Eli Haydel

Making the Call of the Wild

Eli Haydel came to Bossier City while serving in the Air Force and stayed to become world famous, as a champion game caller and as the developer of Haydel's Game Calls of Bossier City, now in demand worldwide.

His calls, manufactured in Bossier City since 1981, use plastics as a key component. Game calls using wood entirely were affected by swelling or other distortions due to the elements.

Haydel's innovation made his calls true and impervious to weather conditions you might find across the United States and Canada or anywhere else in the world.

It isn't a case of "do as I say, not as I do" for Haydel, who has over 40 years game calling experience. He is also a champion competitor. In 1977, Haydel won both the Louisiana State and the Texas Regional Open Duck Calling contests and that qualified him to compete in the World Duck Calling Contest.

His expertise as an outdoorsman makes him a popular figure on hunting shows that air on the Outdoor Channel, ESPN and TNN as well as other specialty presentations. Haydel has hunted alongside countless celebrities from the entertainment and sports world.

Because of his knowledge of waterfowl from the Canadian prairie to the swamps and marshes of the Gulf South, Haydel was sought by the National Rifle Association to co-author its Waterfowl Hunting Manual. Besides game calling and decoy arrangement, he wrote on how to introduce and interest young people in waterfowl hunting.

Nicknamed the Waterfowl Wizard, Haydel was inducted in 1999 into the Louisiana Sportsmen's Hall of Fame and the Ark-La-Tex Hall of Fame. He considers his membership in the National "Legends of the Outdoors" as a high point of his career. And the Louisiana Hall of Fame for Entertainers honored him as a musician. Among his music the native of South Louisiana's Bayou Lafourche area has a CD out entitled "Honkin' with Eli."

Photo Courtesy of:
Eli Haydel