Albert Paul, one of the premier call craftsmen, plays some sweet notes on his acclaimed box call at the NWTF Convention. He is shown here with his wife, Faye.

Do you know any champion turkey callers, or call makers? Chances are if you’re from Mississippi you might just have a champion caller, or call craftsman living nearby. Last week the National Wild Turkey Federation held their 2015 National convention and the stars came out to shine with many Mississippi hunters basking in the limelight.

    While the list is too long to name in this column we must recognize a few of the winners and significant turkey men.

    Mark McPhail hunted and collected turkey calls with a passion and took that to another level upon retirement. Astonishingly McPhail went back to school to learn how to operate power equipment, including various saws and to hone his woodworking skills. McPhail didn’t know a thing about making turkey calls, but he did know what they were supposed to sound like and look like. McPhail took that knowledge and newly honed woodworking skills and in just a short time crafted a national champion scratchbox call, his Cane Call, in 2013.

    This year McPhail placed 5th and 6th in the NWTF Call Making Decorative Trough Division. Just placing among the top call makers in the country is a feat accomplished by only a few people to be sure.

    Tom Crook, of Amory placed 4th and 5th in the decorative scratch box divisions with his Mississippi Scratchbox calls. Crook has been making calls since 1989 but only recently took his craftsmanship to another level. For the last couple of years Crook has concentrated on producing the best scratchbox calls he can make and he’s done that quite well.

    Crook’s calls are some of the sweetest sounding scratch boxes you’ll ever play and they are small and easy to carry in your pocket and don’t require a lot of attention. Just keep them chalked up properly and play them regularly in the woods and you’re sure to coax a gobble or two from an old love sick Tom.

    On the calling side of things 2014 National Champion Friction Caller Jason Conrad, of Union, placed 4th in the Grand National competition for Friction calls at the convention last week. Conrad used his very own Jason Conrad Cryptic Crystal Pot call made by Pollard’s Elite Calls to garner 4th place.

    Conrad has been a Junior State Champion and won numerous championships on the national level before taking a break for awhile. He came back with a vengeance last year by winning the World Championship and has continued to perform at a very high level since.

    While we’ve mentioned some of the top callers and call makers who competed this year, a few other nationally acclaimed callers and call makers were in attendance. Albert  Paul and Preston Pittman were also on hand selling and taking orders for their calls.

    If you’ve got a hankering to try your hand at calling a wary old gobbler, you can be sure you’ll have an edge if you have these award winning calls in your call repertoire. Check out their calls and employ a few of them in your bag for an assorted assault on those battle wise birds.

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or e-mail him at mikegiles18@comcast.net