Albert Paul's box call has called in many gobblers for the author. Paul is pictured here with his wife, Faye. 

Mississippi is blessed with an abundance of natural resources just teaming with fish and game and we’ve got some of the best sportsmen in the world.

While deer hunting may be king of the hill when it comes to popularity, our state is full of wild turkeys and they offer a challenge unlike any other. If you lock horns with an old gobbler on a fair playing field like Gene Nunnery suggested in his book on The Old Pro Turkey Hunter, then you’ll likely go home defeated more often than not. But that is what makes the challenge all the more satisfying.

As a result of the abundant turkey population, Mississippi has also produced some of the finest turkey call makers and their calls are second to none when it comes to calls that will flat out kill turkeys. While I can’t name all of the famous call makers in this column, I can name a few that have helped me entice a few gobblers. I’ll cover them from the beginning until present day and see if I can come up with a few names you’ll recognize.

My first gobbler was called up with an M. L. Lynch World Champion Gobble box, from Liberty, and that box was in my vest until it was cracked during a lightning storm.

Preston Pittman’s lead framed double reed turkey call was pure death on the birds as well and it was in my pack on every trip. And Pittman’s small slate call was my first slate to call a tom with.

Ben Rogers Lee was born in Starkville and his Twin Hen trough call and gobble box both produced some of my first toms.

Will Primos True Double became an instant hit with the gobblers and later on the True Triple became a valued killer in my arsenal as well.

And then I won a Paul Meek slate over glass pot call and that became my staple call when tangling with battle weary, call shy birds. A many a tom lost his life due to that call. In recent years Paul’s Copper Slate pot call replaced my old slate over glass and it’s a killer too.

Albert Paul’s custom made box earned a permanent place in my vest, replacing the old Lynch and Ben Lee Calls after somebody sent me one in the spring of 2000. That box is pure death.

Among the younger, more recent call makers is Joey Rose whose copper and slate calls have helped me entice an old gobbler or two as well.

Ford Mangum’s trough call helped me call in a gobbler for Scott Dillon from Colorado and it remains a favorite of mine.

And just last year I received a few mouth calls from Jeffrey Wood of Swamp Boys Custom Calls and an old bird fell victim to one of his calls as well.

Adam Stewart’s Black Aluminum Oxide Pot Call was added to my vest last year as well and caused a few toms to meet their maker too. It has a distinct sound and the birds love it.

Ironically some of my favorite calls of late come from a man who only started making calls upon his retirement. Mark McPhail not only started making calls but he’s made a variety of calls that have garnered national and regional awards.

As his expertise with making calls has grown his calls have just gotten better and better. While his Cane Call won a national contest, his trough call is perhaps his most popular and easy to use call. More recently his scratch box calls and his slate box have helped me fool a few toms too. During one early morning guided hunt I called up a couple birds that hung up so I pulled out the Slate Box and the double strutted right into his lap!

If you’re looking for a turkey call to use this spring then look no further than your local store that is sure to have a few Mississippi made calls and there are a plethora of calls out there that will all do the job. The calls and call makers I’ve mentioned here are ones that have been successful throughout my turkey hunting career but I have added a few more Mississippi and I hope to add them to my kill list as well. And there’s one more call that I’ve relied on for many years and that’s one that Jack Dudley taught me– a Mike Giles Natural Voice Call. But that one can’t be bought!

Contact Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or email mikegiles18@comcast.net.