Welcome to Lights Out custom calls!
In 2003, I began building my first turkey calls. I had never turkey hunted before, and had always heard how difficult turkey hunting could be. The previous fall, on 2 separate occasions I had stumbled across wild turkeys in 2 separate places near my home. The spark was ignited…
I had always enjoyed working with wood, and loved to hunt, so my new endeavor of building calls seemed like a great fit. I began with scratch box calls, and within months had my little calls in a nationally distributed catalog for spring. I toyed with hewn box calls and glued box calls and sold a few to friends here and there. In late 2004 I purchased an old Craftsman lathe (likely built in the 1970’s). I had never used a lathe before, and had only basic safety pointers from my father-in-law, a professional woodworker of over 40 years.
The learning curve was slow in the beginning… After many long hours, much wood dust, long conversations with experienced callmakers and considerable prayer, my calls began to take shape.
As my pot calls began to sound more like turkeys, I abandoned the scratch box calls and box calls, never to look back. I developed a passion to build the most natural sounding pot calls from the best materials available, and at a price most hunters could afford. God began to open doors through contacts with other call-makers, eBay sales and some area hunters and sportsmen. A fellow callmaker and new friend generously invited me to hunt with him in North Central Oklahoma, where I was able to take my first wild turkey, at 37 years of age. I was hooked!
In late 2007, I received an invitation to enter some of my calls in the Midwest Callmakers Competition in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Within a couple of days before the deadline for entry, I selected 3 calls from my “stock box”. These were calls that I had offered for sale at a “huge” gun show in Tulsa, OK only a couple of months before… “leftovers” if you will. I selected 3 of the best sounding calls and shipped them to Wisconsin. Once again, God blessed my efforts in callmaking. Of the 3 calls entered, 2 were awarded first place awards in their respective divisions.
In the past few years I have been blessed to make many new friends that share the passion of hunting wild turkeys. The stories and pictures from folks who have purchased my calls are my trophies! Their phone calls and emails are often the highlight of my day. I’m far from rich by man’s standards… but through the relationships I have developed in these few short years, I am truly blessed!
To those who have been a part … THANK YOU!!!
To those who are just taking a look around… WELCOME!!