Some Awesome Sauce Here. Pappy's Fine Calls from MO

http://www.exoticwood.biz/boisderose.htmBeing a callmaker I always enjoy seeing other callmaker's work. I recently stumbled upon Pappy's Calls on Missouri Whitetails websight. Pappy writes:

"Fly Reel Purrer...it is going to have the slate mounted under the carriage and when you turn it the striker will run over it...I want it to be like a purr pot...made it from Strawberried Box Elder, Redheart and Ebony with Torquoise button and 1909 Barber dime."

 

 "This is the 2010 Midwest Decorative winner where I got the Outstanding Novice Callmaker of the Year Award. It is made from 120 pieces of Bois De Rose and Birdseye Maple. Didn't sound all that great but it was for the decorative class...."

If you've never heard of Bois De Rose, pronunced bwah duh rose, some consider it the most beautiful of all the exotic woods.

 I'm still waiting on the details on this fine goose call called the Pappy's Delivery Truck

You Made A Turkey Call Out Of What?!!!

I've made turkey calls out of just about everything you can think of. My first turkey call was made from young maple seed leaves that twirled to the ground at our elementary school yard. “Whirlybirds” we called them. You could tear the seed off and use the leafy part like a turkey diaphragm call to make hen yelps. This brought joy to our ears but ended up with hair pulling by our teachers who dragged us by our ears to the principle for blowing the them in class. You could also make them sound like a squeaky fart which is what got us in trouble.

Image from http://smalltownandrurallife.com/

Turtle shells, fence posts, wood from the floors of old cabins we found in the Ozark mountains, wingbone yelpers made from turkey wing bones. You name it, I've tried to coax a yelp from it.  I've been to Nashville for the NWTF callmakers competition and seen all kinds of turkey calls from callmakers all over the world. Well, I thought I had the gamut covered until Eric showed up at the Fred Hall Show last year and told me of his oyster shell friction turkey call.

"No way", I proclaimed, taint happening. The more Eric talked the more it made sense and the more it tripped my "gotta see it" detector.

Fast forward to this past Friday at the Fred Hall Show and who do I spy sneaking down the aisle with his oyster shell in hand but Eric and his buddy.

"Ah ha!" I hollered to get his attention to our NWTF booth.

Being from Mizzurah I told Eric it was time to "Show Me". And show me Eric did, he whipped out the corncob striker and struck up a hen yelp. Kelp, kelp, kelp came the beautiful notes. Eric is a biologist who records all kinds of animal sounds and he loves to hunt turkeys too so it was simple destiny for him to find the oyster shell and make fine turkey music on it.

Eric said the real beauty of the call is with all the ridges and bumps inside the shell you can get all kids of tones and pitches. Kind of like having a bunch of friction pots instead of just the one. Heck, I'm half deaf from all my years flying in the USAF and shooting guns but even I could hear the magic.

One thing Eric mentioned that struck me was he couldn't believe with all the cavemen and Indians running around years ago that none of them hadn't tried scraping something on an oyster shell to make sound. Surely one of them had tried he said. Having grown up around Muscatine Iowa where they were world famous for their pearl buttons made from clam shells we used to play in the piles of discarded shells behind my cousin's house. We never even thought of using a striker on a clam shell so it's possible Eric is the inventor of the Oyster Shell Turkey Call.

No word from Eric yet if he's going to make a few for sale, he's still punching the 9 to 5 clock and he's not sure if he wants to throw another iron in the fire yet. If he does, you'll be the first to know.

Quail Calls I Have Known

It's that time of year and some hunters without dogs are asking about quail calls to help locate coveys to save some boot leather. I've used the Lohman's, Primos and Iversons quail calls over the years. The wooden calls sounds the best to me but you have to keep them dry or the wood warps, ruining the call most times. When it's wet I use the plastic Primos call. I don't think Iverson is still making their quail call, I had to talk the dad into making me one one years back and I believe the son now runs the business. You might call and ask. Iversons.

I like Jim Matthews' quail calls the best, they're a lot louder than the others so in the windy west the call carries the best. Many times I've stood on a small hill and hit the call and the birds told me right where they were across the valley. I don't have a dog either and this saves a lot of walking sometimes. Jim has a production version and a higher priced custom signature version made from selected woods. You can see the special sound chamber in the 2nd pic that gives the Matthews call the extra umph for longer range.











Prices and more info on Jim's calls here. Jim's PH# 909-887-3444. e-mail odwriter@aol.com or P.O. Box 9007, San Bernardino, CA 92427-0007. http://www.outdoornewsservice.com/.

If you're handy with the wood you can make your own quail call. Primitive Hand Made Quail Call.

Another quail call to carry is a hawk screamer for when the lil buggers are running on you. Lohman makes a nice loud wooden hawk screamer.

What kind of quail call do you like? Do you make your own? If so let's see some pics.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

I'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I'm very thankful to have you here to share my ramblings in the field. Please don't drink and drive or let anyone else either.

I usually venture out every Thanksgiving for a quick hunt and this year had no joy in the local San Bernardino National Forest . This was a small Merriam's hen I shot with my shotgun in the Kaibab National Forest AZ in 2001 during a November hunt.



I'll be heading out this weekend one more time to try and lure in a turkey bird. I actually like hunting turkeys almost better in the fall than the spring. There are less hunters out and not quite the pressure. The turkeys are usually bunched up and more vocal than in the spring in my opinion. Plus you can shoot a hen or tom so your chances of potting one are higher.

I like taking small hens, called "Jennies", in the fall so I can make use of their wingbones for making wingbone yelper calls. The smaller hen bones make a higher pitched sound then the bigger tom turkey wingbones. Here's an example of a wingbone yelper made by my buddy Jim Groenier from Wisconsin.



Native Americans have used wingbone yelpers since as early as 6500 B.C. The first wingbone design of the Native Americans used just the radius bone or mouthpiece of today's designs. In the late 1800's, a call maker named Charles Jordon helped the wingbone yelpers gain popularity with hunters by mass producing the yelpers. Hunters later added cane or the humerus or ulna wingbones to make a new style of 2 bone call. At the turn of the 20th century, callmakers started using trumpet-like bells made of cow horns or wood to make the 3 section calls we know today. Some refer to these trumpet wingbone yelpers as "Turpin" calls. If you'd like to learn how to make a wingbone yelper call click here.

If you're headed out, good luck on pulling a sneak on a fall bird. Let us know how you do by dropping by our Turkey Hunting Forum.

P.S. We're also have a Fall Turkey Hunt Pic Contest on the Turkey Forum. It's here
The winner will receive a nice custom JHO glass call made by Gene's Custom Turkey Calls.