Growing up in the great state of Georgia, hunting and the outdoors have always been a large part of my life. After graduating high school in 2010, I found myself on the campus of Ole Miss the following fall. Somewhere around mid December of my freshman year I was invited to go duck hunting in the Mississippi Delta with a couple of friends and the rest is history. I had grown shooting wood ducks in the swamps and sloughs of Georgia but after that first limit of greenheads in the Mississippi timber, duck hunting immediately became more than a weekend hobby. The following year I had a 9 month old lab (Lilah) and 54 days out of the 60 day season you wouldn’t find us anywhere near a classroom. After graduating a couple years later in 2014, I realized that if I moved back home our duck season would once again consist of chasing wood ducks in Georgia. That made the decision to stay out this way pretty easy and I got a in Memphis, TN a couple months later. The following year I met my wife (Sydney) and it quickly became evident that Lilah and I were not heading back to Georgia anytime soon.

Fast forward to the fall of 2016, I was fed up with cheap, mass produced hunting gear and was unable to find exactly what I had in mind. Being a somewhat creative person, I decided to make some leather hunting accessories that I would not have to worry about making it through the season.. After a few months and and no telling how many trips to purchase leather, I finally had a finished leather duck call lanyard. It was heavy, bulky, and stiff as board but I was proud of it and there was no doubt it was going to make it through many seasons. While it may not even resemble that first design, after years of redesigning and different modifications, I still to this day wear that exact same lanyard around my neck.

That following duck season I made a few leather hunting accessories for my buddies and before I knew it, my hobby had quickly become a second job. I never imagined this would become my full time job but fast forward another couple of years and my hobby was taking up more of my time than my job. Sydney and I decided it was time to take a leap of faith and that’s when Flatland Duck Co. (originally Flatland Duck Lanyards) was created. Since then I have had the pleasure of creating custom handmade leather items full time. My goal with Flatland Duck Co. is to make quality leather goods that are completely custom, 100% made by hand, and will stand the test of time.

Lanier Bonner