Last weekend at an Illinois outdoor expo, two hunters from eastern Illinois unveiled a 56-inch long wooden duck call. Their creation has a chance at besting the current Guinness World Record for longest duck call.
According to an article from The News Gazette, Mark Hillery and his son Damen began building duck and goose calls as a hobby, but when friends began making requests and Hillery and his son starting filling word-of-mouth sales orders, the hobby turned into a business venture.
But the idea to go for a world record came from an episode of Duck Dynasty where the Duck Commander crew attempted to build the world’s biggest duck call–one that didn’t qualify for the record for unknown reasons. The call on the show required a leaf blower to work, but Hillery says the one built by him and his son works on lung power.
“It sounds like a giant duck,” said Mark Hillery. “It has a lot deeper sound because it’s coming through such a long barrel. It sounds really good. You can definitely tell it’s a duck.”
The Hillerys built a 16-inch prototype first, then hand tuned the 56-inch model on a lathe from a piece of poplar, a wood known to be fairly light. Even still, the final piece ended up weighing about 30 pounds and takes two men to carry it.
Billy Hays of Milan, Tennessee holds the current record for longest duck call at 36 inches. Though the Hillery call is much longer, the article reports it takes weeks to complete the Guinness World Record registration process, and it may be a while before the Hillerys hear anything back. Until then, Mark Hillery says he plans to use the call.
“I think it would be cool to take out on the boat and film calling in a duck with it,” Mark Hillery said. “If it pulled in any duck that would be OK with us.”