THREE RIVERS AREA — He pressed the acrylic duck call to his lips.
“Listen to the difference,” Jay Rogers said as he blew the single-reed duck call, then the double-reed.
Killer Kallz has always been in the back of John Clouse’s mind, and it seemed like a great complement to his Angle Porting Ballistic Specialties business in Batesville. As the economy slowed, so did sales for the shotgunaccessories market; the waterfowl call business fit in just right.
Rogers and Clouse have more than 40 years of combined experience in the tool and die business. That experience is key in producing a goodsounding waterfowl call. The calls, dubbed the world’s deadliest, have a unique sound - loud, yet raspy.
From start to finish, it took aboutthree weeks to perfect the sound board in the first call. And the entire process takes place at the Killer Kallz Batesville facility.
“Then we made our jigs from that prototype” Rogers said. “It only tookfive minutes to manufacture.”
Rogers designs each call with a computerized 3D program. Once he gets the measurements and the look he likes, he sends the design to a machine on the factory floor.
Two weeks out of the shoot, the duck calls took second place in a “meat” style calling contest in Walnut Ridge. Then the calls took three third places at the National Ducks Unlimited conference in Dallas.
“We’re still evolving, and we have new products coming out,” Kirkpatrick said.
Rogers said Killer Kallz is the only duck call manufacturer that uses acrylic bands, which arelighter weight, but durable.
Most of the calls the company makes are all acrylic, which lasts longer and has a more consistent sound than wood; however, the company does make afew wood goose calls.
“We wanted to be different,” Rogers said. “They look different, and they sound different.”
Killer Kallz is the only official duck call for Orvis, and private-label calls were made for the catalog. Also, 20 special calls were made from amboyna burl - a rare, exotic hardwood that is used to make Rolls Royce dashboards.
“[The wood calls] still have that Killer sound,” Rogers said. “They are made out of a wood that you can’t go down to the lumber company and get.”
A hunter doesn’t have just one type of call. There are various calls for different hunting conditions.
“It’s like shoes,” Rogers said with a laugh. “How many pairs of shoes does my wife have? A closet full.”
In conjunction with the White River Water Carnival this year, Killer Kallz willsponsor a duck-calling contest at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at Riverside Park in Batesville. There will be cash prizes. The cost to enter is $30 per person, per contest, and $15 for the youth division, for kids 17 and younger. For the rules, visit www.teamrealduck.com.
Other than Clouse, who owns the company, and Rogers, who is the mastermind behind the calls, members of the Killer Kallz team are Shane Wood, Dr. Chris Beller and Tyler Wood.
- jbrosius@ arkansasonline.com
Three Rivers, Pages 121 on 06/27/2010