GAOS 2019

Phil Robertson

The Duck Commander


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. 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. 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."

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