Cam Grabast
Age 31
Married - Wife Jodi, 2 Daughters, Malori - 7, Brooklynn – 4
I started field hunting geese when I was 7 years old. My father and uncle would take me just to help setup, and retrieve birds. I remember many days, hunting near a local refuge, wearing blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and rubber boots - and lying on the ground all day freezing. We hunted under gunny sacks, and covered up with whatever stubble we can find. My, how far the goose hunting world has come!
I was able to take hunter's safety when I turned 10. I also got a new goose call, a Ken Martin long reed! That year, my dad let me finally take a gun with me to the field. I shot my first goose, an 11 pound Canada with my dad's Browning 10 gauge that same year. I always enjoyed just being there, but being able to carry my own gun, and running a call really made me determined!
I hunted nearly everyday that I could from that point on - but being so young, I could only go when I had a ride. The year that I turned 16, I prayed snow all season long, just so that school would get out early enough allowing me to set up in time for the evening flight. I still remember begging for my dad’s silhouettes, and my uncle’s awesome spread of G&H Super Mag's, and Mag shells. We did pretty well, but I always knew that the calling could be better. I listened to birds on the refuge at our local lake, and knew that there were more vocalizations that geese made, other than the “honk” that my Martin made.
During the next few years, I researched every mail order catalog that I could find, and finally read an article in Field and Stream that made hunting geese much better. The article described a new style call that could really get the birds attention, and could do a much better job at reproducing natural sounds than a standard long reed call could make – Tim Grounds Half-Breed.
I remember the day that it arrived at the door. I pulled it out of the package, and played around trying to make “new” sounds. I realized that it was going to take some work, and listened to the instructional tape that came with it. After many, many months I had the call where I wanted it.
The Half-Breed continued to be my go to call for nearly everything. I had also acquired a Gander Lander Flute that added to the realism. During every hunt, I picked up new tricks to call Canada geese, and hunting these creatures became second nature. The only thing that got in the way was College.
Fast forward to the spring of 2002…
While working as an engineer after I graduated College, I decided to try my hand at designing my own goose call. I owned many calls by then, and new what I was looking for. Every call in my arsenal had at least one attribute that I liked, but none had it all. I drew up a sleek design, that fit well in the hand and had all the inside dimensions that I liked. I bought all the necessary equipment (lathes, mandrels, drill press, tools, etc.) and went to work. I will admit, that my first calls were very “rough” and it took me some time to get a call worthy of selling to the general public. I started the old fashioned way, by word of mouth advertising. I would try to get the call in everyone’s hands that I could. I had some great constructive criticism that made me a better call maker. After a couple years, I started to sell more calls than I ever thought I could.
2005 was a real turning point for Mac Island Calls. I had developed a customer base that was over 75% return customers. That year, I spent nearly every minute I could in the shop, and made and sold just over 100 calls.
In 2006, the business took another leap. I had expanded from just making Canada goose calls. I had always enjoyed hunting ducks but to be honest, didn’t know a thing about calling them. I worked every spare minute that I had, trying to develop a duck call. I really had no idea where to begin, and made some phone calls to other call makers to see if they could lend a hand. A guy named James Keith (owner of Foggy Bottom Calls who at that time had been building duck calls for over 20 years) was more than helpful (we spoke for nearly 2 hours over the phone). James invited me down to his shop in Oologah, Oklahoma for a long weekend. We spent 4 days in the shop with James teaching me nearly everything he knew about making a good duck call. I could not get over James and his willingness to help someone that he’d only spoken to over the phone. I appreciated that weekend more than my good bud James will ever know.
I came home with a new outlook on building a duck call. I tried every possible angle, and reed set that I could come up with. After about 300 hours, and nearly 50 different duck inserts, I came up with a design that I knew was real good, but sent it around for second opinions. All the feedback that I received was positive, and my Wingman duck call was born. I had also found the time to add a Specklebelly call, and a Snow goose call.
2007. Business steadily increased, while maintaining the 75% return customer base. I was up to my neck in orders, and at most times was at minimum of a 5 week turnaround time for custom orders. I plugged away making calls (while trying to do my real job, and spending time with my family) and ended the year at just over 400 calls made, with a carry over into 2008.
With all that I had on my plate, I knew that something had to change. I was working nearly 16 hour days just to keep up with everything I had going. I knew that I had to make a decision with the direction of Mac Island Calls. During the summer of 2008, Howard Avery, the owner of Muddy Dog Lanyards, contacted me about becoming a co-owner of Mac Island Calls. This was just the break I was looking for. Howard and I worked an arrangement where each of us would become co-owners of our respective companies. With this, Muddy Dog Outdoors was born.
Both Howard and I have high expectations of our new company, and with the addition of our team, we will continue to build the highest quality products available. We are looking forward to what is to come, and you all should too.
Sincerely,
Cam Grabast
