This awsome Rio strutted and gobbled over 400 yds (yes 400) to a slate/mulberry call. Taken in Frio County Texas, he provided a great morning for Evie and me. thanks for your part! Gene Branum

The osage orange did the trick. Even though it's a jake, your call helped me kill the first bird that I've actually called up myself. Great call. Thanks, Wendell.  Matt ( the bird weighed 15#, had 3/8 spurs and had 4.75" beard.  I killed it in central AR.)

Tough season for me. 25 lbs. 9 oz. 10 7/8 in beard 1/2 and 3/8 inch spurs ( Both broken off.  He was a Dude!) Stacy's dad is in the picture with me.  His was 22 lbs and 11 inch beard and nice 1 3/8 inch spurs. Dan Obermire and father-in-law Iowa

I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know how my custom laminate slate call performed this season.  It is an awesome call is all I can say!  And I mean AWESOME!!!  I harvested my first Merriam's turkey in early April up in Nebraska.   Next was my early May Eastern here in Topeka, Kansas and followed that up with a NW Kansas Rio Grande.  All three different species were very responsive to the sweet sounds coming from my laminate slate.  I also called in many other birds for other people with it as well.   Thanks for such an awesome call.  I am sure I will be ordering more for the upcoming season.   Thanks, Jerry Viera Topeka, Kansas

My turn... This is my first Eastern, a 22 lb bird with 9 1/2" beard and 3/4" spurs taken on opening morning of the 2007 Oklahoma season... somewhere near Tahlequah, OK. The night before the hunt, it snowed... IN APRIL,... IN OKLAHOMA.... That's just not right!!! It was in the low 20's on the morning of this hunt, with patches of snow here and there to remind us how cold it was that morning.  We hunted hard for several hours, but the weather had really changed the pattern of the birds.  We had switched positions and set up in a stand of small trees with a nice view of a long road and the edge of the ridge.  I heard 5 hen yelps and thought another hunter was coming up the ridge in front of me.  Several minutes later, I looked up the road to my right to see this bad boy feeding in the road about 100 yards away.  I hollered over to my hunting partner that I had a bird in sight.  He began to make some sweet soft purrs on the blackjack oak slate over cherry call (below right).  This bird lifted his head and began to come to the sweet sounds.  As I was facing 90 degrees to the left of the bird, I had to shift my position and bring up my gun... all while the bird is looking straight in my direction.  Fortunately, my hunting partner had advised me to sit back into the woods in the shadows (about 10 yards from the opening of the field pictured in top picture).   The bird never hesitated, he just kept coming to the soft purrs.  I finally got my knees and my gun in position and heard my partner say "shoot whenever you're ready".  The last thing this bird did (voluntarily) was cock his head a bit to the right, as if to say "something ain't right here."  BOOM!  A load of custom Nitro4x5x7 heavy shot out of my 870 dropped this bad boy like a rock.  As you can see by the top picture, I found out why my choke tube is called a Jellyhead.  The bird did not lose a single feather from the shot.  I want to thank my friend John Thomas for an incredible Oklahoma hunt and hospitality that was out of this world!

This is my hunting buddy, Lee Murphy of Barling, Arkansas with his 21 lb Eastern taken on nearby public land.   The bird had a 10 1/2" beard with one spur at 1 1/4" and one at 1 1/2" with nice, sharp points.  When we talked the night before opening morning, Lee let me know that he had an appointment that morning and needed to head home by 9:00 am at the latest.  NO PROBLEM!  We got to a strip of woods on some nearby public land about 30 minutes before the first hint of daylight.  It was drizzly and around the low 40's, with high humidity. A few minutes after sitting down, an owl hooted and this bird gave up his position.  The odds were stacked in our favor... one hot gobbler, no hens, 2 hunters and a Lights Out slate call... a recipe for a successful hunt.  I tried some soft purrs and clucks but got no response.  Apparently the thick cover and moisture in the air were affecting the way the sound carried.  I tried a nice raspy yelp on the mulberry slate with a bubinga striker.  BINGO!  I threw in a series of cuts on a custom purpleheart over sassafras box call from Papaw's custom calls and this bird was committed.  Since there was a small, shallow creek between us and the bird, my buddy said we should back out of the woods and move down a couple hundred yards and cross the creek.  As we were on the move, a pilleated woodpecker sounded off... double gobble!  He was hot... and headed our way.  We set up after crossing the creek and got ready.  With my slate call in one hand and striker in the other, I had gotten my striker wet walking through the tall grass and brush.  As I fumbled for another striker in my vest (while sitting behind a huge cottonwood tree) I heard "putt... flap, flap, BOOM,flap,flap, Thud!"  I missed the whole thing!  Lee took this one out of the air to end a 3 year dry spell.  It was great to return a favor for my friend and hunting partner.  Lee put me on my first successful deer hunt last fall with a button buck one morning and a 10 point the next morning!  Hey, Lee,  I guess I still owe you one, huh?