Just sitting around waiting on tomorrow morning and decided to pull the old trunk out of the closet to make sure i had everything i needed for tomorrow mornings hunt. i'm sure you all have one of these. it's full of camo, calls, old decoys, stuff that i had bought that i had forgot about. stuff that i had hid from the wife, an oatmeal cookie from god knows when. well you get the picture. while browsing through this i came upon a call that was given to me probably twenty years ago. i was running through the woods one morning when i heard some of the most beautiful yelps that i had ever heard. searching further i found the source coming from an oldtimer sitting next to a log enjoying the morning. i spent the next few hours getting to know the man and listing to some great stories. when i ask him about his calls, he gladly reached into his pocket and pulled out the call that i had been listening to. berfore we parted ways, he sliped that call into my hands and told me that he had more and that he hoped it brought me as much luck as it had brought him. is'nt it great how the outdoors can bring people together, i dont even know the mans name. ok heres the question that i have for yall? the call the man gave me was an old skoal can!! it had three holes drilled or cut into the bottom of it, a peice of slate inserted inside of it. the top still fits to protect it from the weather and it has a homemade striker made from hickory.no wonder the turkeys are so smart with people like that chasing them around, are there any stories out there on some homemade weird calls?

seen some old timers have a small pice of thin slate that they simply held in their hand and struck with a hickory or cedar striker, hand carved of course. The wing bones from the old-times had everything from cow horns to modified rifle brass for the end pieces. Have seen several calls from mountain olks 30-40 years ago that were made from tin snuff cans and latex , like the primos tube calls but homemade.And of course the scratch boxes were often carved by hand and glued togetehr ..there are lots of primitive looking but effective scratch boxes from NC and VA .

seen some old timers have a small pice of thin slate that they simply held in their hand and struck with a hickory or cedar striker, hand carved of course. The wing bones from the old-times had everything from cow horns to modified rifle brass for the end pieces. Have seen several calls from mountain olks 30-40 years ago that were made from tin snuff cans and latex , like the primos tube calls but homemade.And of course the scratch boxes were often carved by hand and glued togetehr ..there are lots of primitive looking but effective scratch boxes from NC and VA .

The only calls that I use are "snuff cans" or tube calls.
Some are old, some new, ALL HOMEMADE.

barry

I make terrapin slate calls, they have been around quite a while. When I first started making them that's about I would use, and I took several gobblers with them. I've given away dozens over the years, most of them are considered a unique novelty. On the other hand they have been the go to call for some others. I don't use them as often as I once did, but there's always one in my vest. I gave one to an outdoor writer friend a few years ago, he told me it's a place of honor on his fireplace mantel.
Keep em Gobblin!
Struttinbird

I was honored to hunt with an old-timer this fall. He used a homemade call that I thought was very interesting. It was a suction call with a wing-bone mouthpiece attached to a length of red rubber tubing similar to surgical tubing. The other end looked to be the tip of a cow horn. He turned the bell in different directions while calling. Sounded great!!

After our hunt, he gave me a wing-bone call he had made from a hen he had killed a week or two prior. Now it's my most treasured call. I've spent all winter practicing with that thing. I wore a hole in my lip twice & had to take a break while it healed up!! I think I'm making some decent turkey sounds on it now.

He had a stroke the day after Christmas this year. I talked with him last week and he seems to be doing a lot better. He's promised to take me out again this spring "and kill you one." What an honor it would be to share the woods with a wise old timer like him again.