My duck hunting journey started in the public river bottoms of Arkansas. As a little kid, I was able to tag along on a handful of hunts with my dad and a couple of his buddies, and from that, an obsession was born. I started buying calls and practicing before I was able to drive, although duck hunting was still only an occasional event. From the age of fourteen or so, I knew that I wanted to make my own calls.
By seventeen, one of my best friends and I set off on our duck hunting careers together, spending days trying to learn the art and unravel the mystery of hunting ducks in the public lands of our state. As time went on, we learned slowly with no one to hold our hands, practicing the purest form of public land duck hunting; a few dozen decoys, a jerk string or two, and a call. Reading ducks and using these tools to fool them into committing fully to the water was what fueled us, and we didn't pull the trigger otherwise. As several years went by, we have had many great hunts and made many lifelong friendships along the way. However, as many things do with adulthood, my dream of making calls passed by me with new priorities taking place.
That is until 2025, I found a second-hand lathe, took a few trips to hardware stores, and started learning the craft of building calls one by one. It started with a flat jig, a file, and a vision for what I wanted out of a call. Through trial and error, DeltaMade Calls was born. What started as a hobby is now launching into a small business born of passion for calls, call making, and most of all, fooling ducks. My vision and focus are to offer calls that I would want to hunt with, that meet my expectations for any and every hunting scenario I could find myself in. Bottom line, I want to make calls that are Crafted to Hunt.
-Colton Eastep