No matter what social class you belong to, you’re a hunter. These two gentleman met for the first time in the field and had no problems striking up a conversation. Illustration from Lewis’ American Hunter.
J. L. Melancon, Earl Dennison, G. D. Kinney, Johnny Marsh, Glynn Scoby, and many others maintained this original design and tradition. Turpin’s calls were in such demand that Nash Buckingham stated that “the duck shooting world was beating a path of its own to his door.” By the 1930’s, Nash stated that “the duck call making center was pretty well established in Memphis.” He also said that Memphian Ben Tyler was “an unequaled amateur woodcraftsman when it comes to ornate call shells. Captain Tyler, working in many lustrous woods, carves Benson and Roland Clark etchings thrown upon the wood surface by high lights. The results are exquisite—ducks and geese portrayed in familiar flight or lighting and feeding postures.” At Buckingham’s Sporting Goods Store in Memphis, the gathering spot for many of Memphis’ sportsmen, Turpin was always present. It was here, incidentally, that he met Perry Hooker and other Memphians that became call makers. It was here where duck calls for the retail market filtered in from Big Lake, Reelfoot, Illinois River, Cajun country, and other areas. At Turpin’s death in 1957, Turpin’s brother, Inman, took over the business until his death two years later; afterwards the call-making business passed to Inman’s son, Hunter. From Big Lake, call making spread to Mississippi, when, at an early age, R. “Mr. Mac” McPherson, (1911-1983), living outside Leachville, Early Chick Major Duck Call Arkansas, hunted ducks at -13-
Introduction
at calling. There were men around Big Lake who could talk to the ducks as readily as to one another. Living within twenty yards of Big Lake was a man named Glodo, with whom I and my shooting companion, Fredericks, stopped. This man made a perfect caller, using a tongue of silver or brass and a body of seasoned walnut. Sometimes it would take him a week to get the right twang to a tongue, but when finished, that call would say everything a duck could and more besides. The bottoms at Fountain Bluff had ponds and large lakes—like Big Lake which was nearly five miles in width and covered several sections of land—scattered over its surface, so that a great part was usually covered with water. It was alive with waterfowl during the hunting season and was considered “a hunter’s paradise.” Following Vic Glodo’s death in 1900, Memphis call maker Tom Turpin refined and standardized the Glodo design by improving the reed design and adding a step-drilled resonance chamber to increase volume. Over the years, a host of large and small call makers, including John “Sundown” Cochran, Sonny Cochran, Perry Hooker, John Lykins, E. S. Stofer, Perry Wade, John Jolly, Bill Barnett,