James Yule - Catahoula Duck Call

Updated September 3, 2026

Lot number	261
Estimate	800.00 - 1,200.00 USD
Auction	Fall Feature Decoy & Sporting Art Auction 2026
Date	September 26, 2026 at 10:52 PM EDT
Auction house	American Sporting Auctions
Location	Syracuse, New York

James E. Yule (1922-2017) Jena, LA 6" long Raised along Catahoula Lake, Yule developed an early appreciation for woodworking while watching his father make furniture, gunstocks, boats, and duck calls. Yule became a highly accomplished game-call maker whose work is revered for his independent folk art eye, creating visually stunning, yet equally functional calls. As he professed, he let the wood speak to him and tell the story, making no two calls a like because 'what fun would that be'. Bringing characters, wildlife, scenes, and other insignia to life effectively following the grain and color of the wood, as can be seen with the placement of the body of this duck in the natural burgundy stain of the barrel. Yule was a seven-time first-place winner in National Wild Turkey Federation game-call competitions and earned Best of Show honors for his duck and goose calls. He also won three first-place awards in competitions sponsored by the Call-makers and Collectors Association of America. Yule is credited with developing the elliptical mouthpiece for game calls more than forty years before the 1999 profile, and aluminum reeds are also attributed to him. In 2024, he was inducted into the NWTF Call maker Hall of Fame in the Waterfowl Class. The call has the original aluminum reed. The barrel of the call is emblazoned with a fully carved flying duck, placed masterfully in a naturally streaking burgundy stain of the wood. In a relief carved banner running the length of the barrel, 'Catahoula' is incised. Opposite that is an incised and relief carved floral vine rising up the barrel. Completed with a tightly checkered crest on the backside with a Y in a U. Two leaves are carved into the collar ahead of the duck. Vine leaves are incised into the insert between two incised rings. Condition: Excellent and original

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