Incredibly comprehensive but great fun in the reading! What can you say about a duck call book that has over 600 pages and over 500 calls pictured in actual size! Doug Lodermeier's new book, Duck Call Makers of Minnesota ‚ yesterday's and today's folk artists, is an absolute sure-fire winner. It's a pretty rare thing when a book manages to be almost encyclopedically comprehensive in its detailed coverage of subject matter and, at the same time, provides the reader with a really fun ride through its hundreds of pages. Lodermeier's book does just that!
If you want to know something (No, make that anything at all!!) about a Minnesota duck call carver, past or present, living or dead, and you can't find it in this book, you must be mistaken about the name of the call maker you are trying to look up. But this new volume is so much more than a "fact book!" It takes you inside the lives of the call makers that it chronicles. You get a mini-biography of every call maker covered. You come to know the carver through the eyes of friends, family members, and hunting buddies.
But the genius of this book is that it is interesting and informative at the same time. Each call maker is presented to the reader through a format that has several parts or "windows." First there is the "story" of the call maker himself. Then there is the presentation of his calls, complete with full-size photos of many different models, and even break-apart pictures that show stem, stopper, wedge, and reed systems. Next there is information about and photos of the packaging of the calls (boxes, cartons, etc.). Then there is coverage of the maker's other artistic and/or craft skills ‚ his duck or fish decoys, fishing plugs, paintings, boats, or whatever he might be the master of ‚ above and beyond the calls that he makes. And finally, there is information about the sales and instructional materials related to the calls (ads, flyers, instructions, etc.).
The author is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys all types of hunting and fishing. He is also an incurable collector of all kinds of sporting artifacts, especially ‚ of course ‚ Minnesota duck and game calls. Lodermeier spent three years researching the material for this book, but it was time well spent. The volume is certain to become a collectible in its own right almost as soon as it comes off the press. The number of copies printed will be determined by pre-publication orders; in no case will the press run be more than 1,000 copies. The price of this landmark volume is $80.00 (postage paid). Copies can be reserved by contacting the author by phone at (612) 922-9674 or by email at ‚ doug@dougandpaul.com