Happy, Happy, Happy (31 page)
The boys—left to right: Willie, Jep, and Jase—waiting on me to return with the fish
Me at the lathe in the mid-1970s
Still building duck calls in the 1990s
Building duck calls is a family affair.
Me with Peggy Sue out on my land
Mac Owen and me hunting among the cypress trees of Louisiana
Here I am preaching the gospel at a speaking event.
Grand opening of the new location in 2010
The Duckmen accepting our Golden Moose awards in 2010
Si and me enjoying some brother time
Jimmy Frank, Tommy, and I admire the five-hunter limit from the last hunt of 2011.
© ART STRIBER
PHIL ROBERTSON
was born and raised in Vivian, Louisiana. There were seven children in his family, so money was scarce, and very early on hunting became an important part of Phil’s life. In college, Phil played football ahead of Terry Bradshaw at Louisiana Tech; after Phil received his bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s in education, he spent several years teaching. Never satisfied with the duck calls on the market, Phil began to experiment with making a call that would produce the exact sound of a duck—and so, in 1972, the first Duck Commander call was born. In the mid-seventies, Phil turned his life over to the Lord and is now invited to speak to hundreds of churches and organizations every year. Duck Commander is still a family business, with all four of Phil’s sons and their wives working for the company at one time or another. The fishing nets are still being run on the Robertson land, hauling in enough to feed the whole family. “Yes,” says Phil, “it’s a rough life, but somebody’s gotta do it.”
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