Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/769056
forever. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent economic downturn forced many of Bucher's sales relationships to end. Mom-and-pops had to close up shop; major retailers like Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops had to decline orders—several different pieces of the same crumbling pie, leaving Bucher with only two options: Adapt, or die. "I knew I had to flip over to do something really, really different," Bucher said. "I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do. I still had a lot of orders for just carved calls. But I knew that wasn't really enough to wow people." A new idea began to take shape between 2011 and 2012. Elaborately carved and colored duck calls, one representing each species of waterfowl in North America. And not just the species proper, but all the trappings and traditions that made each duck, goose, or swan (Maybe swans; he's not sure about them just yet.) an intrinsic part of the landscape it inhabited. "They're all going to be very unique, and they're all going to be themed," Bucher said. "The mottled duck is a Louisiana theme. The or 4,500 calls—the first year to national," Bucher said. "We sold 4,500," he later recalled, "because Gary even talked about doing a second edition." There were lots of mallard engravings. Some Canada geese. Dogs, particularly Labs, were popular. The partnership saw between 4,000 and 4,500 calls sold each year for nine years before the national deal ended. "Then they ended up dropping the line, because they do that. They were not going to carry you forever because they're looking for new stuff," Bucher said. "But then we started doing lots of work with the states; at one time we had half the states in the country doing projects with us. Plus, a zillion independent chapters. "We made thousands of them for Ducks Unlimited nationally. We would run 4,500 to 5,000 editions of the engraved calls with Ducks Unlimited," Bucher said, along with arrangements with Caterpillar, Bass Pro Shops, and more. "This was going on in the mid-1990s up until about the mid-2000s." H owever, like the original deal with Ducks Unlimited, nothing lasts on a call. Following through on his years- long passion, he headed for Tennessee, hoping against hope the new calls could become associated with Ducks Unlimited. "I painted it up and actually drove down to Memphis and talked to Gary Goodpaster, who was the head of product selection down there at the time," Bucher said. "Gary said they had already picked their products for the year, but they would keep it in mind." The call stayed in Memphis and Bucher went home. A few months went by before an out-of-the-blue call came from Goodpaster. "He said, 'Hey Joe, one of our vendors dropped out. Would you be interested in doing this?'" The question was practically rhetorical. No way Bucher was going to let the opportunity slip from his grasp. D U started off with a few hundred of Bucher's calls, selling them immediately—immediately immediately. The first run was gone in a week, with orders for 800 more already placed by the week's close. "We ended up selling 4,000 calls—4,000 106 • S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S