 |
 |
 |
About Don Hometown: Lebanon, Ill. Bald won all three "Best of Show" awards in call making at the 2000 NWTF National Convention and Sport Show, and one of his "Best of Show" calls is on display in the Winchester Museum at the Wild Turkey Center in Edgefield, S.C. |
Q&A with Don Bald
This award-winning custom call maker and dedicated NWTF volunteer has donated hundreds of calls to NWTF chapters over the years. The NWTF will auction off his latest box full of gifts at this year's convention and sport show in Nashville.
NWTF: How did you start making custom turkey calls?
Don Bald: I started making turkey calls shortly after I began turkey hunting more than 35 years ago. They have progressively gotten better as I gained knowledge. My first entry into a call making contest was at the national convention in Indianapolis, Ind., many years ago.
Back in the early 1980s, a good friend and I were hunting around Ironton, Mo., and I ran into Wayne Bailey, who was the head turkey biologist for Missouri. Wayne said if I sent him the wingbones from the turkey I killed he would make me a call. It remains one of my most treasured calls. Wayne inspired me to start making calls, and the rest is history.
NWTF: How long have you been involved with the NWTF?
DB: I became an NWTF member shortly after it started. Growing up on a farm in southern Illinois, I had no clue there would one day be wild turkeys on the family farm. I've been a member of the Silver & Shoal Creek Strutters for many years and a contributing member of several Illinois chapters like the Skillet Fork Chapter in Fairfield.
I'm a person who prefers to contribute to the NWTF by doing what I'm good at, namely my call making and teaching skills. I love teaching at JAKES Days and various seminars, because it involves passing hard-won knowledge along to kids. When I first started turkey hunting, I would have given anything to be able to talk to a knowledgeable turkey hunter.
NWTF: Tell us about the kinds of calls
you make.
DB: I make every kind of turkey call, except mouth diaphragms. I have made some of those too, but only for my own use. I'm probably best known for my wingbone calls and yelpers. I don't know exactly how many calls I have made, but it is about 100 a year.
NWTF: Tell us about some of your past donations and the collection you are donating at the 2011 NWTF National Convention and Sport Show.
DB: Over the years, my calls have been able to raise thousands of dollars for the NWTF. I donate 20 to 40 calls to various NWTF banquets in Illinois and other states.
The collection of calls I am donating to be auctioned at the national convention marks a high point for me. I make a few call collections for hunters and call collectors, but this collection is the most comprehensive of any I've done, except for the ones I am doing for my son, Mike, and my daughter, Kimberly. My grandkids, Justin, who is a good beginner call maker, and Hannah, who went hunting with me last fall, also have a collection of my calls.
The collection I'm donating for this year's national convention has nine calls and a custom lanyard in a glass-topped, solid oak display box. It features a trough call, which I have just started to make and is an updated version of an old call design. This collection is an opportunity for some fortunate individual to connect with a way of life I dearly love.
I'm getting close to my goal of becoming a Centurion Life Sponsor by raising nearly $100,000. The money raised by volunteers does a world of good for wildlife.
NWTF: Why did you get involved with the NWTF and how does it make you feel to be such a valuable part of the organization?
DB: I believe in what the NWTF is trying to do. I share the same excitement and dedication that the founders of the NWTF must have felt. As far as being a valuable part of the organization, I am just a member of the team and proud of it! Turkey people are the best of the best.
Life is too short to use an ugly turkey call. My fellow call makers have done a fantastic job of elevating this functional art form. I get a rush out of using a call I made to harvest a turkey. I hope I can pass this heritage along to the next generation. — Gregg Powers