What makes it fun for you to build a custom call?

[Jake St. John]

I had about 6 specific requests for specific custom calls this year for Nashville.  I had a lot of fun building these for different reasons.  What makes these FUN for you?

[West Augusta]

What makes it fun for me?  I love seeing pictures that people send me of turkeys they called in with one of my strikers.  I know how I feel when I hear that gobbler coming in blowing the woods up with gobbles.  I enjoy the fact that my strikers help others get that same feeling.   

[ol bob]

I don't do shows anymore so I don't have to make calls I make less than 20 per year total because I want to not because I have to and make a few people happy and having the most fun that I've had in 20 years.

[Shadetree Callers]

I enjoy turning lumber into musical instruments of the woods. I gain alot of satisfaction from hunters using my calls to harvest turkeys.

[EZ]

Making Winbones is strictly a hobby and I don't build a call until I have a request (usually). I really enjoy talking with the person to find out what they're looking for.....gobbler call, hen call, good kee-kees...whatever, and making THAT call just for THAT hunter. It makes it really personal. And yes, recieving a picture of a bird called in and killed with my call is the ultimate compliment.

I also really enjoy doing trades with other callmakers. That really adds to the personal connection.

[REV. MIKE]

i have been in sawing milling for 35 years turning logs into lumber, it has always amazed me to see the different patterns you see in wood, last year we cut 108 mbf, for 12 years now i get that same amazing feeling turning out a call in my lathe and seeing what surprise it holds inside and of course the chance to make a tool for calling in the most amazing bird of all, trying to do a little better on each call, nothing like the thrill of playing that call and glory be to GOD out comes the sound you been looking for, and the next time try for a little better.

[strutnrut]

The People I meet.

[West Augusta]

i have been in sawing milling for 35 years turning logs into lumber, it has always amazed me to see the different patterns you see in wood, last year we cut 108 mbf, for 12 years now i get that same amazing feeling turning out a call in my lathe and seeing what surprise it holds inside and of course the chance to make a tool for calling in the most amazing bird of all, trying to do a little better on each call, nothing like the thrill of playing that call and glory be to GOD out comes the sound you been looking for, and the next time try for a little better.

Isn't it amazing the beauty that God hides in a piece of wood for us to find and bring out?  It truly amazes me sometimes.

[trb136]

For me its the friends Ive made, and that feeling I get when you get that magic sound from a call...Just makes me smile!

[Mark McPhail]

I enjoy collecting calls. I starting making calls in 2010 for friends. Entered first contest in 2012. I have traveled in most of the states collecting. I have so many great memories of meeting call makers usually in their homes. Seems all of them are fine people. They seem to be people of great faith as most do not miss church. I cherish each call and the memories I recall of its maker. Many are no longer with us. It is about faith,family, and friends. Look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones in Nashville . If interested in trading come by booth 324 and if not come by anyway. Mark McPhail .

[ahornberger22]

There's not one specific thing that makes call building fun for me, but a whole mess of them. For one, it lengthens my turkeys seasons. I'm playing, building, or tuning calls every day...even when I'm at college (I'm sure the other people in the dorm love it haha). On that note, it also gives me time to wind down and relax on the weekends when I go home from college to the shop. Just to have a few hours each weekend to not think about schoolwork or baseball really goes a long way. But probably the most fun for me, is watching a call come together, tuning it to what I think sounds like a turkey, and then taking it to the woods myself or a customer doing the same and harvesting a turkey with it. It just doesn't get any better than that.

[longbeard48]

All of the above, plus letters of praise for my calls like the one I got two weeks ago from a customer in Arkansas who lost his scratch box in the river at the end of last season.  He had bought it years ago from another call maker and was all broke up over his loss.  You can't imagine the pressure it can put on you to replace a call that was so important to a customer.   The letter I received a few days later was worth the extra time and effort I put into making his new call.  He loved the call and promised to send pictures of his gobblers this spring! And already, three more of his friends have ordered Mississippi Scratch Boxes on the strength of that one sale!