This wonderful award winning call was made and hand carved by Kevin Poeschel of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This call won the Blue Ribbon Award at the CCAA call makers show and competition held in St. Charles, Illinois in 2001. It is the "very first" carved call Kevin has ever done. The call is made from a nicely colored and figured piece of claro walnut. It features five flying mallards in various positions of flight. The background as well as the crown on the barrel is stippled. You can also see this call on page 55 in the May/June, 2001 issue of the "Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine".
Five fine calls also by maker Kevin Poeschel of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The first is a banded cocobolo call. It is an Arkansas style call with a semi Glodo drilled barrel. The second call is made of walnut. It has two stippled bands around the barrel and stopper. The barrel also has a brass band. The third call has a wild black cherry barrel and cocobolo stopper. There are two stippled bands around the barrel with the crown also being stippled. The tallest is a laminated four-panel design call. This call is made from walnut, rock maple and paduk. The tone board is made to match the barrel. The miniature laminated call placed 2nd in the miniature class at St. Charles in 2001. You can e-mail Kevin at, kmpoeschel@sbcglobal.net.
One of the finest craftsmen around, Dennis Poeschel of Milwaukee, Wisconsin makes great calls. The first call is made from pistachio. It has four raised checkered panels. The second call is made of Turkish walnut from the Carpathian Mountains. It is also done in the Beckhart and Stone style. Both calls came with their own display base. The third call is made of cocobolo with an ebony stopper. The last call is made from Wisconsin hard maple. The stopper is from cocobolo. Each has three fine-checkered panels. Dennis can be found at www.wildfowlcalls.com
This is the First Place Winner in the matched set division at the NWTF 2000 convention. Albert Doyle Bignar of Jena, Louisiana crafted this beautiful set. These calls are Jo Willingham style made of Bois D' Arc wood. Each has four high reliefs carved checkered panels with another checkered panel on each stopper. I am proud to own Albert's first First Place Winner calls. You can also see this set on page 24 in the July/August, 2000 issue of the Turkey Call magazine.
Five varieties of carved calls made by Albert Bignar of Jena, Louisiana. The first is a deep relief hand carved cherry wood call with trees, cattails, and a flying duck on the barrel. The next call has Albert's trademark Chevron checkering style. The call is made of black locust wood and has a number of raised checkered panels. The next two calls have four raised checkered panels and have fins coming from the lower panels on the barrels. The stoppers also have nice checkering. The banded one is walnut, the other Bois D' Arc wood. The last call has three raised checkered panels and is made of ebony. All of Mr. Bignar's calls are stamped with his "AB" brand. You can read more about Mr. Bignar in Fontenot's book page 71 or if you would like a Bignar call for your collection, contact Mark Warmath, at Trkyhunt@bellsouth.net.
John Coats of Longwood, Florida made these five nice Reelfoot style calls. The first and last calls are maple with 2 inlaid flying ducks in the barrels. The last also has an inlaid duck in the stopper. The second and fourth calls are of Hooker design. The third is maple with 3 carved flying ducks. John can be found on page 37 in Fleming's book. John is the only call maker close enough for me to drive to visit his shop without having to make it a four-day trip. You can contact Mr. Coats about his calls at, KC10APPLE@aol.com.
Five varieties of calls made by Kelly (Clarence) Wick of Benson, Minnesota. The first banded call is made from many different pieces of wood laminated together. This call is pictured in Lodermeier's book, page 577. The second and third fine calls both took 2nd in their classes at the 2001 NWTF show. The other two are a nice cedar Perdew style call and a carved walnut call. Mr. Wick can be found on page 569 in Lodermeier's book, Minnesota Duck Calls.
Here are five fine calls by maker Crest Wilson of Corinth, Mississippi. The first four are deep carved calls with various carved and painted ducks, Wood duck, Greenhead Mallard, Black Duck, and Shoveler. Also, on the other side of each call is a carved hen of each species. The beautiful banded ebony call placed 1st in the carved novice class at St. Charles in 2003. It has two carved mallards flying and a set of cattails. Crest's calls are Reelfoot style with German silver reeds. If you would like one of Crest Wilson's calls, for your collection, you can go to, http://duckcallcarver.tripod.com.
Five calls made by Robert (Bob) Fort of Clarksville, Tennessee. The first three calls are some of Bob's early Reelfoot style calls. The checkered call placed 2nd in the novice class at St. Charles in 2000. More about Bob can be found in Fleming's book, page 61. Bob was the first call maker and collector I ever met. I'm glad he stayed that year at the Samburg motel. You can contact Bob at, robert_m_fort@yahoo.com.
Five nice calls made by Kenneth Hopper of Hickman, Kentucky. The first call is walnut with two painted mallards in flight on the barrel. The second call has a number of checkered panels with an Indian head token on one panel. The last three calls show Mr. Hopper's carving abilities. The first call has three deep carved panels showing a flying duck, duck on a log and an open shotgun with dead duck. The second call has a sitting duck, arrowhead and a duck standing. The finial carved call placed first in the Carved Novice class at the CCAA call makers show and competition held in St. Charles, Illinois in 2004. This call also won "Best of Show" for the Novice competition. The three carved panel's sport two flying ducks, three swimming ducks and a hunter in a layout boat. Mr. Hopper's calls are all of the Reelfoot style. If you would like one of his calls, you can email him at, dnkhopper@vol.com.
Five examples of calls made by Charlie Bishop (1912-2001) of Jonesboro, Illinois. The first has a carved old man's face on the barrel. The second call has checkering around the entire barrel. Charlie said it is the only call he had ever done this way. The last three calls have three checkered panels on each. Charlie is in Christensen's book, page 55 and Fleming's book, page 23. There is also a great write up about Charlie in the July/August, 2002 issue of, "Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine."
Five very nice calls made by Dave Larsen of Iowa. The first is one of Dave's early calls. It is number 22 and is signed on the barrel. The second has an ebony barrel and maple stopper. The next barrel comes from a block of wood created by putting various woods together. The stopper of this call is paduk. The last two calls are made from walnut and maple that has been laminated together in different ways to create these awesome patterns. All calls are signed and numbered by the call maker. You can find Dave on the net at, Superlab@msn.com.