Turkey call for the governor

[Aaron Wingert]

I make turkey calls as a little side business. I was recently to make these calls by Keith Mark, who hosts MacMillan River Adventures, a hunting TV show on the Outdoor Channel. I've made calls for Keith before and have had the privelege to have my calls featured on his show. He recently emailed me and told me that he's the celebrity guide for the annual Kansas governor's turkey hunt...Quite a big event. He asked that I make a couple calls, one for him and one for the governor to commemorate the hunt. He'll be presenting the call to the gov at the banquet that celebrates the event later this month, and they'll use the calls on the hunt.

So I guess this is kind of a gloat. Pretty proud to have been asked to do this. The good PR never hurts either! :D

The calls are claro walnut. The gov's call is pretty highly figured, and Keith's has some nice curl but isn't quite as spectacular (didn't have two pieces of the really cool stuff). The surfaces are anodized aluminum. I had a local engraver do the lettering and I beadblasted the surface of the call to make it functional. The strikers are claro walnut and pecan. Each call has two inlays and each striker has three...The inlays are brass key machine shavings from the hardware store in clear inlace. Subtle but it catches the light nicely. I finished the calls with three coats of waterlox and buffed out the shine of the last coat with 0000 steel wool and applied a coat of furniture wax. So they're not super glossy...More of a hand rubbed look, which is what I was going for.

Comments/critiques are welcomed.

[Ken Hill]

Excellent looking calls....not sure what I like better, the pots or a politician that hunts:D

[Aaron Wingert]

Thanks for the compliment on the turkey pots Ken. Somehow they get every single KS governor to go on this hunt regardless of political affiliation. Heck, Kathleen Sebelius took a bird a couple years ago on the same hunt!

Here's background on the event, taken from the KDWP website:

In 1987, former Governor Mike Hayden and former Executive Vice President of the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce Marv McCown founded this event with the concept of inviting key people from different professions as celebrities to hunt wild turkey. The purpose was to elevate awareness of local business opportunities, Kansas outdoor resources, and wild turkey conservation. This event has brought hunters from all over the world.
Participation as a celebrity is by invitation only. The 24th annual Kansas Governor’s One Shot Turkey Hunt will be held April 15-17 in El Dorado. Seventy-five hunters have committed to participate this year, including Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson and former Kansas governors Mike Hayden and Bill Graves. Seven youth, six from Kansas and one from Tennessee, will also be a part of the event.

[alex carey]

congratz, thats quite the honor.

[Mike McAfee]

How cool is that!!!

[Norris Randall]

Congratulation, on your selection to provide the turkey calls for this occasion.

Wish they would invite my Governor.

After the hunt he could use it to call the state legislature into session.:D

[John Keeton]

Aaron, these are you best calls yet IMO!! Simply stunning. I love working with Claro walnut, and these pieces are very nice. Good combination of woods on the strikers, and that inlace inlay sure sets these off nicely.

Well done, and congratulations on the honor and privilege! Hope it turns out to be some good PR for you.

[Roger Bullock]

Great looking calls Aaron. That walnut has a lot going on and you really brought out the figure. Quite an honor and opportunity to furnish these calls for such an event. I like the addition of the brass filings, one of our states past governors might have described them as golden. :)

[Jerry Rhoads]

Terrific looking calls Aaron, and a great gloat.

Jerry

[Norm Zax]

A superb gloat!! Congrats. If only you could have added at the end, on the calls, "...and member of SMC". Then we would all be in!
[dont take me seriously on this]

[Steve Schlumpf]

Excellent gloat Aaron! Beautiful work and the recognition is well deserved! I hope it leads to a lot of additional sales! Congrats!!!

[Aaron Wingert]

Thanks guys! :D

[Paul Douglass]

Congrats. those are beautiful.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats. Those are beautiful. Really a honor.

[brian watts]

very very nice..

[Mike Minto]

Very nice work, Aaron - giving anything to the 'flunkies' that work for the rich man who already has everything? :confused:

[Steve Mawson]

Pretty big deal-looks to me like that anyway. Don't live that far away but have not heard of the hunt. Quite the honor I would say. Way to go!!

[John W Dixon]

Congratulations Aaron! What an honor to be selected to provide the calls but it doesn't surprise me in the least as your calls are always outstanding! Great job on these as well.

As an Illinois resident I would hate to use a turkey call at the capitol, hard to tell how many turkeys would come a runnin.

John

[David E Keller]

They're beautiful... I'm sure they'll be well received. Congratulations.

[Aaron Wingert]

Aaron - giving anything to the 'flunkies' that work for the rich man who already has everything? :confused:

Nope, just the governor...Now he gets a new turkey call. Maybe when his flunkies get to high status I'll make them a free turkey call. This isn't charity, it is PR for my business and something I'm proud of. Funny how the world works, huh. :)

[Terry Achey]

Those are real beauties, Aaron. The hi-end metal engraving is top notch. I love to turkey hunt and I make quite a few pot calls (slate and glass mostly) as gifts, not for sale. In my experience, sound quality is reliant on a number of factors including the pot wood density; sound board materials; and sound board mounting. Then, the striker material density; weight and length also factor greatly into the sound qualtiy. I would suspect that aesthetic appeal was paramount for these calls, but I was also wondering whether you were pleased with the sound quality as well? What's your sound board set up?

Again, beautiful calls, Aaron and that's a really big deal to be part of this event. Congratulations and savor every moment!

Terry

[Donny Lawson]

That's GREAT.Keep working your way up that ladder.
Donny

[Curt Fuller]

Wow, what an honor! And well deserved. They're beautiful calls!

Now I guess I have to be the first to ask a dumb question. Not being from turkey country, how does one of these calls work? I watched a couple youtube videos but they both just scratch the stick across a piece of slate inset in the wood. What is the purpose of the piece with the holes around the outside?

[Scott Hackler]

Aaron, nice looking calls. The One Shot Turkey Hunt is one of El Dorado's only draws! I dont hunt turkey but was going to volunteer to guide when a few years ago. Ted Nugent was supposed to come to town. He had to cancel so I didnt go ahead and volunteer to take someone else to my family farm!

[Aaron Wingert]

Those are real beauties, Aaron. The hi-end metal engraving is top notch. I love to turkey hunt and I make quite a few pot calls (slate and glass mostly) as gifts, not for sale. In my experience, sound quality is reliant on a number of factors including the pot wood density; sound board materials; and sound board mounting. Then, the striker material density; weight and length also factor greatly into the sound qualtiy. I would suspect that aesthetic appeal was paramount for these calls, but I was also wondering whether you were pleased with the sound quality as well? What's your sound board set up?

Again, beautiful calls, Aaron and that's a really big deal to be part of this event. Congratulations and savor every moment!

Terry

Thanks Terry. Yup, these calls sound excellent. I need to learn to post sound files one of these days. I've made countless calls and have sold many many many dozens of calls....And occasionally I still come up with one that hits the trash can just because the sound isn't perfect. All the factors you mentioned are critical to sound quality, and a couple you didn't mention as well. The distance between the call surface and the soundboard is critical, as is the overall internal dimensions of the call. I vary my dimensions depending on the surface being used and the density of the wood as well. Practice makes perfect on that. I'm not perfect, but I've never had a call come back either...I refuse to ship the ones that don't sound how I want them to.

The sounboard in these two is glass. I used glass sounboards in most of my calls. I get the best sound from it compared to wood, and slate soundboards just lack the durability in the field. When dropped, a slate soundboard has a tendency to let go.

I primarily use slate surfaces on my calls, and actually slate looks pretty good when it is laser engraved. But this call will probably get handled by a ton of people and finger oils and slate don't mix well. The aluminum is just more resilient to that and it is my 2nd favorite surface.

[Aaron Wingert]

Now I guess I have to be the first to ask a dumb question. Not being from turkey country, how does one of these calls work? I watched a couple youtube videos but they both just scratch the stick across a piece of slate inset in the wood. What is the purpose of the piece with the holes around the outside?

Not a dumb question Curt. The "pot" with the 9 holes in it is the call...It holds the slate (or aluminum in this case). The striker is rubbed on the slate in small motions of varying sorts that produce different sounds. Different areas of the slate will make different sounds, as will different motions and striker positions. Many hunters will carry a couple different calls and a few different strikers, which allows them to sound like more than one bird or to make different volumes of calls.