187 Calls

I guess tha tag 'passion' gets thrown around alot, in life and pursuits. Most of us have a passion for a number of things including waterfowl hunting. But when you go one step beyond the passion to live and breathe waterfowl hunting 24/7, to not only do it and dream about it but then to work at it 24/7, we'll I guess you'd call that person 'obsessed', or as the dictionary defines it - Dan Mineau!

Dan was introduced to waterfowl hunting by his grandfather at age 15. Hunting over ponds and jump shooting was the norm back then but over the next few years Dan had found that calling geese made opportunities and limits easier to achieve. That started the man thinking and tinkering - a trait not lost among many men looking for an edge. He began calling competitively at age 25 along side a few other local calling competitors and began making a name for himself, ultimately landing him a staff position with Bill Saunders out west. After about 12 years with that particular affiliation, Dan became interested in making his own calls and a name for himself in the industry. Over the next 4 - 5 years worth of trial and error and a great deal of thought on how he'd want a call to sound and recreate that illusive 'goosey tone', the business of 187 Calls was born.

pictured above are the 1-87 calls in a variety of exotic woods

I can honestly say that Dan has reached and achieved that 'goosey tone' in his calls. One hand is all that's needed to create great sound and most sequences for these calls. It would appear as though back pressure is built in for all but the lowest of gutteral tones required. This happenstance is great in the blind as it leaves the other hand available for the flage or readying the shotgun.

Dan will only be making the 187 calls in wood. Each call is tuned by Dan and referenced. A single block of wood is used per call making it easy to realign the ends if for some reason you feel the need to open the call and admire the Wingtip guts inside. The calls have aluminum inserts making for a lifetime of calling without the constant expansion and contraction that you get with the wooden bottleneck/insert.

Mr. Mineau's focus in waterfowling at this point in his life, after reaching every other goal, is to pass the love of the sport onto the youth. As we all know, or should realize, our youth is our future and waterfowl's future guardian. Dan wants to install that dedication into the young hunters at every opportunity and already started creating and donating calls for special events with Delta Waterfowl and other beneficiaries. Giving back or paying it forward - he's getting it done in spades and will benefit from the committment he has shown waterfowling.