Archery Business Jan-Feb 2012
KNIGHT HALE 40th Aniversary Short of taking live animals into the field a practice outlawed for waterfowl in 1935 active thoughtful participation leads to innovation and now in their 60s both Harold and David remain active today They still develop calls based on lifelong experience calls that work not only while blowing exhaling but also while inhaling without repositioning end to end the Double Clucker for goose and the EZ Grunt er for hyperventilating bucks Much of todays innovative material is durable colorful plastic but Harold remembers that the early plastic injection molds were very drab When they began dipping and camouflaging calls hunters got interested again Now the colors are superior even exotic and plastic technology has improved These brighter calls have greater perceived value After many formative years spent chasing turkeys squirrels and most every other game animal around their local haunts David Hale and Harold Knights callmaking partnership began as a small but promising basement business It built steadily for 10 years before the two quit their real jobs and went into business full time in 1984 Avid outdoorsmen and savvy pro shops most everywhere have been reaping the benefits ever since At one time Knight Hale Marketing Director Jason Gordon says wood defined the high end of the call market People wanted a good looking wood call and didnt care if it sounded exactly right But now with advanced plastics and the ability to mold bright metal bands for example high end looks and packaging are very important A sale though still depends on having a high quality call Managing Rapid Growth As an independent stand alone company in which they worked full time Knight Hale lasted a dozen years before being purchased by current owner Pradco I dont know if you could grow a company now like we did Harold says We had lots of sleepless nights but we were better than we gave ourselves credit for We were always tinkering and werent afraid to take a chance If we liked it we did it Lots of writers helped too Good publicity helped a lot but timing is the main thing The call business is very competitive now In the 90s Harold says Our business got to snowballing and got bigger and bigger but getting the money together to do something special was always a challenge and we werent always decent managers Still we didnt have our eyes on things we couldnt afford We put the money we made back into the business Sales Manager Jim Strelec remembers the 48 archeryBUSINESS January February 2012
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