Exotic calling

VILLE PLATTE ­-- Mac Bourque’s wife just wanted him to build her a table.
He didn’t have a lot of experience but as a child he had watched his father do woodworking projects, which included building and repairing chairs and picture frames around the family home in Pecan Island.
So Bourque went out and bought a lathe,a machine which rotates items on its axis to enable cutting, sanding, drilling and other tasks, got online and surfed the web on how to turn legs for making a table.
“While I was looking online, an article popped up on how to make ducks calls,” Bourque said “I said I can do this. I am from Pecan Island and have hunted ducks all my life. So, I started making duck calls and it has turned into this [MB Custom Calls].”
MB Custom Calls is a small company, based out of Bourque’s workshop, that makes hand-spun duck calls from a variety of exotic woods. His calls are typically 2 3/4 to 3 inches in length and are used to attract a variety of ducks -- specifically teal and mallards. He also crafts a call for specklebelly geese and he’s even made one for squirrels. The calls range from $35 [for his duck calls] to $60 [for his goose calls).
It seems the 52-year-old Bourque was destined to make duck calls. Growing up in Pecan Island, which is known as one of Louisiana’s top duck hunting destinations, he developed and nurtured a passion for duck and goose hunting.
“I had four brothers and every weekend we would go out to our 560-plus acre lease on Pecan Island and hunt,” Bourque said. “I would even try to sneak in a teal hunt before going to school. Growing up I played basketball, ran track and hunted. That’s all we had to do over there.
Bourque left Pecan Island and relocated to Ville Platte after he got married. He landed a good job working offshore as a production operator with a 14-on and 14-off rotation. He made sure that during his days off he spent as much time as he could hunting at his camp in his hometown.
It was Bourque’s job, though, that provided the honest, and much-needed feedback he needed when he first started out making calls almost three years ago.
“I would bring them offshore with me and the guys would say ‘man I don’t know if I like those,’” remembered Bourque, who still keeps those early calls in a plastic bag in his workshop. “But after a while, and after much work, they began to like them. I finally made one they liked and that is the pattern I have stuck with it ever since.”
With the pattern perfected, Bourque expanded his workshop by adding electric saws and a drill press. In all, Bourque estimates he spent more than $1,500 on machinery alone.
By trial and error, he discovered what drill bits work best for his calls, like a 5/8 inch bit for ducks and 1/2 inch bit for teal. He also used several different grades of sandpaper for certain calls and heat wax that coats the call.
However, Bourquedoes not make his own inserts, instead he relies on Arkansas-based Echo Duck Calls for his inserts. And, despite relying on imported inserts, it doesn’t make his calls any less unique because of the material he uses.
While he made most of his first calls from more common woods such as cypress, walnut and cedar, Bourque made the decision early on to make his calls from exotic woods. He has between 25-30 different types of wood in which to choose from. There is India Rosewood, Desert Ironwood, Bolivian Rosewood, Blackened Burnese and his two best sellers Coco Bolo and Black & White Ebony. A three-inch piece of one of those woods costs him $56.
He also makes calls out of a spalted wood (a piece of wood with decay fungi) that forces him to wear a breathing mask while cutting and sanding it.
His high-end calls made their debut at the Gueydan Duck Festival in 2013. It was not only a very enjoyable experience, it was an overly profitable one as well.
“The people attending the festival really loved the calls but my calls were $15 more than others,” Bourque said. “So, most bought the cheaper ones.”
Undeterred Bourque had a breakthrough that Christmas. Even though his calls still didn’t have a name, he crafted and sold more than a 100 between Dec. 23-24.
“My wife said ‘Mac’ I didn’t think we were going to be able to go Christmas shopping,’” Bourque said. “I told her I didn’t think we would either.”
The majority of Bourque’s business occurs between September and December. He advertises his calls online on Craigslist, Facebook and Louisiana Sportsman. He also has flyers in local business around town, and a good amount of his business stems from his fellow offshore workers.
With a few years under his belt, Bourque has making his calls down pat. It usually takes him roughly 10 minutes from start to finish for a completed call. As a matter of fact, he knocked out 16 teal calls recently one morning for a woman in Pecan Island.
Bourque’s business may be small in scope right now but he isn’t banking on this being his golden ticket to retirement.
“This is just a sideline thing,” Bourque said. “I am one-person guy. This is nothing that is going allow me to retire. I just love making the calls.”
And what about the table he was supposed to make for his wife, did he ever get around to finishing it?
“No I did not,” Bourque laughed. “She gave me some grief but she said I would eventually get around to making the table for her.”