Phil Robertson was born and raised in Vivian, Louisiana, a small town near Shreveport. With seven children in his family, money was scarce and very early on, hunting became an important part of his life.
As a high-school athlete, Phil was All-State in football, baseball, and track which afforded him the opportunity to attend Louisiana Tech University on a football scholarship. There he played first string quarterback ahead of Terry Bradshaw. Phil's been quoted as saying "Terry went for the bucks, and I chased after the ducks." After receiving his Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education and a Master's in Education, he spent several years teaching. While his students claim he was an excellent teacher, spending time in a classroom brought Phil to the conclusion that his time and talents would be better spent in the woods.
Phil and his family, which by this time included wife Kay, and four boys, Alan, Jase, Willie, and Jeptha began a quest to turn his passion for hunting and fishing into a livelihood.
Never satisfied with the duck calls that were on the market, Phil began to experiment with making a call that would produce the exact sound of a duck. A duck call for duck killers, not "world champion-style duck callers." Claiming, "No duck would even place in a duck calling contest." And so, in 1972, the first Duck Commander call was born. Phil received a patent for this call and the Duck Commander Company was incorporated in 1973.
His home became his "factory" from where the calls were assembled, packaged, and shipped. Phil traveled store to store in the early days, with most ending in rejections. A certain large store in Stuttgart, AR laughed him out of the building (Oh, yeah, that store is now one of Duck Commander's largest accounts.) Phil's wife and four sons assisted in the packaging and shipments of the calls along with helping to run the nets, and take the fish to the market. This family side business of commercial fishing kept food on the table while Duck Commander Company was getting off the ground.
In the mid-70's, Phil turned his life over to the Lord and made some dramatic changes in the way he was living. Phil Robertson is not only known as the Duck Commander but is now building a reputation all over the country for his faith and belief in the Almighty. He is invited to speak to hundreds of different churches and organizations every year, telling them what the Lord has done for him and can do for them.
Duck Commander is still a family business with all four sons and their wives working for the company at one time or another. Duck calls are still being built, blown, packaged and shipped in the Robertson's home on the Ouachita River, although now their home is surrounded by several offices and warehouses to help the company smoothly, and the nets are still being run, only now the fish that they catch feed all the Duck Commander employees. Yes it's a rough life, but as Phil says "somebody's gotta do it."
Since 1973, Duck Commander Products, which now include much more than just duck calls, have been sold in all fifty states and in several countries. Not long after the success of the calls, Phil began a series of videos that developed a worldwide fan-base of fellow duck hunters. The Duckmen videos revolutionized duck hunting with there rock-n-roll, "in yo face" style, and are the leading authority in the industry. His calls and techniques are helping others bring the ducks right into their blinds, and the Duck Commander faithful swear by the deadly effects of the Duck Commander.
It isn't often a person can live a dream, but Phil Robertson, aka The Duck Commander, has proven it is possible with vision, hard work, helping hands, and an unshakable faith in the Almighty. If you ever wind up at the end of Mouth of Cypress Road, sitting face to face with Phil Robertson, you will see that his enthusiasm and passion for duck hunting and the Lord is no act- it is truly who he is.
An interview with Phil Robertson
Q: How long have you been duck hunting?
A: My first hunting experiences started when I made my first sling-shot. My mother told us that anything was fair game except for Cardinals and Mocking Birds. If my brothers and I brought one of them home, we knew trouble would shortly follow. As far as shot guns go, I was about 11 or 12 years old when I got my first gun, and ducks quickly became the target of choice.
Q: Who introduced the world of duck hunting to you?
A: Since I was born and raised in Louisiana, it was just something my brothers and I grew up loving to do. Little boys near the Mississippi Floodplain naturally tend to pursue ducks. It's a social sport, and I've always loved to interact with the animal I am pursuing.
Q: What kind of terrain is your favorite to hunt?
A: Scenery is the dominate factor to admire when duck hunting, and Louisiana is home to some unique hunting lands. My personal favorite is flooded Cypress. This type of landscape is favored so much that I am spending a great deal of my off-season creating a Cypress lake on my own property.
Q: What is your most memorable duck hunting moment?
A: Five of us were in a cypress swamp in Southern Louisiana when a tornado of ducks continuously funneled into our decoys. When I say "a tornado", literally the ducks fell out of the sky dozen by dozen in the shape of a tornado. The vortex of this tornado of ducks was centered over our decoys less than 30 yards away from our gun barrels. Now boys, when that many ducks get in yo' face, you don't have to aim much, just put the gun barrel in the middle and start pulling the trigger. The sound that was made when they got off the water was nothing short of a 747 jet flying over. Let me just end this by saying 5 shots in 3 seconds ended in 15 ducks. 'Nuf said.
Q: How many ducks did you kill on your most successful hunt?
A: As hard as this is to believe it's very simple, six of us had our full limits from the first shot to the last in only 4 minutes.
Q: What is your favorite Duck Commander call?
A: For years my favorite call was the Cutdown Reacher (DC 800), but here recently some of our newer calls have really proven themselves in the field. Jase's Duck picker, and Willie's Camo Max are probably right at the top. Now that being said, those are not the only calls I use. The goal for the creation of the entire line of duck calls is derived on the hunting situation and operator preferences. By that I mean some duck calls are loud and some are soft. Some duck calls take very little air to operate and some can sustain hard blowers. My personal favorites are not chosen because they are better calls, but because they fit they way I blow them. More important than that, the situation dictates which call I use.
Q: What state is your favorite to hunt?
A: Since I was born and raised in Louisiana, I am a little bias to this region. Over the years duck populations, weather, and sanctuaries have made tougher to make a living duck hunting here. As I traveled across the country some of my favorite places to hunt include the Great Plains region and the North West.
Q: What is your favorite duck?
A: In my opinion the Pintail is the most graceful of them all.
Q: What was your first duck?
A: Eating wise it's a Green Wing Teal, and observing wise it's a Pintail
Q: What is your favorite Movie?
A: It's impossible to pick one, but I have a three way tie:
- Outlaw Josie Wales
- Once Upon a Time in the West
- Valdez is Coming
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: I will categorize since again its hard to pick one:
- Seafood: crawfish patties and fried shrimp
- Ducks: Gumbo
- Meat: Rib eye steak
Q: If you couldn't duck hunt, what would you do in your spare time?
A: Preach the Gospel to everyone I could before they put me six feet deep in the ground.