Montegut, LA-
World renowned, South Louisiana duck carver Jon Claude “Bill” Dufrene was found
dead in his Montegut, La. work shop early Saturday morning. No foul play is
expected but oddly noted was his prize carvings strategically displayed in order by
the years in which he achieved his premiere successes.
His wife of 51
years, Madeleine, said, “He had been feeling under the weather but when he got up Saturday,
everything seemed okay. I mean, he first was his ornery self but then I served
him his Captain Crunch. Oh, he loved Captain Crunch, being a Navy man for all
them years. I went check on him ‘bout 11:30 in the shed, for his lunch, and that’s
when I found him dead. I called the 911 but I think he was gone because he
always quickly turned off the TV when I came in. That and he had a sly, wicked smile
on his face.”
Jon Claude first received recognition
as a duck caller in West Monroe, Louisiana. He was a young friend with the now
famous Phillip Robertson of the Duck Commander Duck Calls and reality
television show Duck Dynasty. Rumor has it that at the state duck calling competition
as boys, Jon Claude was a clear winner, but Phillip got the first prize. When
the two young men were on stage to receive the blue and red ribbons a fight
ensued, Jon Claude taking an extreme shot to the mouth. Jon Claude’s lip was
split and required stitches. After removing those stitches, Jon Claude had a
massive scar and because of that injury he couldn’t achieve the sound he needed
to call ducks. Jon Claude bitterly quit the sport. Some say he would never be
the same.
But, the love of water fowl
hunting consumed him. He picked up a knife and paint brush and started to carve
while watching the PBS painter Bob Ross on TV, learning the strokes needed to
be “happy, happy, happy.” Something he coined on the microphone that night at
that fateful competition as a boy.
He started winning numerous
local, state, and national duck carving contests and in 1995 voted top five in
the world, his forte being the bill, thus, the nickname. His peers would say
that he always achieved the perfect duck bill. He was quoted after a long night of drinking at
BJ’s Lounge, “Man, it’s the part the duck talks with, damn it. The curves, the
seamless line into the face, you gotta get that right. Let’s say the duck
wanted to call people. He’d use a people call, right? But if his bill ain't
right, if he can't communicate, he can't speak to his people friends, his
buddies as a boy. Look, I love making all my special little birds but I can’t talk
to them, not the right way. Damn it, you don’t understand. I can’t use that telepathy.”
The locals loved him, too, always
going to shows and giving pointers, never too tired to speak to the young
people to inspire and keep the art of duck carving alive, and never too afraid
to take his prize carvings out in the field.
Jon Claude once said, “At
dawn, with the sun coming up, I like to look at my art work out on the pond. I
imagine they could fly, take off with the others that came in. Well, the one’s
that didn’t get shot. They would fly, high and away, and come back next year, my
friends that I created, with their perfect little bills. They’ll speak to me,
tell me of their adventures, and I’ll understand. Sometimes I cry at night
because I can’t answer their questions.”
Services will be Tuesday.
