Best of the Best: Wisconsin's Turkey Call Makers

By Dan Small

The name of the first hunter to fashion a call that mimicked the sounds of a hen turkey well enough to lure an old gobbler to his doom has been lost in antiquity. The first call was likely nothing more than a hollowed-out reed or sumac twig. Today, there are more call designs and more call makers than you can shake a wingbone at. Since nearly anything that squeaks can be fashioned into a turkey call, the design of a call is limited only by its maker's imagination.

For ten or fifteen bucks in any sporting-goods store or Mega Mart, you can buy a call that will yelp, cutt, cluck, purr and cackle. Some hunters, though, want something more than an assembly-line box or slate call. Custom calls, made by hand, one at a time, of natural materials ranging from wood to terrapin shell are available for less than $50, but many fetch prices more commonly associated with shotguns.

These higher-priced calls fall into one of two categories: antique "working" calls crafted by now-deceased call makers; or contemporary "decorative" calls, often one of a kind, designed by a handful of talented artists. It might come as a surprise, given the Badger State's brief history of turkey hunting, but some of the best custom turkey call makers come from Wisconsin.

According to National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) regional director Charley Burke, Wisconsin call makers win more ribbons in national competition than do call makers from any other state.
"No other state comes close," Burke said.

At the 10th annual Grand National Call Making Competition held at the NWTF convention in Nashville in February, 2003, Wisconsin call makers won 25 ribbons in the decorative call division, including one best of show and seven firsts. Four call makers claimed 23 of those: Dave Constantine won seven, and Gene Upward, Dennis Poeschel and Jeff Zimmerman each won five. Dave Tyree of Chippewa Falls won six ribbons in the working call division.

The decorative call judged first best of show is purchased for $2000 by the NWTF for its permanent collection. Poeschel and Constantine both have won that honor in past years and are the only winners of the Champion of Champions award. All other entries are sold at auction during the convention, with proceeds either donated to the NWTF or split with the call maker.

Call makers have long added decorative elements to their custom calls, but the NWTF competition, which began in 1994, really gave the art form a boost. At first, there was only one division, but that was soon split into "working" and "decorative." Now there are 17 decorative categories, to accommodate call makers who work in a variety of styles and materials.

Decorative calls must be capable of making turkey-like sounds, but they are judged more heavily on workmanship, finish, artistic design and esthetics. Working calls are judged strictly on sound.
"In 1994, we had 30 or 35 entries by less than 10 call makers," Burke said. "In 2003, we had 200 entries in the decorative and 80 in the working competitions."

The Midwest National Call Making Competition is held in Wisconsin each year at the state NWTF show and banquet. This  event is the second largest after the NWTF Grand National. The same call makers typically win at both events year after year, according to Rod Bauer, who chairs the Midwest competition. Entries have grown from 20 or so in 1998 to 200 in 2003.

Wisconsin's Big Three

Dave Constantine, of Durand, was a wood carver and painter before he began making turkey calls. He won the 1992 Wisconsin turkey stamp competition. Since the NWTF competitions began, he has won 77 Grand National call making awards, more than anyone else. In 2003 alone, he won 15 awards at the two NWTF events.

"Dave has drawn the most attention of all the modern call makers," Bauer said. "He is like the king of carvers. The other competitors want to beat him."

Constantine's first-place carved and painted box call at the Grand National in 2003 of Brazilian cherry, butternut, basswood, and mahogany, featured carved deer and shed antlers on the side and lid.

A full-time artist, Constantine makes a dozen decorative calls and 50 or 60 hunting-grade calls per year. His work is displayed on his website: www.dconstantine.com.

An engineer by training, Milwaukee's Dennis Poeschel was an award-winning duck and goose call maker and bird carver before he began making turkey calls in the early 1990s. His calls won ribbons from his very first entry. In 2002, he won first best of show with a single-sided, carved box call with ivory inletting, decorated with hand scrimshaw.

"Making turkey calls gives you a chance to be more creative than if you are simply trying to do an exact duplication of a bird," Poeschel said. "And it's a great way to take a five-day season and make it last pretty much most of the year."

Poeschel considers the best decorative calls a legacy that will outlive their makers, but he advises new decorative call makers to do it for fun, not money. To make the call that won the NWTF's purchase prize of $2000 in 2002, he spent 600 hours, more than half of that doing scrimshaw under a microscope. That works out to $3.33 an hour.

"If it weren't for the notoriety and publicity from a win like that, you'd be better off flipping burgers," he quipped.

Poeschel's calls are displayed on his website: www.wildfowlcalls.com.

Gene Upward lives on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi in Grant County. He had no experience as an artist or woodworker when he began making turkey calls about 15 years ago. He made his first call from the wing bones of a domestic turkey and called in two gobblers while picking morel mushrooms. He next made owl hooters and slate calls out of cow horn, then a deep-belly box call that many call makers have copied. Starting with only a basic understanding of call dynamics, Upward now makes what many collectors argue are the best laminated calls found anywhere.

"I've got collectors now in 47 states, England and Germany," he said. "That's pretty amazing for something that started as a hobby."

Upward decorates his calls with highly figured crotch wood and burls, using a variety of native hardwoods like cherry and sumac, along with wood salvaged from the bottom of Lake Superior. He is more than two years behind in filling orders, but he doesn't rush his work. A call must sound perfect for him to sell it. "If not, I run it through the band saw and throw it in the scrap pile," he said. He can be reached at 608-748-4349.

Call makers and collectors alike agree that the interest in turkey calls will continue to grow. Decorative calls are selling for four figures, and antique working calls have increased in value by 600-700% in just three or four years.

Upward points out that new call makers' ideas in carving, painting and decorating keep challenging established artists.

"Workmanship and finish are better now than ever," he said. "Many new makers are engineers. They know tone, angles and other technical details."

Poeschel concurs: "The quality of the entries at the Grand National in 2003 was unbelievable. What won the competition 10 years ago would not even place today."

Wisconsin's top three are among five call makers who will collaborate to make one call to be sold at the Midwest National in Waukesha next January. Upward will make the box call, Poeschel will inlay ivory and scrimshaw it and Constantine will carve the lid. Irving Whitt, from South Carolina, will carve the decorative side of the box and the end, and a yet-to-be-named artist will paint a scene on the other side of the box.

Constantine, Poeschel and Upward are unquestionably tops in their field, but many new call makers are gaining on them. In addition to Jeff Zimmerman, of Shawano, who carves real-looking turtle-shell and wingbone calls from wood, Charley Burke and Rod Bauer suggest a few more decorative call makers to keep an eye on.

Bill Iserloth of Plymouth and Bob Brenner of Menomonie both have won ribbons with their finely finished wood box calls, and Larry "Shorty" Sheidigger of Wisconsin Rapids, a former gunstock and duck decoy maker, carves exquisite box and locator calls.

You can get a close look at the work of all these call makers and more at the Midwest National in Waukesha next January. For information on that and other NWTF events, go to www.nwtf.org, or www.customcalls.com. If you plan to start your own collection, better bring a hefty bankroll, as some of the biggest call collectors in the country will be there.