For those looking for cheap but effective duck call, Red Bandit brings in birds

By Brennan Kohl

With duck season approaching tomorrow, many hunters have still not found the right call for them. Some go for the cheaper $20 calls, while others go for the expensive $100 plus calls, but I’ve always tried to find the middle ground. I successfully did that last fall.

I discovered Beaver Creek Game Calls on Twitter when they followed me, so I decided to take a look at their duck calls. The most expensive call is around $64.99 while the cheapest is about $39.99. One call in particular caught my eye, the Red Bandit.

The Red Bandit looks and works great. I’ve always struggled trying to find a call that sounds how I want it too, but finally after years of duck hunting, I found one. I didn’t get much of a chance to use it last fall, as many duck hunters could not hunt when the migration finally happened.

On the last day of the special September teal season, I got my chance to test it out. I took a couple buddies out to a small pond not too far away in hopes of bagging a couple teal for some good grilling.

Around 7 a.m. on Sept. 11, a large flock of blue-winged teal flew in the distance over another pond with rival hunters. The other hunters were blowing their calls constantly with about five of them all calling the “hail call,” but the teal would not commit to their spread.

The group then began flying over our way, and once they started to fly past us, I pulled out the Red Bandit and began calling. I used the “hail call” and immediately the ducks started flying toward our spread. I called a few more times, and the ducks were locked in to our spread of half a dozen teal decoys.

As soon as they got over us, we let ’em have it. Unfortunately, they must have dodged past every BB sent their way because we dropped one out of a group of about 15 birds. Our shotguns empty, we high-fived and loaded up again. We only shot two more ducks that day, but for the last day of teal season on public land, we were pretty happy to even get some shooting.

The Red Bandit is a great call for beginners and skillful duck hunters alike, the raspy tone makes it sound just as real as a mallard. It’s a great call handmade in Upstate New York, and they even write the day in which it was made on the call for an even more handmade feel.

If you need a good duck call for this season, I highly recommend the Red Bandit. You can find it on beavercreekgamecalls.com for $39.99.

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