Is it Breathing?

 

Week 1

      Is it really a good idea? Will people use it? Is there something else already out there like it? These were all questions running through my mind. I arose early and prayed on it and on day 2 after staying up most of the night researching this new idea. What I found, even though I really didn't know what to search for at the time, was there was very little with the type of technology I was thinking of. I saw there were karaoke games out there that judged people singing, but the system was not very detailed. I saw there were speech recognition system out there. I saw there were language teaching tools out there. I researched teaching wild game calling techniques. I saw where companies were teaching with Cd's and cassettes. I saw great hunters that had you tube videos wanting to help others learn how to call. I saw that there were apps and software that had animal sounds and you just practiced with those sounds. It was just like practicing with the sounds on the Cd's.

 

     Sound comparison is a fairly new technology that has not been pursued by many. What I found is that it is very costly and frustrating to do something in this field. That didn't stop my pursuit of bringing my idea to life.

 

      The things I wanted to accomplish with software or app was I wanted a user to be able listen to a sound and then try to replicate that sound into the computer or phone. Just like with a calling contest, I wanted the software to be the judge of how well they did. I wanted the software to give them a score and also allow them to listen to the sounds side by side to give them a feedback on their tone and cadence. My thinking on the software in these first few days was really just for duck hunting. I never even considered, in my mind, the other types of wild game calls people use that were out there until I made one very important phone call during this first week.

 

     Troy Ruiz, a great friend, master hunter, was one of the first people that I called when I was researching the idea. I met Troy years ago while filming a couple of duck hunts with Primos. We kept in touch after that and talked often. I trusted Troy to hold my secret until it was time to release it. After telling him my idea there was silence on the other end. Troy told me that Easter Sunday around the same time I was giving duck calling lessons and birthing the idea in my mind. He had been praying for a way to reach hunters and educate them through technology. I asked why he was praying about that. He said during his day at work he couldn't garner any one's attention because they were glued to their smart phones.

 

     Troy, thought it was a great idea and wanted to walk with me through the process. Troy had spent years teaching people about hunting and calling through seminars across the country. In my mind, I couldn't think of a better friend and partner to join my team. Troy spent years helping Primos bring different products to the hunting marketplace. His wisdom would help tremendously. He was the first to bring up intellectual protection of the idea. He is actually the one as I stated above that got me to thinking outside the box of just the software working for ducks. Wheels really started spinning after this talk. The week ended with a general plans being listed out and to do list for the next week. Looking back on all my notes now from that first week, it is amazing how this all has evolved into a gorilla later on when it only started  as a little spider monkey.