Published: March 21, 2008 01:10 am            

A look inside Turkey Hunting

To folks with no interest and no knowledge of hunting, it is quite understandable that they would assume that the object of hunting is to “catch” or kill the hunted animal and that that goal is the essence of the hunt. For most hunting the first part is true if the strict meaning of objective is honored – the end toward which the activity is directed. Conversely, the second assumption, that collecting the animal is the hunt’s essence, is rarely the case.

For this reason it is usually irritating to a hunter returning from a hunt to be asked “Did you catch anything?” The hunter understands the questioner intends no insult and is merely showing friendly interest and so no issue is made of the question. But a better question is “Did you have a successful hunt?”

Here is the skinny on the matter. Hunting is the practice of seeking a game animal by using an extensive set of rules or procedures, sometimes dictated by law and more often by one’s moral code. Taking a game animal unlawfully and without moral guidance, such as the element of fair chase, is not hunting. It is poaching. Such crimes are committed by criminals not by true hunters.

Hunting for each species has its own special lore. It is the lore, the body of accumulated knowledge and experiences, that constitutes the main part of the attraction and enjoyment of the hunt.

Finest Game?



This is true for no other hunted animal with which I am familiar more than the springtime hunting for turkey gobblers. For most turkey hunters the endeavor is their favorite of all hunting adventures.

Just one of the elements of turkey hunting that so enamors us is the art and mystique of the instruments we use to call to the birds – turkey callers. Caller makers are seen as skilled craftsmen as well as artisans. Often even the crudest creations are revered by fellow turkey hunters.

Part of the lore is holding in high esteem those craftsmen and artists who led the way in creating superb callers. It is a rare turkey hunter who has not marveled at the realistic yelps and clucks that come from the old Lynch box callers. M. L. Lynch, the furniture maker from Birmingham, Alabama who set up shop in Liberty, Mississippi, mass produced his mahogany and walnut box callers during the middle 1900s. He sold them on street corners at first and the demand skyrocketed. So many of them sold that most hunters probably have owned one. M. L. Lynch died in 1974 but his callers live on.

Even though there are thousands in existence, one common model is currently for sale on the Internet for $455. It originally cost about $15. Another common model that sold for about $6 is for sale for $71. Collectors pay well for the older Lynch callers.



Master Craftsman



Another master call maker was Neil Cost of Greenwood, South Carolina. Whereas M. L. Lynch was a great call maker and successfully mass produced his fine callers, Neil Cost was known by many as “the finest custom call maker the country has ever seen.” His meticulous handiwork is documented in many publications, including two books by Mississippians Scott Branton and Ray Berryhill. A front page article on the Wall Street Journal referred to Cost as the “Antonio Stradivari of hand crafted wooden turkey calls.”

Neil Cost died May 29, 2002. He left his callers that will carry on his legacy for as long as the wild turkey thrills the hunting masses. Those with his signature on them sell regularly for $600 to over $2,000. Many, many call makers have made identical copies of Neil Cost box and boat paddle callers. The box callers have a distinctive checkered design on the sides. He left behind specifications for making his callers and many call makers are producing callers that are hard to tell from Cost originals.

To turkey hunters, Lynch and Cost callers are the superb guitars of musicians; the favorite putter of golfers; the Rolex of watches. We hold them up, both the callers and the men who made them, as integral parts of our cherished ventures into the wild places where lives one of the world’s finest game birds.

        

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