When it comes to hunting ducks or geese, that old saying still rings true: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

With all our so-called modern refinements, duck and goose hunting basically boils down to the hunter getting the birds as close as possible. Then as now, drawing the birds near depends mostly on calling and decoying.

So what's changed? Plenty, including the materials and methods that master call makers are using to turn out the best calls of their careers; the calls hunters use to "talk" to waterfowl.

Here are some prime examples of the makers' art.

PocketRocket

POCKET ROCKET CALL
When Buck Gardner says there has never been a single or double reed duck call with more range than his company's new Pocket Rocket, he's not just blowing in the wind. He means it.

"We guarantee that the call will never stick or you can have your money back," Gardner said.

This, using Buck's words, is "a revolutionary product." Buck said it has a suggested retail price of $39.99.

"The big thing is that this is an extension of our spit tech technology," Buck said. "It's now available in a polycarbonate version with a buck brush short barrel. The cool thing about these calls is that they will blow when they are full of spit."

Better still, Buck said they'll sound even better then. "The big thing that everybody wants is a duck call that sounds awesome. This call, believe me, sounds awesome."

Pollywood

THE POLYWOOD CALL
The moment you open the box and unwrap the paper surrounding Buck Gardner's other new call, it's obvious that you've purchased a call maker's work of art. We're talking about the latest addition to the Buck Gardner Calls family: the PolyWood call.

"PolyWood Calls is something that people have wanted for a long time," Buck said. "They want the beauty of wood and there is a little bit of difference in the resonance of a wood barrel. The traditionalist wants that in a duck call. What we did was give them that and combined it with our Polycarbonate insert."

Hence, the name PolyWood Calls, which combines