LIFE
Duck, duck goose: A capital calling
MARK PAPOUSEK Hockey and hunting. Can it get more
Canadian? What would happen if you put two
long-time hunting buddies and a couple of hockey players together? Ryan Reynolds had an idea, and that’s
just what happened. He had been guiding duck and goose hunts in the Ottawa Valley for 11 years, and competing in calling contests. He and his friend, Dustin Pritchard, figured they’d create and market waterfowl calls, because there were none like them in Canada. Enter the hockey players. On one particular guiding trip, arranged
24 BOUNDER MAGAZINE
through Brent MacNamee of Gongshow Gear (hockey apparel), Ottawa Senators hockey players Eric Gryba and Zack Smith were out for a shoot with Ryan. They became friends. And, as friends do, they talked about plans. The hockey players heard about Ryan’s and Dustin’s idea. They liked it. So there they were, Eric, Ryan and
Dustin, having a drink at Moxie’s in Kanata one night last February, making plans to form a company. Ten weeks later, Capital Waterfowling was launched. The three guys started getting together
to work on their designs. They began with other duck and goose calls, then began tweaking them to get the sounds they were looking for. Finally they were able to send their plans to a manufacturer to build some prototypes. After a couple more changes, the
calls were ready for manufacturing. The components are built in Kingston, Ont. and then assembled in Perth by these three good ol’ boys who put each one together to their own specifications. Because they are an entirely Canadian
company, Capital Waterfowling is eligible for business and start-up grants. They were successful in acquiring some funding. The next step was to get the calls in
front of the hunting public. That happened through hunting and fishing shows such as
www.bounder.ca
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