Modern antiques
Wooden wonders made of historic materials
A handsome, great-sounding turkey call is like our hunting heritage; it should be handed down to the next generation. But a turkey call does not need to be old to be special enough to pass on.
These call makers reclaim rare, unique antique wood and make turkey calls out of it. This rescued wood often features ideal qualities that produce perfect yelps, clucks, cackles and purrs.
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[1] The Southern Belle by Cody Turkey Calls
When the logging industry moved into the Deep South at the turn of the century, loggers harvested 200- to 300-year-old longleaf pine, with heartwood (nicknamed heart pine) of exceptional quality. This old-growth wood was used to construct buildings throughout America. Today, 150 years later, some lumber companies are salvaging heart pine from old homes, retired barns, vacant mills and abandoned factories.
Call maker Bill Zearing is reclaiming Southern heart pine to build a new one-sided box call he has fittingly named the Southern Belle. Zearing says this wood is so heavy and dense it is a nightmare to work with. He can easily burn through a $50 sanding belt working on a batch of just 25 calls.
But the wood produces an outstanding, powerful turkey call when engineered using Zearing's signature vertical core and concave lid components.
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[2] Old Growth Maple Spur Pot by Derby City
Derby City is home to the old-growth maple pot call and striker. These turkey calls are made from 500-year-old maple flooring salvaged from an 1860s factory in Wisconsin, and the trees used to make that flooring date back to the early 1500s. Derby City's old-growth maple is very dense, which improves the call's overall sound quality.
This pot call features a modern style and design. The acoustic holes in the bottom of the pot resemble a turkey's spurs, and the outside of the pot offers a pleasing, comfortable contour, making the call very easy to cradle in your hand. Every call comes with a striker made of 500-year-old maple, but single strikers can be purchased separately.
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[3] Ultimate Wormy Chestnut Model 415 by Roberts Brothers
The gorgeous wormy chestnut wood used in this pot call came from an old logger's cabin in Tate City, in the Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia. The cabin was originally converted into the back room of a modern home, but when the house was remodeled, all the wormy chestnut was removed.
Several years ago, Roberts Brothers Turkey Calls procured the wormy chestnut, but most of the wood was not good enough to be used in a turkey call. So before they can custom craft it into an excellent-sounding calling machine, each piece of the reclaimed, historical wood is meticulously inspected. The Model 415 comes as a complete kit with hardwood and all-weather aluminum strikers. Built-in stone conditioners, lanyard, sandpaper and slate-conditioning pad are also included.
History in the making
When call makers use reclaimed wood to craft great turkey calls, history is made anew. But once a stockpile of rare wood is used up, it's gone for good, which also make the calls special. Even though these turkey calls are new in your hands, they are definitely fun slices of history that are worth passing on. — J.J. Reich