Profi le: Kyle Gudmunsen-Call Maker Kyle Dykstra
n many nights during the crisp fall months you can find Kyle Gudmunsen in his garage, where it’s very quiet. The silence is interrupted by the gentle hum of his lathe, as he begins to transform simple blocks of wood into beautifully hand-crafted predator calls. Kyle, a native of North Dakota, is recently an electri- cal engineering graduate of South Dakota State University. He began the art of call mak- ing three years ago by mere chance and has since sold his custom calls in ten states, from California to Maine.
O
Though he works pri- marily on a lathe, his early work was quite different. “I started out making water buf- falo horn howlers,” Gudmun- sen said. “I was at a coyote hunting tournament back home and saw a guy using a
funnel-shaped howler that had a reed attached, and suddenly I got the idea to use horns.” Later that week, and a couple of Web searches later, he ordered two boxes of ten water buffalo horns and dove right in. Though it wasn’t easy, through trial and error he began to develop his methods. “Making those howlers is really difficult because there’s so much sanding and polishing involved in forming those rough looking horns into a smooth and shiny final product. I probably messed up six before I finally had a product that I could sell.” He sold his first horn howler for fifteen dollars and pro-
ceeded to craft more than a dozen more during the next year. The horns did have their limitations, however, and Kyle’s imagination went back to work. “With horn calls, I’m really restricted on numbers since they take so long to produce, and I’m also strictly limited to predator calls,” Kyle explained. This issue led him to his lathe.
In the following months, Kyle bought a Craftsman lathe
for $65.00 and with practice began to turn out duck, goose and turkey calls, as well as creating masses of open-reed and closed-reed predator calls. Many of the woods he works with are exotics from all over the world. When turned on a lathe, these mere pieces of wood expose an inner beauty that is perfectly displayed in every call he makes. Among his favorites are cocobolo, bocote, osage orange and kingwood. As he stands in front of his lathe, light shining over his work, he begins to remove bits of wood and shape the barrel of the call. Slowly tapering the mouthpiece and cutting a lanyard groove, he works with the care and detail of a true craftsman. After the calls are shaped and sanded on the lathe, they
receive multiple coats of clear finish. This process makes the dull wood look as if it were dipped in glass. Every swirl and twist in the wood is brought to life at this point. Once the bar-
Page 112 Winter 2013
If you would like to view Kyle’s Calls, please visit www.
kmcalls.webs.com or find him on Facebook at KM Calls. You also may contact him via phone at 701-201-0155.
rel is complete, an insert is added which is home to the reed and sound board. Within the last six months, Kyle has begun to customize his own sound boards and reeds as opposed to buying them in bulk. This gives his work the signature sound of a custom call. When finished, they get shipped to customers throughout the United States. With custom calls, each
client gets to choose the type of wood, the width of the exhaust, the size of reed, as well as specific shape, size and type of call. All these features enable the hunter to be as pre- cise as possible when calling, which translates to success in the field. For an afford- able price, Kyle’s calls offer a customer custom-made qual- ity that will compete against some of the best calls on the market.
Through the use of a
Facebook page and a Website, Kyle has made his calls visible to anyone who would like to view his work. This has been a valuable asset to his business and has led to wider exposure. Though he is thrilled with all the work he has now, he also would like to expand and increase his output. “One goal of mine is to get my calls featured at some larger chain retailers throughout the Midwest,” Kyle said. “I’d also like to spend a lot more time in research and development, also known as hunting, because there’s always more to learn and there are always new ideas I would like to experiment with.” Now, nearly two years and 43 calls after making his first water buffalo horn howler, Kyle Gudmunsen has taught him- self a unique and fulfilling art that has evolved into a passion. On the next cool, misty morning, if you listen carefully you just may be able to hear his calls coaxing in the wily coyote somewhere across the land.
Water Buffalo Howler
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