This week's whittling

[TomTalker]

This a call that I turned out this week from wood salvaged from the firewood pile. Curly maple! I took it out yesterday with the finish still fresh and gave it a try. I only had 45 minutes to walk in set up and call and walk back as I had to go to work. Instant crows! As I watched the eges for Wiley a Redtail lit in the tree right over my head. I guess I fooled some of them. No dogs But I'll Be Back! TT

[AlaskanYoter]

Thats awesome Tom!!!!! I got my call in the mail today. It got held up by customs. Is that common in Canada? Seems like three out of five packages coming from there was customized.

I like the heck out of my call though!!!!!! ;D

Thanks Todd

[Bobcat]

Hey Tom,

That call is a work of art! Your photography is as good as your call making!!

Good Hunting,

Bob

Todd-You are going to need to add another room to the house for your calls. ;D

[willketchum]

Beautiful call! Do you find wood like that in the wood pile often? Would you be interested in trading some of that curly maple for some mesquite burl?

[TomTalker]

Todd! I got a hunch it's not Canada Customs
I got a boxcall out to The Black Kettle Long Beards in Oklahoma last year in less than a week. Maybe the guy in customs is a call collecter too ;D
Bobcat! If you don't quit saying such nice things about them calls I'll have to up and make ya one. hehe. The pic above is from Imagestation which uses an auto resize. That one starts out at 1.2 Meg and imagstation resized it to 16.3 kb. I have tried Photobucket too. They are easy but I couldn't get the resize to work without making a duplicate and resizeing it myself. That resizes the pic but file size stays quite big. Here's a couple more.
Willy! As for if I have more of that firewood here's a little story. I spotted that piece in my sister's pile and grabed it and all the rest I could find. I asked her where she got it and she said it was a branch that fell of the old tree at the back of the farm. I told her not to burn any more and to tell me if any more branches fall of. About a year later she called that a branch had come down , would I come and see if it was the same wood. Yup it sure was. The branch was 3' dia. The following Saturday a monster storm came through and took the rest of the tree. The trunk is five feet across. Even the two inch branches have curl in them. The root and part of the stump are still in the ground the rest I have but still in the log. You aint got an eighteen wheeler have ya?. The turned call above is the second piece I've turned. The rest of the calls I've made with it are boxcalls. Here's a couple more from the same block of wood.TT
www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid103/p1eef3c8f34d175a0c5e8bf78e53805f4/f9ae39fd.jpg
[/img]


Sly might recognize the one with the spalting

[LoneHowl]

TT, awsome call! I love it.
Curly maple is my favorite, Ill be using lots of it myself.
Love the photography too ;D

[AlaskanYoter]

Tom I have working the call you sent me around the house the last couple of days and I'm not sure if it was your intention. But, man this thing is a dandy howler and loud as crap!!!!! It sounds better then most of my howlers. So needless to say thats what I'm going try out on it first.

Be safe,
Todd

[Bearmanric]

Tom Talker Really great call's there. those box call's have nice grain. keep up the great work. Rick

[TomTalker]

Hey Todd! You should be getting a dandy pup yelp out of it too I've never heard a snowshoe hare but I figger they must sound much like a jack. Oh and about that food safe finnish. That's the first time I've used it so I guess you be doin the field test. It should be very moisture(slobber) resistant and is edible with no gloss unless polished. The wood on that call is from a plum tree I cut here in the yard.
Any way just a note on turkey calls and coyotes. Two years ago I went out before light and used a howler as a tom locator. Couple of yips and I got a gobble. I set up my decoy and waited till that prelight time when things just stat to get visible and let out some soft clucks that led into a yelp. To my left at the end of the meadow I saw a coyote apear looking my way. He trotted the far edge of the feild eyeing my direction untill he caught my wind and evaporated. That morning I had three toms and four hens come down. One hen was in pecking range of my left shoe. I swear I thought she was going to peck it. Next morning in the same field I set up at the end where I had seen Wiley apear the day before. No howl just the usuall yelps with a decoy out in front of me. After about a half hour the movement I saw wasn't a tom but Wiley. I dumped him with a turkey load so close to my decoy that some of that pink stuff from his nose got on poor Hennrietta. I figgered this was my coyote from the previous day. This shot ended my turkey hunt for the day so I returned the following morning to the same field but the far side. Decoy out(and cleaned) the usual scenario. Who comes along eyeing my decoy out about 100yrds but another coyote. This one winded me before coming into shotgun range. Interesting concept! I wonder how often some one purposely uses a turkey call to fool coyotes! TT