wrote 1 year 11 weeks ago

I made this lanyard for my deer calls it works great and looks great much more comfortable then 3 or 4 lanyards around my neck

+1 Good Comment? | | Report
from ksigtuck wrote 1 year 5 weeks ago

Might be a dumb question but what are the metal rings that are on the lanyard pictured at the top of the page?
Thanks

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from BoarHunter wrote 1 year 4 weeks ago

ksigtuck those are bands from waterfowl.

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from Recoil Rob wrote 50 weeks 5 days ago

Just made one of these. I didn't measure my cord before starting, the bag said it was 100" but I had two 25 ft pieces left over when done. If I had 100ft to start out with that means I only used 50ft to make this. Next one I'm going to start with a doubled 6 ft piece and a 24 inch loop at the top. This will leave enough cord for 6 droppers.

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from Payotehunter11 wrote 45 weeks 6 days ago

Same experience here. Just made one myself, turned out great. Started out with 100 ft piece of 550 paracord and ended up with 56 feet left over, but in two different sections. I just bought camo colored paracord and going to fuse two different 25 foot pieces together to make a two color lanyard. I also added droppers further up the lanyard by looping paracord through the braid closer to my neck. Stops the calls from clanking together. Thanks for the article, very useful.

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from JGooding1 wrote 44 weeks 1 day ago

I made my own lanyard a little bit different than this. I braided mine and didn't have all the call holders in one spot. I used white rope and dyed by going over it with brown shoe polish and then adding darker spots with black shoe polish. The I soaked it in hot water to get the extra shoe polish out.

+1 Good Comment? | | Report
from spsdel99 wrote 29 weeks 3 days ago

This is something very interesting and innovative. The making of lanyard is very good. I like it.
hiv symptoms

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from spsdel99 wrote 29 weeks 3 days ago
from meravinbar wrote 29 weeks 2 days ago

I tried making this lanyard. This came out to be very nice. http://www.checkcancersymptoms.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from jonathanf454 wrote 28 weeks 5 days ago

I love the idea of this and have tried to do this project several time which ends the same way. Me throwing the rope and shouting at the magazine. http://www.generalupdates.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from zogski wrote 21 weeks 4 days ago

We're just going with friends to the mountains and a couple of new sites, I 'm sure come in handy. This is a great blog!
http://black-serial.com/

+1 Good Comment? | | Report
from kagdi979 wrote 17 weeks 1 hour ago

I used white rope and dyed by going over it with brown shoe polish and then adding darker spots with black shoe polish. The I soaked it in hot water to get the extra shoe polish out. http://www.automobilehouse.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from mohanautumn wrote 11 weeks 2 hours ago

Why not just braid three strands to length...? This seems a little over-complicated. Plus, braiding would take less cord. http://www.hivsymptomshub.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from mohanautumn wrote 10 weeks 6 days ago

Might be a dumb question but what are the metal rings that are on the lanyard pictured at the top of the page? http://www.lymediseasesymptomsnow.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from becharaautumn wrote 10 weeks 6 days ago

It took me three hours since I am not a boy scout and did not know how to tie knots. It turned out great and he loved it. Now all his duck friends want one. Glad I bought more cord than I needed. You can't make gust one. http://www.b12deficiencysymptomsweb.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from becharaautumn wrote 10 weeks 6 days ago

It took me three hours since I am not a boy scout and did not know how to tie knots. It turned out great and he loved it. Now all his duck friends want one. Glad I bought more cord than I needed. You can't make gust one. http://www.bedbugbitescure.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from harryautumn wrote 10 weeks 3 days ago

I braided mine and didn't have all the call holders in one spot. I used white rope and dyed by going over it with brown shoe polish and then adding darker spots with black shoe polish. The I soaked it in hot water to get the extra shoe polish out. http://www.automobilehouse.com/maruti-suzuki-wagon-r-mileage/

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from nidhivohra33 wrote 7 weeks 36 min ago

This is something very nice and good. http://www.protocolmania.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from harrystephen wrote 5 weeks 3 days ago

It took me three hours since I am not a boy scout and did not know how to tie knots. It turned out great and he loved it. Now all his duck friends want one. Glad I bought more cord than I needed. You can't make gust one. http://www.bluewafflediseasehq.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from harrystephen wrote 5 weeks 3 days ago

I braided mine and didn't have all the call holders in one spot. I used white rope and dyed by going over it with brown shoe polish and then adding darker spots with black shoe polish. The I soaked it in hot water to get the extra shoe polish out. http://www.appendicitissymptomsnow.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from WiFi Extender wrote 4 weeks 13 hours ago

Where's the best place to get parachute cord?
http://wifi-extender.net

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from shreyabhatt wrote 3 weeks 6 days ago

Wow, excellent, I tied to do this myself manytimes without luck.. :( http://www.gjobs.co.in/

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from sega888 wrote 1 hour 2 min ago

very useful information on the laces! I was looking for it for my travels! http://www.trussvillecoc.org

0 Good Comment? | | Report

Post a Comment

from Winchester 92 wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

This works perfectly and is really easy i made two already and they look sweet. the parachute cord only cost 6 dollars at the army navy store. try it!

+6 Good Comment? | | Report
from whitetailkjf wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

THANK YOU i just used a realllllly long shoe lace but it still worked

+3 Good Comment? | | Report
from hengst wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Thanks, a new project cnt wait to get started looks good. TY Winchester for input

+3 Good Comment? | | Report
from fliphuntr14 wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

im going to try it i have a few duck calls i don t duck hunt much but i need a good project and it looks pretty cool...

+3 Good Comment? | | Report
from TheEasternShore... wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

it is kind of confusing

+3 Good Comment? | | Report
from HuskyKMA wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Nice, I have a bunch of paracord laying around and I need a new lanyard. Sounds like a good project.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from abiddle013 wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

Why not just braid three strands to length...? This seems a little over-complicated. Plus, braiding would take less cord.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from codyboyd wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

This would be stronger and it looks nicer than a 3 strand braid.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from pigman45 wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

First time That I ever made a post. My father wanted a lanyard, and liked the idea of the one in your article in f&s. He realy liked the thought that it was homemade. I bought one thousand feet of 550 cord for sevendy dollars at army supply store. It took me three hours since I am not a boy scout and did not know how to tie knots. It turned out great and he loved it. Now all his duck friends want one. Glad I bought more cord than I needed. You can't make gust one.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from whattheduck wrote 2 years 6 weeks ago

Is anyone else finding this as difficult as I am? I think I'm somewhat intelegent but dadgum I can not figure this out for the life of me. I love the idea of this and have tried to do this project several time which ends the same way. Me throwing the rope and shouting at the magazine.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from j-johnson17 wrote 2 years 6 weeks ago

Excellent article - now I just need to try it. I don't have enough parachute cord on hand...

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from mopedfredd wrote 2 years 5 weeks ago

I REALIZED THAT....you need to "weave between" the two original chrods. Duh!!!
Thanks for this project. Keep 'em coming.

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from mopedfredd wrote 2 years 5 weeks ago

I meant. "chords".

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from Nolan wrote 1 year 42 weeks ago

Thank You! This really works great. Why buy a
$20.00 lanyard when you can make your own?

+2 Good Comment? | | Report
from chrismerrill wrote 1 year 11 weeks ago

I made this lanyard for my deer calls it works great and looks great much more comfortable then 3 or 4 lanyards around my neck

+1 Good Comment? | | Report
from JGooding1 wrote 44 weeks 1 day ago

I made my own lanyard a little bit different than this. I braided mine and didn't have all the call holders in one spot. I used white rope and dyed by going over it with brown shoe polish and then adding darker spots with black shoe polish. The I soaked it in hot water to get the extra shoe polish out.

+1 Good Comment? | | Report
from zogski wrote 21 weeks 4 days ago

We're just going with friends to the mountains and a couple of new sites, I 'm sure come in handy. This is a great blog!
http://black-serial.com/

+1 Good Comment? | | Report
from wiegs1992 wrote 2 years 5 weeks ago

I made one for my dad for xmas and he loved it.very easy to make!

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from deer dropper wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

i've tried it and its hard but i used a shoelace and it probably takes practice.

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from trapper wrote 2 years 1 week ago

I'm going to tie this right now

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from best wrote 1 year 28 weeks ago

Best Costumes 2010

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from Raven1 wrote 1 year 13 weeks ago

Got pretty confused about the square knots until my wife straightened me out. Sad, but that's what it took. Could have used more detail about the "wrapped knot" at the end, and it took some thinking to get droppers along the lanyard, instead of all at the end where the calls would beat each other up. At the finish it worked; I'll make a few more as Christmas presents :}

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from ksigtuck wrote 1 year 5 weeks ago

Might be a dumb question but what are the metal rings that are on the lanyard pictured at the top of the page?
Thanks

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from BoarHunter wrote 1 year 4 weeks ago

ksigtuck those are bands from waterfowl.

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from Recoil Rob wrote 50 weeks 5 days ago

Just made one of these. I didn't measure my cord before starting, the bag said it was 100" but I had two 25 ft pieces left over when done. If I had 100ft to start out with that means I only used 50ft to make this. Next one I'm going to start with a doubled 6 ft piece and a 24 inch loop at the top. This will leave enough cord for 6 droppers.

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from Payotehunter11 wrote 45 weeks 6 days ago

Same experience here. Just made one myself, turned out great. Started out with 100 ft piece of 550 paracord and ended up with 56 feet left over, but in two different sections. I just bought camo colored paracord and going to fuse two different 25 foot pieces together to make a two color lanyard. I also added droppers further up the lanyard by looping paracord through the braid closer to my neck. Stops the calls from clanking together. Thanks for the article, very useful.

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from spsdel99 wrote 29 weeks 3 days ago

This is something very interesting and innovative. The making of lanyard is very good. I like it.
hiv symptoms

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from spsdel99 wrote 29 weeks 3 days ago
from meravinbar wrote 29 weeks 2 days ago

I tried making this lanyard. This came out to be very nice. http://www.checkcancersymptoms.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from jonathanf454 wrote 28 weeks 5 days ago

I love the idea of this and have tried to do this project several time which ends the same way. Me throwing the rope and shouting at the magazine. http://www.generalupdates.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from kagdi979 wrote 17 weeks 1 hour ago

I used white rope and dyed by going over it with brown shoe polish and then adding darker spots with black shoe polish. The I soaked it in hot water to get the extra shoe polish out. http://www.automobilehouse.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from mohanautumn wrote 11 weeks 2 hours ago

Why not just braid three strands to length...? This seems a little over-complicated. Plus, braiding would take less cord. http://www.hivsymptomshub.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from mohanautumn wrote 10 weeks 6 days ago

Might be a dumb question but what are the metal rings that are on the lanyard pictured at the top of the page? http://www.lymediseasesymptomsnow.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from becharaautumn wrote 10 weeks 6 days ago

It took me three hours since I am not a boy scout and did not know how to tie knots. It turned out great and he loved it. Now all his duck friends want one. Glad I bought more cord than I needed. You can't make gust one. http://www.b12deficiencysymptomsweb.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from becharaautumn wrote 10 weeks 6 days ago

It took me three hours since I am not a boy scout and did not know how to tie knots. It turned out great and he loved it. Now all his duck friends want one. Glad I bought more cord than I needed. You can't make gust one. http://www.bedbugbitescure.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from harryautumn wrote 10 weeks 3 days ago

I braided mine and didn't have all the call holders in one spot. I used white rope and dyed by going over it with brown shoe polish and then adding darker spots with black shoe polish. The I soaked it in hot water to get the extra shoe polish out. http://www.automobilehouse.com/maruti-suzuki-wagon-r-mileage/

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from nidhivohra33 wrote 7 weeks 36 min ago

This is something very nice and good. http://www.protocolmania.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from harrystephen wrote 5 weeks 3 days ago

It took me three hours since I am not a boy scout and did not know how to tie knots. It turned out great and he loved it. Now all his duck friends want one. Glad I bought more cord than I needed. You can't make gust one. http://www.bluewafflediseasehq.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from harrystephen wrote 5 weeks 3 days ago

I braided mine and didn't have all the call holders in one spot. I used white rope and dyed by going over it with brown shoe polish and then adding darker spots with black shoe polish. The I soaked it in hot water to get the extra shoe polish out. http://www.appendicitissymptomsnow.com

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from WiFi Extender wrote 4 weeks 13 hours ago

Where's the best place to get parachute cord?
http://wifi-extender.net

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from shreyabhatt wrote 3 weeks 6 days ago

Wow, excellent, I tied to do this myself manytimes without luck.. :( http://www.gjobs.co.in/

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from sega888 wrote 1 hour 2 min ago

very useful information on the laces! I was looking for it for my travels! http://www.trussvillecoc.org

0 Good Comment? | | Report
from mjbooth wrote 1 year 50 weeks ago

Works great! Thank you

-1 Good Comment? | | Report

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