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.
John Coats of Longwood, Florida made these five nice Reelfoot style calls. The first and last calls are maple with two 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 three carved flying ducks. John can be found on page 37 in Fleming's first book and page 33 in his second 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 John about his calls at, jcoats1@cfl.rr.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. All calls are made of walnut. More about Bob can be found in Fleming's first book, page 61 and second book, page 65. 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, thebobfort@gmail.com.
Five calls made by Billy Hays of Milan, Tennessee.
Five calls made by J.W. Hays of Milan, Tennessee. The first four are laminated calls made from six different woods. These were J.W.'s most difficult calls to make but his favorite. The last call is a cocobolo call. All have a brass bands on the barrels and Mr. Hays's label. Calls are all Arkansas style and sound great. You can see more of J.W.'s work in Fleming's second book, page 86. The two laminated calls I bought from J.W. that first year he went to Reelfoot are still one of my favorite calls of all.
Five calls made by Thurman McCann ( -2002) of Trumann, Arkansas. The first two were made in 1994. The third call Thurman said was made of watermelon wood. The fourth call was made in 2001. All have the Delta Mallard stamp or label on the barrel. More of Thurman's calls can be seen on page 231 in Harlan's book.
Five calls made by Jimmy Crooks of Dry Prong, Louisiana. The first call is made of persimmon wood with raised checkered panels and a carved sitting duck. The second call is a beautiful carved cedar call. It has two flying pintails on one side and a lab holding a duck on the other. The last two calls have two checkered panels and a carved sitting duck on them. More about Jimmy can be found on page 35-38 in Fontenot's book. You can email Jimmy about his calls at cjcrooks@centurytel.net.
Five carved calls made by Dan Crooks (1910-1998) of Dry Prong, Louisiana. They are carved walnut calls with two flying ducks and two checkered panels. Dan used a pocketknife to carve all his Reelfoot style calls. The calls were then soaked in linseed oil for 24 hours before drying. Some of Dan's calls stll smell of oil in the barrels. More about Dan's calls can be found on pages 35-38 in Fontenot's book.
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 calls made by Tom Condo of Monticello, Indiana. The first call has three raised checkered panels. The other three calls are fine examples of Tom's skill as a carver. Each has hand relief carved and hand painted mallards in hanging or flying positions. The fourth call also has a copper band on the barrel with a carved crown stopper. The last call is a mallard duck head call with a 410 shell in its bill. Tom can be found on page 41 in Fleming's book and on the web at, condo@pwrtc.com.
Howard B
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 first 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 Clinton, Iowa. Dave started making calls in 1999. 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.