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S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S • 105 C huck Palahniuk once wrote, "We all die. The goal isn't to live forever; the goal is to create something that will." His quote could very well be called the Artists' Creed for its depth and insight. Once an artist achieves a modicum of success, their thoughts turn from simply paying the bills to creating something truly unique, personal, and, ultimately, eternal. While Joe Bucher is still a reasonably young man, and while he's far from done carving duck calls, his days of make-a-lot-quick are mostly behind him. He's made his mark—even had a call enshrined in Ducks Unlimited's waterfowl museum inside the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee. He knows how he wants to cap his creative career, and for duck hunters and those who love wood carving, it's a truly awe-inspiring idea. Bucher began carving calls in high school with Marshland Game Calls, located in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. When Bucher went to a local gun shop to purchase one of the company's calls, the shop owner told him they were out of stock and suggested he call Marshland's owner, Dale Largent, directly to see about buying one. Bucher did, and Largent invited him to visit his call shop. Largent gave Bucher a tour of his basement workspace, complete with salt- and pepper- shaker turning lathes that had been re-tasked to create duck calls. Bucher spotted several calls that had been painted in a "folk-artsy" style and thought he would like to try his hand at doing the same. The day ended with Largent giving Bucher a few calls to practice painting, which he quickly finished and brought back to Largent ready to sell. Largent bought the calls and gave Bucher more to work on. Bucher was soon providing his gracious benefactor with a large enough supply to take to outdoor shows and sell. "The rest is kind of history," Bucher said. "It got to the point that I was doing tons of carving for him and started putting bands on a lot of his calls." Largent took the finished calls to Minnesota to sell at an outdoor show in Minneapolis, "loading his car completely full and selling them all," Bucher said. Largent returned, gave Bucher another order, and on they went for some time. Eventually Bucher asked if Largent would Craftsmen by taylor J. Pardue These duck calls may be The mosT elaboraTe ever produced. mind if he struck out on his own. Largent's answer: Go forth and prosper. F rom there, Bucher was off to the races. He began showcasing his work in art galleries—at one point more than 100 featured his creations all across the country. Looking to move into mass production, Bucher began noticing office supplies with laser engraving on them, which set him to thinking: Why not use that same technology with duck calls? "We tried to find a laser company that could do duck calls. The problem we had doing this is the duck calls were cylindrical, and they were also tapered. The engraving machines at that time [mid-1990s] didn't have the software to compensate for the taper of them. The roundness of the call itself was even a challenge." A Canadian craftsman eventually created a matrix to hold the call as it spun and the accompanying software to account for the taper, allowing Bucher to realize his vision. The first few Bucher got back "weren't real great," but he was able to have a pair of flying mallards emblazoned PhotograPhy by abrielle deCavele