John Eddleman didn’t grow up in the Mississippi Delta but he got there as fast as he could and his life has never been the same. Mr. E as he is known by friends was stricken with a disease that infects a fortunate few hunters who usually develop a full blown case of the turkey fever. Men like John Eddleman are a little bit different than your normal hunters and though he does a little of it all, turkey hunting is his favorite pursuit and making custom made “old school” turkey calls is his passion.

Mr. E as he is known by friends was stricken with a disease that infects a fortunate few hunters who usually develop a full blown case of the turkey fever. Men like John Eddleman are a little bit different than your normal hunters and though he does a little of it all, turkey hunting is his favorite pursuit and making custom made “old school” turkey calls is his passion.

“I killed my first gobbler in 1976 on Ashbrook Island Hunting Club late one afternoon,” Eddleman said. “I like the old school style calls like the Turpin box and the Stribling box. Up in the Delta we hunted between the levees and on some islands and had some really thick cane breaks that kept the sound down so the best turkey calls were those old style box calls that would really sound off and carry long distances.”

Eventually Eddleman borrowed an original Stribling box call from his neighbor D. T. Scott and killed several birds with it. In fact, he liked the box so much that he used it as a pattern to make what eventually became known as the Gator Gobbling Stribling Box. While the first box left something to be desired, his second attempt was much better and became the standard for what he wanted to make.

“I started rounding the paddles and making them to sound like an old gobbler yelp on one side and a hen on the other,” Eddleman said. “You won’t find a gobbler yelp like this anywhere these days. You can take that old hollow sounding gobbler and you can do all kind of tricks.”

And that Gator Gobbling Stribling box he makes will really gobble and make them talk. While hisTurpin box remains a hot call, the Gator Gobbling Stribling box is much easier to learn to play. In fact, Mr. E taught me how to make that old call talk in just a few minutes with limited hands on instructions and demonstration.

I can verify that the Gator Gobbling Stribling box works as I called up a flock of gobblers and hens on my first trip to the woods with it. I didn’t hear a bird off the roost first thing so I set up in a strutting zone and hit the hen side of the box and was instantly challenged by a raspy old hen from deep down in the hollow. In a few minutes they were just over the rise from me and the gobbler strutted and drummed for the next 15 minutes. And the rest, as they say is history!

Eddleman has also added another sweet-sounding single-sided box call to his collection and it’s really fine. Probably the most important part of the equation, aside from the fact that Eddleman’s craftsmanship is first rate is the fact that his “old school” calls are very distinctive and sound different than most other box calls and that’s a big advantage for hunters in heavily hunted areas.

“One day they’ll come to that yip yip and one day they’ll come to that yawk yawk,” Eddleman said.

And that yawk, yawk only comes from a Turpin or Stribling style box call and most of them are made by Eddleman himself. If you’re itching to take a tom this spring then you owe it to yourself to check out John Eddleman’s calls. Call him at 662-378-7173 or check him out on Facebook at John Eddleman, Greenville, Mississippi. You’ll be glad you did!

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