Name: Wade Carpenter
Address: 9040 County Road CC 8; Idalia, CO 80735
Phone: 970-354-7277 Fax: 970-354-7420
E-mail: wade@webfootcustomcalls.com
Personal Website: www.webfootcustomcalls.com

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 Webfoot Custom Calls

Wade Carpenter grew up in Berthoud, Colorado and has been an avid duck and goose hunter since the age of nine. Even before he could hold his first shotgun Wade recalls the countless days that he often tagged along with his father to the blind. This closeness and mentoring from his father allowed him to gain a true respect for the outdoors, conservation and wildlife at an early age. Today, Wade is an active member in an array of groups that include the NRA, Delta Waterfowl, and his favorite the Hunting Retriever Clubs (HRC).

Wade’s interest in the art of call making started when he was just 12 years old. Eager to learn, he often listening in on his fathers hunting conversations about call makers and calls. It was conversations like these that Wade thought to himself that he could make a call of his own, and that is exactly what he did. His first prototype involved threading a lag bolt into a piece of willow and attaching that lag bolt to a drill press. Using the drill press as a lathe he used the coarsest rasps that he could find in his dads workshop. Slowly he began to whittle the wood down. He turned both the barrel and insert, and then used a 5/8” wood bit to drill out the centers. To finish the call he inserting the guts from an old faulks duck call. After completion it was a true masterpiece, crude, poor sounding and not much to look at. Wade’s newfound hobby convinced his father that the purchase of a lathe was a must, especially if that drill press was going to last much longer. Upon the purchase of the lathe, Wade took it upon himself to start the process over again and make a call for his 4H project at the local county fair That year his project won Grand Champion in both the local and State competitions.

Wade credits his father for the knowledge that he has gained over time. As those years went by, Wade and his father worked side by side to perfect their call making talent. Wade was the hands on person while his father who also turned calls spent most of his time reading up on techniques and processes. During that time Wade was fortunate to have a call maker by the name of Tom Cox send his father a several calls to use as examples. Wade’s first call were mimics of Mr. Cox’s calls but were crucial because they allowed him to study and learn true dimensions involved with duck call making. Over the years Wade has improved and modified his calls design and sound, but only after overcoming the dreaded tone board obstacle. Drilling, turning and finishing the calls has a certain amount of science involved but these steps don’t require fancy equipment as Wade puts it. However mastering the tone board is an art. Wade’s major achievement was the ability to understand what affects the sound, but it is a never-ending process and each day that goes by he learns something new.

Today, Wade has focused most of his attention on his own line of hunting grade calls or “meat calls” as he likes to call them. These calls are made from a variety of woods that include, Pink Ivory, Coca bolo, and Ebony to name a few. He also enjoys working with acrylics. All calls both wood and acrylic are hand turned and tuned personally by Wade. None of his calls are generated on CNC equipment and he prefers it that way. Wades calls are high quality with an emphasis in performance. Each call is designed to handle the everyday rigors of a waterfowl hunt and be ready for the next one. Most recently Wade has started working on a competition call, a collector’s edition call and even a new short reed goose call all of which are in prototype stage. Wade hopes to have these new calls completed in the near future. Call making for Wade is currently a hobby, however if requests for his calls continue as they have in the past he might just change his mind.

Other significant accomplishments by Wade are his design and creation of his own mandrel system which he markets and sells through his website. Wade also sells a variety of other call making tools, woods and acrylics. So make sure you stop by and visit him at the Webfoot Custom Calls website.