Tom and Inman Turpin designed and manufactured Turpin Yelpers and box calls over a hundred years ago and Steve Turpin is carrying on the family tradition from Memphis, Tennessee today.

    “Turpin Yelpers have been helping turkeys make bad decisions for over 100 years,” Turpin proudly proclaimed. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Turpin through a turkey organization and his family’s contribution to the world of turkey hunting is nothing short of amazing. Their contribution as such is chronicled in Jim Casada’s “Remembering the GREATS” turkey book.

    “My great uncle Tom and grandfather Inman Turpin were the originators of the Turpin Yelper, the first wooden trumpet calls,” Turpin said. Amazingly the Turpin Yelper and the Turpin Box are still in production today and are unique in their design and continue to be excellent choices when calling in wary old toms.

    I’ve been around turkey hunting in this area for 40 years and have never met anybody who let on that they used a trumpet call or Turpin yelper, yet they’re pure death on turkeys- especially in areas where a gobbler has never heard their soft seductive clucks and yelps.

    The Turpin calls are like hen’s teeth these days as they’re not mass produced but rather handcrafted with fine attention to detail and quality by Turpin.

    “We built our reputation on making a great product that sounds good and quality is foremost for me,” Turpin said. “I’m first and foremost a turkey hunter and I want to put people in the woods with a great call.” As such, Turpin makes a limited number of calls on demand each year including 50 to 75 box calls and 75 to 100 Trumpet calls while continuing the family tradition.

    “I’ve been hooked on turkey hunting before I could ever go hunting on my own,” said Turpin. “I hunted five years before I heard my first gobble and that was on my first successful hunt when I killed a gobbler after my father, Hunter Turpin, called him up.” Turkeys were really scarce in those days and it was a momentous occasion indeed for the young hunter.

    “I can’t remember the first time I picked up a call but I’ve been around turkey hunting and call making from childhood and treasure a picture with me and my dad with a gobbler from 1972,” Turpin remembered fondly.

    “Our box calls have a deeper tone and they have a different sound than the Lynch Boxes,” Turpin said. “I hunt with a Turpin box and the Turpin Yelper and the yelper is not affected by water. If it rains you’ve got to put the box up but you can keep hunting with the trumpet call but I use both depending upon what the turkeys want that day. Some days they like one sound and others they like another.”

    While there’s a time and place to run and gun, Turpin prefers the old school approach.

    “Patience kills turkeys,” said Turpin. “I’m a set up and call turkey hunter and I believe that turkey will come to me sooner or later if he can hear me.” Turpin’s list of accomplishments also extends into the woods having taken gobblers with spurs 1 ? inches long, beards to 12 ? inches and a whopping 29.27 pound trophy from middle Tennessee.

    For more information on Steve Turpin and his unique calls contact him at 901-685-0766 or online at http://www.turpincustomgamecalls.com or via Facebook at Turpin Custom Game Calls.

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898

or e-mail him at mikegiles18@comcast.net