News

Busy Weekend
This past weekend was a very busy for the Zink Calls Turkey Callers as well as very productive. The Indiana State Turkey Calling contest was held in Clarksville, Indiana. Three Zink Calls Staffers competed and had a great showing! In the Open division Jesse Martin... Full Story

Chasing the Sun Rise
If I am feeling it, then I know the rest of you are feeling it. The excitement and anticipation of a new season is upon us and I can't wait to get back at it. In just a few short weeks, we all will be back out there doing what we were made to do. For some hunters, duck and goose season is merely a hobby... Full Story

Patterning A Turkey Gun
What's a turkey hunter to do when the spring season has closed and the summer drags on with the upcoming waterfowl season still months away? Now is the time to learn how your turkey gun shoots. The importance of patterning a turkey gun is often overlooked, and I can tell you from experience it shouldn't be... Full Story

Zink Calls 1st Annual Pro Staff/Field Staff Turkey Challenge Results
Well Turkey seasons all over the country have finally came to close and with that so has the inaugural Zink Calls Pro Staff/ Field Staff Turkey Challenge. The challenge consisted of 16 Pro and Field staffers combined to make 8 teams of two. Full Story

Butler County Youth Day
Today was the annual Butler County Youth Field day, where approximately 300 youths attended a daylong event to experience different aspects of the outdoors. Several stations were set up along the club property and the seminars included Archery, Air rifles, Trap shooting, Canoeing, Trapping, Waterfowling, and others. The kids were... Full Story

Zink Calls 1st Annual Pro Staff/Field Staff Turkey Challenge
March 29 marked the beginning of Zink Calls first annual Turkey Challenge between Zink's Pro Staff and Field Staff. There are 16 participants this year with eight teams of two. In this challenge, participants are only allowed to harvest turkey's in the state they reside Full Story

Richland 6th Season
The 6th season in Richland County, Wisconsin started in its usual fashion. After being hunted for almost 2 straight months, birds were still gobbling but getting them to commit to the call was pretty frustrating. I started the first morning out at one of my ususal farms and heard some birds, but after good gobbling on the roost, they pitched out and went silent. Full Story

Ohio Opening Day Double
After seeing all the southern hunters slamming birds over the past few weeks, and seeing 3 good friends all shoot longbeards in TN, I was dying to get into the woods with a gun in my hand! With over 2 weeks to go before the start of PA and NY's seasons, I called up my good friend Shaun Smith knowing he has a great history of turkey hunting in OH, and asked him Full Story

PA Youth Day Success...On a Tight Time Schedule!
Pa's 2010 Youth season was another great day in the woods for my son, Tyler, and I! We knew it was going to be a very short hunt whether he killed a bird or not, because he had to be home by 7:30 to get ready to go to his varsity baseball game. Things didn't start out how I had planned. When it started to get light the bird I had listened to the past 2 days wasn't gobbling and then I realized he wasn't there at all. Full Story

Michigan Opening Day Double
On the opening day of the Michigan Turkey season you could find San Sasse and me with our backs rested against a giant White Oak tree. This farm and connecting woods we had watched for a few weeks almost didn’t happen. We had stopped and asked permission earlier in the year after seeing some nice birds work the area but the owner had told us his nephew would be hunting...A few weeks later I received a phone call and it was Bob the landowner. Full Story

Passing Time
I would bet it is probably safe to assume that a lot of the same waterfowl fanatics that make up the Zink brotherhood in the winter are just as serious with turkey hunting in the spring. Every year, after recharging the batteries from a long waterfowl season, something happens inside me around the middle of March. It is the itch to get back out in the woods, and start just being me again! That gap between waterfowl season and turkey season is one of the most frustrating times of the year for a lot of us. Full Story

Three Men, Three Limits and a Good Day
Since the beginning of the season, the hunting has been progressing very well and we have noticed that the geese had already started their migration. They don't stay in our area for long. On a Saturday morning, after a very successful hunt, again, we went for breakfast at a restaurant and we took advantage of this time to talk about our morning hunt and to discuss our game plan for the day after. Full Story

Imprinting for the Future
I was contacted back in December about helping with a youth hunt that a local chapter of Delta Waterfowl was putting on. I agreed to help, thinking it would be fun. I was wrong! We had a BLAST! Maybe the most fun I had all season. There were 24 kids that had been drawn to attend the hunt on Block Island out on the coast of SC. It's a privately owned club that is pretty unique. Only access is by boat and the only light or heat is by propane. Full Story

Waterfowl Hunting: It's a Family Story
Every year, my cousins and I take a week off work just to hunt ducks and geese. We also hunt as often as we can during the week-ends. This year was no exception. That week was at the beginning of October for us. We hunt in the Mont-Laurier area which is about 250 km north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. We are lucky because we have a lot of permissions on different kind of fields where ducks and geese love to stop during their migration. Full Story

Wrapping it Up
With the Indiana waterfowl season just a few days from wrapping up, we were in panic mode. Ducks were already out and finding geese that weren't sitting in a housing addition was starting to become a tough order. I know most of us have some of the same problems as the season starts to wind down, we have either shot out our local birds or the birds we have been on have started to pick up and move on. We were in one of those situations when I decided to scout "just one more place." Full Story

Ending the Curse
Everybody has their favorite species of waterfowl, that one bird that you would do anything to get. Although I am a died in the wool goose man, I have to admit that for me, the drake Redhead has always been one of my biggest waterfowl goals. I have been hunting the Indiana rivers and gravel pits for almost 20 years but for one reason or another, it just has never happened for me. Full Story

Cat and Mouse Geese
Recent "fowl" weather brought some new birds into the areas of Western Pa. Finishing up deer season I was more than glad to get back into my favorite activity, Canada Goose hunting. I did some scouting a couple of days before finding these birds working a fresh cut cornfield. We tried to get after these birds 2 days before but... Full Story

Trick and Treat Canada Geese
Today was the last day of the second season RP Zone for Canada Geese for us here in Western Pa. My son Mat and I headed out to a cut cornfield that was holding some birds. I looked forward to the day because I was able to spend some time one on one with Mat and do my best to teach him more about goose hunting. Full Story

Welcome to the Brotherhood
As usual, I was glued to the Outdoor Channel late the other night watching "The Bone Collector" and Michael Waddell said something during one of his commercials that really made me start thinking about a hunt I had shared with my brother and nephew earlier that evening. Full Story

My New Hunting Buddy
I would like to share the story of my daughter's first hunt. Hailey is five years old now and since she joined our family, she has been exposed to decoys, dead ducks and geese in the garage, and the constant sound of duck and goose calls. Just recently she started asking me why I love to hunt ducks and geese so much. I explained that I couldn't tell her, but had to show her instead. Her eyes lit up like Christmas morning at thought of going hunting with daddy. Full Story

Christmas Eve Success
One of my favorite things about waterfowl hunting is spending time with great people. Two of those people are Tim and Jim Kohl, both I consider my family. I look forward to the days spent in the blind all year, so when they called me about a Christmas Eve hunt I was very excited. The last week had been extremely difficult to hunt because of the blizzard that hit the East Coast and gave the Eastern Shore two feet of snow. Full Story

Friday Morning Doubles
After scouting one of my favorite spots, a sand bar on a local river, I found a couple hundred birds loafing on the sand bar. With high expectations I called around to find some gunners and everyone was busy. So I headed out alone on Friday morning. I set up four-dozen FFD lessers and life-size full body and two-dozen Life size floaters. While watching the sunrise at shooting time I started to see ducks moving up and down the river. A couple of quacks and a comeback call on my PH-2 convinced a pair of mallards to dump into my spread. A quick double started the morning. This shocked me because we rarely shoot ducks on the sand bar. Full Story

Never Give Up
The Wisconsin duck and goose season is now officially closed for the fall of 2009. The year started off great with many limits of geese harvested. September was a great month and part way into October as we had an awesome corn field that was harvested before any other around our area and it was loaded with geese many days for us. October was a very rainy month and this led to the farmers not being able to take the corn off for the most part into late November with some even extending into December. Full Story

Arkansas Timber Hunt
In duck hunting there are many time-tested traditions. Depending on where you live, many traditions, habits, and ways of life in the duck hunting world hold on from generation to generation. In Arkansas, one of those very storied traditions is hunting mallards in the flooded green timber. Living in the western portion of Arkansas I don't have as much of an opportunity to hunt the flooded woods as much as the eastern portion of the state does. Full Story

Third Time's a Charm
With temperatures dropping into the low teens and the forecast calling for single digit lows, we all knew what we had to do. If we were going to have any chance at birds tomorrow, we were going to have to get to the river, the only open water around. I had been scouting every morning on my prep period at school and had two pretty good groups of ducks located and couldn't wait to hunt them Saturday morning! Full Story

Saving the Best for Last
Well it's no secret that this season has been all but a bust for mallards in the Northeastern zone of NY. We initially had our typical local mallards and we had a couple very small influxes of mallards, but never the typical big push we annually see. Today was it for NY's Northeastern zone for this season and seeing we had finally got the weather needed to move birds, it was a day I didn't want to miss. Full Story

Limits for a First Timer
For years I have been hunting with my buddy, Mike Dieck, around his home in Long Island for brant and black ducks and he has come up in the past to hunt wood ducks. Well earlier this year his son Jared was old enough to get out and start waterfowling and he was interested in coming up to hunt geese in a field, as that is just something they don't have many opportunities to do in his area. Full Story

The First Goose
In an early September goose hunt in Northern Wisconsin, I had found a goose field with around 100 geese feeding morning and night in a small grain field just north of my home town. I was in the search for a field to take out a first year goose hunter who had never hunted geese before and had asked me to take him out for his first goose. I am all for bringing out youth and introducing them into the outdoors so I jumped on the opportunity and set up plans to pick him up the early morning. When I picked him up in the morning he was fired up and ready to go. Full Story

Blackjack on the Columbia
The day started out much like most of our hunts do. We left the house around midnight, we got to the boat launch about an hour later. Once all the gear was loaded into the boat the adventure began. It was really foggy that morning. Trying to find an island in the middle of the Columbia River at 1am in the fog was a battle, but the thoughts of green heads careening down from the heavens into our decoys drove us on. Full Story

Welcome Back
This hunt was two years in the making. My cousin, Brian Johnson, mentioned to me that he was interested in getting back into goose and duck hunting two years ago, but with his job and family constraints and my college schedule, we did not get to hunt together last season. So on night before opening day... Full Story

Picking Up Where I Left Off
The first day of the 2009-2010 A.P. Canada goose season in Maryland found me picking up where I had left off at seasons end in January 2009. I was fortunate enough to share the goose field with the same friends and family that I spent the last day of the 2008-2009 season. The only difference was we were hunting in a different cut corn field. Last season's field still had standing beans in the field. A lot of the farmers are way behind their harvest schedule because of a wet fall in the Mid-Atlantic. Full Story

Team Zink/Roscoby Win 2009 Campbell Outdoor Challenge
Early in 2009, Illinois native, Jesse Little, contacted myself and Josh Grossenbacher about joining himself, Justin Mason and Wes Alexander as teammates in the Campbell Outdoor Challenge. The Challenge, Little told me, consisted of 15 teams that travel the country on four very different hunts for four species - wild turkey, whitetails, wild hogs, and antelopes. Teams are scored not only the animal harvested, but on the quality of the video and audio captured. Full Story

The Waiting Game
As dawn broke, I was starting to question my sanity. The mosquitoes were coming by the thousands and my trusty thermacell was safe and secure at the house 30 miles away. I had scouted a small hay field the day before and knew the birds had been using it but the waiting game was starting to have some serious consequences. Full Story

Lab of a Lifetime
Waterfowl hunters go through many stages throughout the course of their lives, and I am no different than anyone else. When I first started hunting it was all about the numbers, how many birds could we could bring to bag was our main goal. We hunted like that for quite a few years, always looking forward to the next season to see if we could "out do" the previous year. Then, something happened that changed not only my life, but the way I looked and judged my hunting seasons. Full Story

The Kids' First Day Out of 2009
With having our opener this past week and the kids were in school, My friend Shaun and I spent a couple of days scouting to find some fresh birds that the kids could get an opportunity for this years first geese.  In my travels I noticed several flocks working an area but I could not find where they were going to. I had a feeling that they were using a hidden field. I called Shaun and we met the evening before to see if we could come up with an exact location. Full Story

Pennsylvania Waterfowl Heritage Society Raffle
From the desk of Pennsylvania's own, David Rearick, comes the following information about a fantastic undertaking and an incredible opportunity for waterfowlers across the country... Full Story

Michigan Youth Hunt
Michigan held its annual youth waterfowl hunt on September 19th and 20th this year. The youth hunt is a good way to get the kids out and get them exposed to waterfowl hunting. This year, I also had a new pup in the mix and this was a good opportunity to get him some field experience. The field we hunted was an overgrown wheat field with lots of cover to hide the Ground Force Blinds... Full Story

Strong Showing!
Zink Staffers have a strong showing at Waterfowl Weekend duck and goose calling contest in Western Pennsylvania. On August 2nd, Washington Pa. Gander Mountain hosted a duck and goose calling contest in conjunction with their Waterfowl Weekend Event. The contest brought callers from 3 states to compete. The senior calling contest consisted of Team Meat Goose, Team Meat Duck, Open Meat Goose, and Open Meat Duck. Full Story

Zink Turkey Callers Light Up the Stage
Port Clinton, Ohio - Zink Calls' competitive turkey callers, Josh Grossenbacher, and Shane Hendershot, recently had a chance to strut their stuff on stage at the 67th Annual World Turkey Calling Championships held in Birmingham, Alabama. Hendershot, a native of Zanesville, Ohio, had captured the 2008 world title, while Grossenbacher, a Seville, Ohio native now living in Port Clinton, had taken the sixth position in the '08 contest. Both men currently work full-time for Zink Calls. Full Story

He Got Back Up
Winding down our spring turkey season in Canada was a great idea! As part of the Grand Finale, we made plans to hunt with Steve Todtz of Grey Bruce Outfitters in Walkerton, Ontario. Believe it or not, the turkey hunting in Ontario is amazing! Steve had a phenomenal season, with over 70 kills and 40 misses; what was better is that the number of birds still running around was incredible. Full Story

Frosty Gobbler
With Pennsylvania's season in full swing, I had had plenty of opportunities to kill a bird. Most of the birds, however, I had called in were jakes, and the longbeards I'd been chasing had either gone silent or been harvested. I had hunted with a good friend, Shaun, the two days prior, with us working some birds we'd found in a small cornfield just off a pasture. When our initial set-up didn't pan out, we moved; unfortunately, we got too close and bumped the toms. On a good note, though, we spotted two more gobblers on our way home, and decided to try them at our next chance. Full Story

Tricks of the Trade
Within minutes of our first Canadian gobbler, we heard another bird sound off just a few hundred yards away. Quickly, we sat back down and began calling, and in short order, had a small flock of hens headed in our direction. Unfortunately, the hens were between us and the gobbler we'd heard, so we decided to chase them away. Full Story

Silent Treatment
After returning to Ohio from Kentucky, we made plans to hunt with Zink Pro-Staffer, Rick MacFarlane, in Pennsylvania. Despite in-depth scouting by MacFarlane and hunting partner, Bradley, the birds just didn't want to be movie stars that first morning. Full Story

Pennsylvania Youth Opener Success
Each Spring, the state of Pennsylvania offers young hunters a special youth turkey season. This year, I had scouted an area, and knew there were several gobblers available for my young hunters. As part of our planning, Pro-Staffer, David Rearick, and I chose and cleared a blind location which we thought would give us our best chance at a longbeard. Full Story

Chess Match
Day Four of our Pennsylvania hunt found us playing cat-and-mouse with another mixed flock of hens, jakes, and longbeards. Cameraman CJ White and I were hunting these birds, when we received a text message from Pro-Staffer, Rick MacFarlane. Rick told us that he had gotten permission to hunt another property, and that he was watching birds feed and strut as we spoke. It didn't take us long, and we were on our way! Full Story

Stallard Slam
First of all, I'd like to thank my good friends who allowed me to travel with them and be a part of this incredible journey. A special THANKS to Jerry and Mr. Abrams, Curtis Kenyon, and Jerry Cheesborough. The Slam began in Florida, where I'd be pursuing my first Osceola. Upon arrival, we were met with gorgeous weather and temperatures in the mid-70s. The first morning in the field - nothing! Nothing off the roost, and throughout the day, we ran into more turkey hunters than we did turkeys. Most of the action during the week consisted of birds walking by, or of gobblers hanging just out of range. Full Story

Game Over
Day three, and after trying to work a pre-scouted bird for two days with no luck, I was eager to return to old and familiar haunts. The day before I had changed plans slightly after gaining access to property where I'd spotted two strutters. Unfortunately, my decision wasn't the best as the birds were roosted across the road; it quickly became obvious that going in "blind" wasn't the way to do it. I decided to slip out, leaving the pair for another day, and headed to one of my favorite places. Full Story

Close to Home
After returning from our bow hunt in Indiana, Walt and I received an invitation from friend and teammate, Jesse Little, to hunt with him in north-central Ohio. Since his location was only 40 minutes from my folks' place, we quickly snapped up the invite. That evening, we roosted our birds for the next morning - right behind the cabin! Those gobblers couldn't have been 200 yards from the porch. Needless to say, we were pretty psyched for the hunt. And due to the way the ridge lay and where the birds were roosted, I had a really good feeling about the hunt. Little did I know. Full Story

Decoy Beat Down
After my daughter, Shalene's, bird on opening morning of Ohio's youth season, we headed back to the house for my wife, Kathie, and son, Devon. Our goal was to get the boy a bird. Together with Zink cameraman, CJ White, we packed blind, chairs, and all up and over the hills to a small flat near the top. Talking to the landowner pre-season, this was, we were told, THE spot. Full Story

Youth And Persistence
Ohio's 2009 youth turkey season started off with a BANG! After watching a group of birds for two weeks prior to the opener, we were feeling pretty good about taking a bird on film. Full Story

Off the Roost
Ohio's youth season was over, and six days into the regular season, we were having a rough time of it. Only a handful of friends and fellow hunters I'd talked with had taken birds; however, my older brother, Jerry, had filled both of his tags in the first four days. Zink Calls to the rescue in his case! Full Story

The Long Shot
Day Seven of the Ohio turkey season found Kathie with the gun in her hands. Unfortunately, we'd put ourselves at a disadvantage by not roosting a bird the night before; our only hope was to wait for the gobbling to start in the morning, and head off in the direction. As luck would have it, birds began sounding off in three different directions - the bad news was they weren't on our farm! Full Story

Kansas Double
It was a perfect morning to be turkey hunting - 58 degrees, sunny, no wind - and fellow Zink Pro-Staffer, Jay Longhauser, and I decided to try our hand before work. We had hunted this particular area a few days earlier, and had heard at least 10 gobblers hammering away. Thinking the same would happen, we put ourselves in position and waiting. To our amazement, we only heard two birds - and both of them were in the next county! Full Story

The Knob Gobbler
Five May, and just after daylight, we had a big longbeard follow a hen to within 80 yards of our decoys, where he strutted for over an hour before breeding her. It was an incredible sight, indeed, to witness this at such close range. While this was happening, two more gobblers worked their way into the field; however, neither approached closer than 60 yards. Eventually, all four birds wandered back uphill to a small open knob, where they feed and strutted for four straight hours. Once they had gone, we backed away quietly, having decided it best if we come back in the morning. Full Story

South Carolina Swamp Turkey
While hunting South Carolina, Mark Hoke and I had let the same longbeard walk out of gun range several times. He wasn't the biggest tom we'd ever chased, but for some reason he intrigued us; this bird was smart. Every night he would roost in the middle of a seemingly impenetrable deep-water swamp so full of snakes and mosquitoes it was almost impossible to get to him. Full Story

Persistence Pays Off!
Back in September of 2008, we here at Zink Calls were approached by Mr. Jesse Little, who told us of a new television show titled "The Campbell Outdoor Challenge." The Challenge is a competition, perse, consisting of 15 two-man teams - one cameraman, one hunter - completing a four-step event. In 2009, the archery-only events would be a hog hunt in South Carolina, a turkey in Indiana, a western antelope hunt, and a whitetail deer hunt in Illinois. Each hunt and team would be scored on the quality and length of footage they obtain, as well as shot placement and size of their particular animal. This, we thought, was right up our alley, and it didn't take Walt and I long to jump aboard. Full Story

NY Opening Day Double
My buddy, John Lafluer, who is also good friends with my younger brother, Matt, wanted to get Matt out this spring and help him get his first ever spring turkey. We all did some pre-season scouting and John came up with and secured permission on a farm close to home that was holding at least 11 turkeys in one group...3 confirmed Toms, a couple jakes and then 6 hens. We agreed that this was our best bet for opening morning and made plans. Full Story

When It All Goes Right!
After several days of tough hunting in Kansas I jumped back in the truck for the 4.5 hour trip to meet up with Rusty Burnam and our IA hunting buddy, Kip Strickland. The 3 of us have traded waterfowl and turkey hunts over the past 2 seasons and Kip has been extremely gracious in inviting us into their turkey camp for the second year in a row. I showed up a couple hours ahead of Rusty so Kip and I jumped in the truck to make one last scouting round before dark. Full Story

Back In The Game
This hunt actually started back in the summer of 2008 at an Avery convention where Stephen Pitt and I talked about trading hunts. As the spring turkey seasons opened across the south he and I visited regularly as he had fallen prey to a couple unsuccessful turkey trips. It had started to become somewhat of an ongoing joke that "the monkey was definitely on his back". As most any turkey hunter knows, you run into your share of dry spells but I was really starting to feel for this guy. Full Story

Creek Bottom Toms
This year was a fun year for the early Turkey season in Michigan. Heavy rain left creeks high and many forests and adjoining fields flooded. This added to the challenge when trying to find and set up on morning birds. This hunt in particular was an example of adjusting to these conditions and making it happen. Full Story

Hanging Around
Opening morning at home in MO found me wandering into a farm that I had gained permission on just a couple hours before dark the night before. I tried to get a bird roosted but ended up being on the wrong end of the farm. Arriving plenty early that morning I made my way along a bean stubble field to a lone tree that set out from the edge about 10 yds. There was very little cover around this tree but I knew I needed the extra distance because there was a 35 yd grass strip between my tree and the edge of the field. Full Story

Rio Show
This past fall I got onto a bird lease in Oklahoma and with the spring turkey season upon us I was excited to give the Sooner Rio's a try. Oklahoma's season starts on a Monday so I headed up the night before to do a little scouting. As prime time approached for the birds to come out to feed prior to their fly ups, I drove around to all the properties we have to hunt. The second place I stopped at is a huge wheat field with a creek running through it. All along the creek are large stands of oak and cottonwood trees...perfect for a Rio roost. Full Story

Tennessee Two Step
After a clear miss in the morning at the House Gobbler I found myself hooking up with long time friend Scott Mason to see how it should be done. It wasn't long after the miss that Mathews had us back on track and working another long beard in the open terrain of the Tennessee back country thirty miles away. With twenty mile an hour plus winds and spring showers setting in, time wasn't on our side. The two monarch's in question were seen hen-d-up and had been working and old cornfield off the beaten path of most turkey hunters. Full Story

The House Gobbler
This was my first time hunting in Tennessee, and all I'd been hearing for two straight weeks was how many longbeards everyone had been seeing. I was skeptical, though, as I'd heard that one before, only to arrive and find the birds all henned up. After a three-hour flight from home, I was putting my gear in good friend, David Carrington's, rig and heading to camp for the night. My first morning afield, I was to have the great honor of hunting with a local teenager by the name of Butch. To say we were on birds that first morning would be the understatement of the century! Full Story

South Carolina Canal Gobbler
Today started a bit differently than yesterday. CJ White and I hadn't roosted a bird, but Mark Hoke and Walt had a gobbler all but tied up. Morning came, and while CJ and I only heard a handful of gobbles, a single shot at 7:30 signaled Mark's success! Full Story

South Carolina Double Beard
On our first day in South Carolina - 2 April - CJ White, Walt Gabbard, and I were joined by Zink Z-Unit staffer, Mark Hoke. Our plan was to chase swamp gobblers, always a very tricky proposition. The morning started off great, as CJ and I got on a hot tom early; everything was going as planned...until I missed! Down but not out, we kept working the calls throughout the mosquito-infested swamp. Eventually, we came across an abandoned railroad track. Glassing the length of the rails, we spied two longbeards with a small group of hens. Unfortunately, the terrain, otherwise known as standing water, prevented a closer approach. Full Story

The Tennessee Gobbler
This particular morning, CJ White and I were up early and working a new farm. We had hunted the property the day before, and it was flat covered up with turkey sign. Unfortunately, the birds never showed and never gobbled, so by 8 o'clock, we pulled up stakes and headed for a property we had worked two days prior. Full Story

Now Hitting for Zink Calls - Breanna Boudry!
We here at Zink Calls absolutely love to hunt. In fact, we love the whole of the outdoors - hunting, fishing, trapping... you name it. But on 22 April from 9 to 10PM, Central Time, we don't care if the turkeys are gobbling or the fishing are biting - we're going to have our desktops and laptops tuned to www.blogtalkradio.com/Kelly-Outdoors, listening to radio host, Kelly Beltz of Kelly's Kalls talk with Zink Field Staffer, Breanna Boudry. Just 14, this young lady from West Bend, Wisconsin, has put together quite an impressive outdoor resume'. The first-ever female to compete in Wisconsin's state duck and goose calling championship, Boudry took second overall in the goose and third in the duck categories. As a follow-up performance, the young caller - again, the only female contestant - scored a seventh-place finish in the Illinois Waterfowl Alliance Competition held in Moline. "There were many great callers in the 13 to 17-year-old age group," she said in her field staff profile, "and I ended up placing seventh. I was really pleased." In 2007, Boudry once again climbed the stage for the Wisconsin state contest, walking away with fourth (duck) and third (goose) place finishes. Full Story

The Ultimate Turkey Gun
Want to start an argument? Walk into the shotgun section of any sporting goods retailer and say in a loud voice - "The (fill in name of favorite shotgun) is the best turkey gun today, and I'll tell you why!" Chances are within seconds, you'll have a line forming consisting of turkey hunters just dying to explain why you're wrong. The search for the ultimate turkey shotgun has been going on nearly as long as has the debate as to whether or not the 6mm rifle cartridge is an acceptable caliber for whitetail deer. And, to tell you the truth, with about as many cut-and-dried Final Answers. What's the reason behind this apparent lack of reason? It all lies in that word - ultimate. Full Story

Last Day Bang
As the final day of the 08-09 goose season in Oklahoma arrived little did we know what we would wake up to the next morning. Early that morning, after getting the decoys set, lights appeared on the edge of the field we were hunting. As we headed to park the truck and trailer I noticed a few of the guys. They were late, I'm talking really late arriving around shooting time. I told them to jump in with us and the good times began. At times we were laughing so hard we were crying. It was an amazing experience to have ten hunters putting the smack down on the geese. Full Story

Good Times With Some Great Friends
I met fellow Zink Calls Field Staffers Kent Contreras, and Mike Reed this past August at the Oregon Waterfowl Festival. I mentioned to them that Oregon had a late season Speck hunt that ran late February through early March. I also mentioned Zink Calls Prostaff member Paul Beyer was thinking about making the trip back up for the second season in a row for the hunt, and that they were more than welcome to join us. Unfortunately Paul had prior commitments to another hunt in California, and Mike was unable to attend due to a heavy work schedule. Full Story

Hunting Down Cancer
Three years ago I was approached by my good friend, Doug Steinke, about an idea he had.  That idea was what we now know as Hunting Down Cancer.  HDC is a program designed to generate funds to be used for cancer patients and it has been very successfull, donating funds to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and Reel Recover.  My initial experiences with HDC consisted in taking part in guiding three donated hunts, one with Doug and then two with fellow Z-Unit member Sean Evans.  In each experience, the people and the hunting were great and the cause that brought us together even greater. Full Story

The Sounds of Success
Chad Belding's had it happen; the shakes, that is. The adrenaline rush that comes with calling coyotes. The 33-year-old knows it well. As a pro-staffer for the Ohio-based Zink Calls, and from his home in Sparks, Nevada, Belding is currently working with goose calling legend, Freddie Zink, on a new series of predator calls, as well as an in-your-face coyote hunting documentary. "Between August '05 and May '06," Belding told me, "my partners and I called 120 dogs to the gun. Now, we didn't kill all those, of course, but we got to experience that rush 120 times." It was, as Belding said, nothing short of incredible. Full Story

DNR Wildlife Biologist Honored by National Wild Turkey Federation
Joe Robison has received the 2009 Outstanding Conservationist of the Year Award from Michigan State Chapter of National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF). Robison, a wildlife biologist and 14-year employee with the Department of Natural Resources, works at the Pointe Mouillee State Game Area DNR Field Office in southeast Michigan, where he is involved with management activities for a wide variety of wildlife species. "Joe has developed exceptional relationships with constituent groups. He actively works with stakeholders on wildlife habitat projects, wildlife surveys, and successfully communicates with people about wildlife regulations," said Russ Mason, chief of the DNR's Wildlife Division. Full Story

The Secret To Getting A Gobbler
With a statewide population over 200,000 birds, the 2009 spring wild turkey season should be a good one. In fact, DNR wildlife managers believe the increased population and additional hunting opportunities should produce another record season. Last year 2008, 96,557 hunters harvested 42,002 birds during a spring season that included all of the Lower Peninsula and portions of the central Upper Peninsula. Full Story

Gotta Love It
To me great hunting dogs have to have two things - talent/natural ability and training to fine tune and control that talent and natural ability.  I've been very fortunate to have been blessed with an extremely gifted labrador retriever, Cass, who has been plagued by a hack as a trainer, me.  Through alot of trials and tribulations, success and error, we ran that road from puppy to finished gun dog. Full Story

Jewlery Store Hunt
On the afternoon of Sunday, December 8th, 2008 we had no idea what kind of miracle hunt we were about to experience. At about 12:00 P.M. my good Friend Casey Laure met me at my home in Ft. Collins, CO. and we headed to the field. We met up with my other buddy Kyle at the field and set up 5 dozen GHG FFD Fullbodies and our Finisher blinds in the hay field. We settled in for a nice hour long nap and were awoke by the sounds of geese coming over the near by houses. Full Story

No Room for Error
In my opinion, we have experienced a waterfowl revolution over the last several years. We now get to hunt over the most realistic decoys, use the most realistic sounding calls, and most effective shotgun ammunition that have ever been produced. Yes, I have hunted with lead shot and in my opinion; Hevi-Shot is more effective then lead. With all of the advancements in waterfowling equipment, my goal has become to finish geese not just to the geese that are in range. Full Story

Zink Calls Field-Staffer Wins Junior 08' World Goose Calling Contest
Heralding from Michigan, 16-year-old Kile Jones, a Zink Calls Field Staffer, captured the 2008 Junior World Goose Calling Championship at the national competition held recently in Easton, Maryland. Jones began waterfowling just three years ago in the state of Washington, and his obsession with ducks and geese continued after he and his family moved to Michigan two seasons ago. It was in Michigan that Jones met Zink Calls Pro-Staffer, Bill Hawk, who in turn introduced the young caller to Fred Zink and Field Hudnall. Full Story

Thanksgiving 2008
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I always spend the morning hunting with my dad. During my 30 plus years of hunting I have missed only a handful of Thanksgivings because of work commitments. This year was no exception. Thanksgiving 2008 found me sharing a soy bean field on the Western Shore of Maryland with my dad. We met at 6 am to set up our blinds and 10 dozen full bodies. Full Story

In the Crosshairs and the Camera
Chad Belding remembers the first time he filmed a goose hunt with Team Zink. The young competitive goose caller and avid outdoorsman kept thinking how much more work was involved in filming as opposed to simply hunting. The digging, hammering, raking, covering, hiding – and that was l-o-n-g before anything associated with the decoys and blinds! Still, exceptional video footage is, without question, the result of attention to detail; that’s what Team Zink is all about. Full Story

Day 2 of Opening Weekend
For fellow Avery Pro-Staffer Allen Riggs and me, it was day two of opening weekend. Yesterdays hunt was cut short due to high winds and whitecaps on the river. Still, we managed 9 birds for the morning, not bad for a quick hunt. So for day two our plan was to hit some protected water on one of the islands, a slough that is frequently packed with mallards and teal. We started out at 04:30, temperature was sitting at 22 degrees and calm, the fog on the river made the 2 mile boat ride cold and slow. Full Story

Bottineau County, ND
Day four of our ND trip started early, 3 am in fact, to make sure we got the field we scouted the afternoon before.  Tom Hughes, Chris Hawkins, and I all made the long trip from the Carolina's to ND this year.  We estimated around 2,000 honkers and 500-800 mallards in this particular field location.  We were very stoked being the wind direction was from the west which put sun at our backs allowing us to easily distinguish mallard drakes from the hens. There were no lessers or light geese in this area so we only used 4 dozen GHG FFD Canada Geese decoys and 6 dozen GHG Full Body decoys. Full Story

Ontario 2008
October 4, 2008 was the day we had been waiting for. The day that fellow high points winners and Z-Unit members, Rusty Hallock, Mark Hoke, Troy Bailey and myself were to board a plane and head to the Zink shop in Port Clinton, Ohio for our 3-day trip to Walkerton, Ontario to hunt with Steve Todtz and the guys at Grey Bruce Outfitters. It seems like time has stood still since Clay sent out the email in July asking which of us would be able to make the trip. Unfortunately, Troy was transferring to a new division and not able to get the time off to make the trip up north, so it was left up to Rusty, Mark and myself to pick up the slack. Full Story

Short Hunts, Small Spreads & Going Solo
Like many waterfowlers, I started out shooting small ponds and swamps, where I didn't need bags of equipment, a boat or even decoys some times. The hunts were usually short, before school or after football practice, for an hour or two at best. Most of these little holes required you to walk in and out longer than you actually got to hunt. On good hunts, a game strap usually held a couple wood ducks and if you were really lucky, a plump mallard or a tasty green wing teal. There was rarely a limit taken, even though at the time our limit was only three ducks each. This is how I cut my teeth in waterfowling, it was never about the number of birds, but more so about having fun with friends or just spending time outdoors. Full Story

Pre-Season Gun Maintenance Part 1: Gas Operated Semi Autos
Spring is gone, summer is here, which means duck season for some is only a short time around the bend. I asked Clay if I could write an article for the website about a subject near and dear to me, but that others hate, GUN MAINTENANCE! Full Story

New Jersey Opener
Labor Day weekend found myself and Avery Pro-Staff Relations Manager Rob Jepson heading north on the New Jersey Turnpike to meet up with friends for our annual opening day hunt. Over the last three years, fellow Avery Pro-Staffer and owner of Storm Outfitters (stormoutfitters.com) Dave Weidner and friend Larry VanKirk, have set aside September 1st to hunt together. Full Story

Zink Pro-Staffer Wins '08 World Turkey Calling Championship
Buckeye Stater, Shane Hendershot, out-performed a field of true calling professionals this past weekend in Birmingham, Alabama, to emerge the 2008 World Turkey Calling Champion. Hendershot, a recent addition to Fred Zink's northern Ohio-based ZINK Calls Company, was joined by teammate, Josh Grossenbacher, not only in competition but on the award platform as well, with the men walking away with a first and sixth ranking, respectively. Full Story

A New Beginning
Last August, Zink Calls celebrated their Grand Opening at their new location in Port Clinton, Ohio. This state-of-the-art 10,000 square foot building houses Zink's showroom and offices, as well as the company's manufacturing and warehousing facilities. "Our pride and joy," said company owner and founder, Fred Zink, "is our showroom. Here, we're finally able to spotlight all of the products - calls, DVDs, soft goods, and more... Full Story

Zink Calls Announces Spring Turkey Hunting Video
The Spring of 2008 opened a new door for the Ohio-based outdoor company, Zink Calls, as two of the nation's best turkey callers - Shane Hendershot, and Josh Grossenbacher - took their first steps into the world of turkey hunting videography. Joined by Zink Videographer, Walt Gabbard, the team captured more than 25 successful hunts on video, including outings in Tennessee, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, South Carolina, California, and Ontario, Canada. Full Story

High Points Champion
As the individual in charge of the Zink Calls Pro-Staff, I not only have the opportunity to interact very closely with our staffers, but I'm afforded the incredible experience of watching them excel through the year. One stand-out representative of the Zink Z-Unit Team this season is Rusty Hallock. Currently the Pro-Staff High Points Champion, Hallock, who has served as the team's High Points Champion the past two years running, lives in Centerville, Maryland. Full Story

Zink Calls Video Productions snd Distribution Company Formed
Zink Calls is pleased to announce the formation of 24-7™ Productions - a video production, marketing and distribution branch of Zink Calls, Inc. Over the last four years Zink Calls has produced their own 24-7™ series of videos in house but also recognize that there are other talented film makers out there. "We have provided production and/or sponsorship to other high quality waterfowl hunting videos so the formation of our own company was the next logical step," says Fred Zink, owner Zink Calls, Inc. "We will not only continue to produce and distribute our own videos, we will also market and distribute those high quality hunting videos that we believe meet the high standards of Zink Calls." Full Story

SPECKtacular Goose Hunt
I received a phone call from my hunting partner and fellow Avery Pro-Staff member Curt Wilson on a late January afternoon. He proceeded to tell me how he couldn't believe the number of Spec's and Snows he saw in a field he was scouting. After finding out the location, I told him I had the privilege of hunting that same field the previous year. I made a telephone call to a customer and friend of mine and the date was set. Finally, a true test for the Zink Power-Spec. Full Story

Wood Over Water- Potomac River Smackdown!
An idea came about a few months ago about testing the effectiveness of wood Zink calls and GHG® decoys to hunt heavily pressured, late season, public water honkers. Paul Cupka asked me to join him in Virginia to hunt the Potomac River way back in October while we were hunting in Canada. Not only was I excited about hunting with him on his "home" turf, but also to be involved in this great idea of Wood Over Water! It was something I was not going to pass up! Full Story

Late on the Big Muddy
Very seldom does a plan work out perfectly. When it does and involves a hunt it is usually one that many cherished memories come from and this case was no different. Following a great hunt on the Kansas River the week before, our group started putting plans together for the final weekend of the Kansas dark goose season. Full Story

Post-Season Preparations
The one idea that most water fowlers share is; the season is over, put the dekes in the shed, cover the boat or hang the calls in the closet... For the guys at Zink Calls, the season never ends. Instead, when February comes, time starts to run-out for preparation of the up-coming season. In this article you will learn tips and tricks from the guys that have been through it all and have come to understand and respect the inevitability of, "Trial and Error." Full Story

Finishing Things Up Right
The ending of the Nebraska dark goose season hadn't sat real well with me. The zone that I live in had closed a few weeks earlier and I had plans of getting out into the other zones in Nebraska to finish the season off right, but with fighting the flu and poor weather conditions, those plans soon turned to dreams. Full Story

Flag From the Rear
To be successful with late season geese, sometimes you have to pull out all of the stops. Our plan was to hunt a soy bean field during the last week of the season. The problem was going to be that we had hunted that field one to two times a week for the last 5 weeks using spreads of four to five dozen FFD Lessers. Today's plan called for combining two decoy rigs into one large spread of twenty five dozen full bodies and over-sized shells. Full Story

Two Amazing Aerial Shows
With the second and final split of the Maryland A.P. goose season quickly approaching, we had to formulate a plan for opening day. We had a few strikes going against us for the opening day: the forecasted weather was 60 degrees and no wind, I only had access to corn fields that the geese had barely touched, and the geese had been exposed to heavy hunting pressure. Little did I know my luck was about to change only days from opening day. Full Story

Zink Calls - the Official Waterfowl Call sponsor of the Super Retriever Series
Zink Calls is very proud to announce that we are now the Official Waterfowl Call sponsor of the "SRS" Super Retriever Series, which can be viewed on OLN "Outdoor Life Network" starting in April.

Zink Calls - the Official Waterfowl Call of Ducks Unlimited WaterDog
There are very few shows on TV that truly represent what waterfowl hunting is all about. As a video production company and a company that makes its living through the design of custom waterfowl calls, providing family like customer service, and capturing the lifestyle through the eyes of a camera; we never considered sponsoring another TV show...Until Now!!