Eric is a devoted hunter who spends as much time as he can in the field year round. He grew up in Portland and was introduced to waterfowl hunting on Sauvie Island wildlife area when he was 15. It didn’t take long after harvesting his first duck, a mallard drake, that he became addicted to waterfowl hunting and calling ducks and geese. Eric spent season after season learning the ins and outs of public land hunting in OR and WA and he attributes these days of public land hunting to a lot of his current success. Shortly after his first waterfowl season he started turkey hunting with help of his dad and also close friend Hank Hanawalt. He learned to turkey hunt on the public lands around White River and the Blues mountain range in eastern Oregon.

 After graduating from high school Eric moved to Monmouth, OR where he went to school at Western Oregon University and graduated with a degree in marketing. Living in the heart of the Willamette valley for 5 years gave Eric the ability to learn as much as he could about hunting all parts of the valley and gain access to many of the best hunting properties around. While attending school he worked for Dave Smith Decoys in Lebanon, OR and Big Guns Waterfowl Outfitters in eastern Washington. Since then Eric has been busy working for Ducks Unlimited, Dave Smith Decoys and Strand Outdoors as well as spending well over 100 days in the field between Oregon, Washington and Canada filming and guiding hunters for waterfowl.

Eric’s favorite aspect of hunting is the communication with ducks and  
gese in the winter and turkeys in the spring. Breaking down a bunch of 
mallards, working a flock of lessers or talking to a lovesick gobbler is what it’s all about. It’s the art of 
bringing them in close that keeps him coming back day after day. Attention to detail and the ability to adapt 
to always changing condition is what makes him successful day in and day out.

Contest calling has taken Eric all over the country competing at both the World duck and World goose 
calling championships. One of his favorite aspects of contest calling is the great friends you meet along the 
way. When he’s not hunting you can find him spending time with friends and family as well as fishing one 
of the many Oregon Rivers for Salmon and Steelhead. Recently Eric has been busy working with his new 6 
month old pup “Molly“ out of Goose Pit Kennels


37 State and Regional contest wins
5th at the 2009 World Goose Calling Championships
5 time Oregon State Duck Calling Champion
4 time Oregon State Goose Calling Champion