Zink Calls Pro Staff

John Francis Sunkler
Born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, John Francis lives in Earleville, MD and is a Natural Resource Management and Wildlife Conservation Major at the University of Delaware. He was four years old when his father first took him waterfowl hunting. From that first experience John Francis was hooked on waterfowling. Growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland opened up many opportunities for different types of hunting were available to John Francis. At the age of ten he passed the hunter safety course and the following hunting season he hunted everything Maryland had to offer: dove, deer, ducks, turkeys, and his favorite, geese. He was very fortunate to have harvested several large whitetail deer, and his largest being 150" B&C 10 pointer. Yet the older he got, the less deer hunting he did because that took time out of waterfowling.

Since his father is from Austria, his family regularly returns to Austria in the summer. His father and John Francis lease a hunting area in the high alpine region of Austria. This is high altitude and rigorous hunting. John Francis has been fortunate enough to harvest some of the best trophies that have come from this hunting area in thirty years. This area offers Chamois, Reehbok, and Red Stag. Since the hunting season is in the summer because of the heavy snowfall during the fall and winter, John Francis gets to hunt almost year round. The other reason John Francis loves this type of hunting is that is heavily embedded in old traditions that bring back the honor and love of the animals and nature. Short of waterfowling, this is John Francis' favorite type of hunting.

On the Eastern Shore of Maryland the duck and goose hunting is absolutely incredible. This region holds a lot of history for waterfowling because of the Chesapeake Bay and the market-gunning era. John Francis and hunting partners have hunted these duck and geese in every possible situation on the Eastern Shore from hunting farm ponds to the Chesapeake Bay from blinds and pits. The geese are completely fooled and shots are always less than ten yards, with the help of his favorite goose calls his SR-1, Money Maker, and PC-1. The duck hunting is sometimes just as good as the goose hunting on the Eastern Shore. With the help of his PH-2 and PH-2 Double Magnum, ducks are coaxed in to point blank range and offer some speedy shooting. Whether it is geese in a cornfield or ducks on the Susquehanna Flats, Zink Calls are always help me put birds in the bag.

John Francis' favorite part about waterfowl hunting is right before the shot because you have the ducks or geese completely fooled and this is a high that keeps him going out in the early hours of the morning and keeps him out late scouting for the new flock or secret spot. He loves to set the decoys and call just like the birds he saw the night or two nights before in that spot.

The sport of waterfowling brings his family and friends together making it special for John Francis. He loves sitting in the goose pit or duck blind with old or new friends and family members. Just as long as he has friends and family to hunt with, the birds are only secondary to make the hunt worthwhile.

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