ABOUT

Knowledge has a shelf life. We are rapidly losing the greatest generation of wild turkey hunters and callmakers. Their lives bridge traditional practices that predate the restoration and expansion of the wild turkey with modern ones. With them passes firsthand knowledge of the people, places, and methods of early turkey callmaking. Recording their stories, innovations, and pictorial history for posterity was paramount. The Origin and Evolution of Turkey Calls builds on work started by Howard Harlan in his groundbreaking book, Turkey Calls: An Enduring American Folk Art.

Man-made devices to lure in wild turkeys originated thousands of years ago with Native Americans. Fittingly, they made early turkey calls from a wild turkey’s wingbones. As Colonists and succeeding generations in the New World tinkered with that concept, quality, durability, and user-friendliness improved. The secrets of those instruments made by early hunters were often carefully guarded as wild turkey populations plummeted. Such calls are now priceless works of historical significance.

This book presents the fascinating evolution of new and improved turkey call styles. Driven by the need to nourish themselves physically and financially, the efforts of callmakers were regulated by available technology and wild turkey populations of their time. For current and future hunters, collectors, and historians, this book offers a lasting reference to fully appreciate the craft of fashioning calls to outwit the wiliest of all game birds—the American wild turkey.