Name: Jim Shaw
Address: 3103 North 13th Street; Lincoln, NE 68521
Phone: 402-477-9711 Fax:
E-mail: olgoblr@neb.rr.com
Personal Website:

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J.S. Calls

Every call maker has at least one unique story of their first attempt at making calls. Jim Shaw's story is no exception to the rule and from the results one might question "You actually were able to make it work???". Jim's first experience with call making happened while fishing in the Wyoming Mountains. With nothing more than a duck call barrel in hand Jim picked up a piece of aspen wood and embarked on the tedious task of shaping it into an insert with only a file. It took some time but he eventually filed it down enough to fit snuggly into the barrel. With no mylar at his disposal he found the next best thing lying around, a piece of plastic from a milk jug. After more filing and blowing the finished call ended up sounding ok!!! Definitely the call makers award for resourcefulness and determination.

Jim grew up in Lincoln Nebraska and has been an avid hunter since he began hunting with his father at the age of 8. He has continued that hunting tradition for over 47 years and now hunts with his son Adam and grandson Codey. In the Southeast part of Nebraska, Jim and his partners hunt everything from duck and geese to wild pheasants and turkeys.

He became serious about call making when he was fiddling with an old call he regularly used in the field. The old call sounded good but Jim wanted to make a Cocobola barrel for it. The idea of just trying to make the barrel wasn't enough of a challenge so he decided why not just build an entire call from scratch. Once the project started he encountered obstacles almost every step of the way. Major challenges included the correct way to drill the barrels out, designing and building the inserts and finally hand cutting the reeds to the proper lengths and dimensions. It was enough to make a person give up, but with encouragement and involvement from his son they stuck to the plan and both were able to solve the problems and come up with a very durable duck call.

Current production of Jims calls are around 25 to 30 callers a year. His calls are sold under the label "J.S. Calls" and are built with a variety of woods including; Osage Orange, Cocobola, Bocote and his favorite Blackwood. One would classify Jim's calls as field grade as they are attractive, easy to blow and produce a great feeding chatter. However, once he applies a high gloss finish to them, these calls would look just as good sitting on a mantel in the hunting club.

When Jim is not making calls he finds himself active with organizations like Delta Waterfowl and also an organization called "Friends of the Rainwater Basin" in Nebraska. This group promotes the overall health of what is called the rainwater basin area (marsh country) and seeks revenue for pumping water in public hunting areas. Jim is also a member of the Custom Callmakers Association of America.

Long gone are the days of milk jug and aspen wood call inserts. With his son and grandson acting as his R&D team and Quality Control Department, Jim has accomplished his goal of providing the average hunter with a great looking hardwood duck call. A call that is easy to blow, affordable and one any hunter would be proud to hand down to the next generation of young hunters.