I got an invite the other day to go down to Eminence Mo. to pick up Mike Porters finished call from David Ferguson.. I jumped at the opportunity.
I drove 3 hrs to Mike place and jumped in with him and rode another hr and a half to Davids house. It is truly down in the hills *cool*I had the plesure to meet David and his family. They are great people.
We spent the day making tuning and talking turkey calls and the roll that Eminence had in the big picture of call making. What a treat that was. David had a friend of his who a grandson of one of the call makers come over with a cardboard box full of turkey history
. We saw and played calls some of the great callmakers of the past calls that $ can't buy..
After spending 4 hrs in the shop we went into the town of Eminence for lunch.We ate lunch at the diner that at one time was the general store where the local callmaker would gather "chew and spit" together and make calls assembly stile. Each one doing a particular task till everything was ready to assemble and tune...It was a group effort.
After that we rode around and saw where the call makers lived and talked to one .We also got to go see one of David high school teachers that had a call that was they guessed was around 100 yrs old. It would still call a turkey in. *gobble*Those calls were very rough but effective..It seem that most people in that town made turkey calls back them. It a shame that more of the younger people are carrying on the tradition..
We tried to see Jakie but he was up at a turkey call making seminar at the age of 85 north of us.. We called Dan Searcy but couldn't get an answer. Dang... Maybe next time.
At about 5 oclock we had to get back because I had a 5 hr drive home.
I would like to say to a special thank you to David for a day I'll never forget.. His hospitality and local knowledge was second to none..If you ever get a chance to buy a call from him and visit his shop... I would highly recommend it. You won't be sorry..
Ps.I picked out 2 calls that
.... Because one wasn't enough
. One is sassfrass over cedar and the other was cedar over sassafrass. I can't wait till they are finished and the art work applyed and sent up to my house. They are pue turkey gentlemen.
I wish you guys could have seen the half tame and wild tom that flogged he
out of Mike...Priceless
Everytime that bird saw him the chase was on...It was great barn yard enteretainment.
