Derby City Calls had a booth in the innovations zone for this year’s ATA show.  The trade show is an order writing event and is geared more to Archery, however, we had many people interested in checking out our high quality turkey calls.  Derby City signed up 6 dealers who will carry our calls this spring.  These dealers ranged from the deep South, up into the midwestern United States.  We hope to have a dealer page set up for our visitors soon.  This would allow you to drop in and check out what they have to offer if they are located close to you.

Derby City’s Jeff Sullivan, Brent Stoner, Rick Denkhoff, Dave Berry, Scott Cronin, Tedd Moffett, and myself helped man the booth for 3 days.  We met a lot of good people in the hunting industry and made some good connections.  We hope to establish good working relationships with many of these people.  We were really pleased with the responses we received on our calls.  Many people were interested in our newest release, the turkey track.  This call will be available soon on our website.  There are some pictures in this blog that show you the new design.  Let me assure you, this is not just one beautiful looking call, it sounds phenomenal.

We all had a great trip and are now focusing our attention to Nashville for the NWTF National Convention in February.  We will have several Turkey Track calls on hand, for all you diehard turkey hunting fanatics, to try.  If you are looking for a true one of a kind call this year, all I can tell you is “TRUE AMERICAN CHESTNUT.”  Hopefully, this will get you excited to come and see us.

If you live in or around the Louisville area or are just passing through, we invite you to come and visit with us.  Let Derby City help you fill those tags this year.  We would like to thank everyone for a great start in the call making business.

Derby City Pro Staffer, Dave Berry, had a successful hunt last week.  Dave is an awesome hunter and this is an account of Dave’s hunt is his own words=

“It was the last day of the early fall turkey hunting season. The night before I had been sick, so I figured no Turkey Hunting tomorrow. As I lay in bed I knew I wanted to be in the woods, but I still felt like I needed to stay close to home. When my wife left for work I talked myself into putting on my camo, then I talked myself  into geting my shotgun out…. next thing I know I’m on my way to the farm to see what I could find.  I was running late so when I got to the barn I loaded my shotgun while using the bathroom and headed right out. It was already 9:35 AM so I needed to get to my spot in the woods where I thought the turkeys might be, I slowly moved down the creek looking for any movement.  As I got to where I wanted to setup I could hear Turkeys around the bend of the creek. I found the closest tree and became part of the bark.  A few minutes later I began to see Turkeys, 14 to be exact. The largest Turkey was of course at the back of the trail, so I decided to take the Turkey closest to me. I could see the beard, so I shot.  The Turkey I shot turned out to be 24 plus pounds with a 12 inch beard and 1 1/2 inch spurs. The best Turkey of my life.  So the next time you try to talk yourself out of going to the woods I hope you think of my fall Turkey hunting story.”

Dave Berry.

Derby City Calls ended its first fall turkey season on a high note.  On Oct. 30th, 2009, the weatherman was calling for high wind and rain to move in with temperatures in the mid 70’s.  It is the last day of the season and I wasn’t going to let the weather stop me.  I hit the woods early and set up near a roosting site.  The wind was picking up, just as I heard a flock of birds moving through the woods.  I made some soft putts and few kee-kees, alternating between my Derby City Spur and Magnum calls.  I was also using one of our Old Growth strikers made from the old cabin wood we recently purchased.  Our calls worked great.

In a matter of minutes, I had 5 nice birds closing in.  The biggest gobbler passed to the right of me, a mere 5 yards from my blind.  Unfortunately, I was set up for a shot to my left and I could not pull off a shot without spooking all of them.  I had to let that big longbeard walk.  I was whispering to myself, “I know where you live and I will be back for you this spring, Tommy Bird!”  I sat still and waited for the others to move into position for me to get a shot.  I lowered the boom on a nice, big bodied, bird.  This bird, along with the hen from opening day, filled my fall turkey tags.  I have learned the hard way that the breast tastes better than an unfilled tag any day.

I love the fall turkey season.  Kentucky is blessed with 2 fall seasons.  I love to put fresh wild turkey on the table for Thanksgiving.  My family and friends enjoy it as much as I do.  I have a feeling that this year’s harvest will be the best ever.  Even though my fall tags have been filled, I can’t wait to meet up with “Ole” Tommy Bird this spring in his own backyard.

Derby City Calls- a great, proven turkey call.

Footnotes: for field staff and pro staff

8 birds taken this fall season with Derby City Calls

Best Bird – Dave Berry  

24 pounds 12 inch beard  1 1/2 inch spurs

Best shot- Scott Crume, nice bow kill

Best Review- Clark Bush (check it out on his site, All About Shooting)

Best Time hunting- Brent Stoner, and smallest Bird!

Best Bruise- Jim Dawson (nice one)

 Best Effort – Rick Denkhoff (better kill a bird in the spring or you go from Pro Staff to “No Staff”)!!

: No photo available…. check back in the spring!

Also, congrats to Jim on getting his first fall bird ever.  He was a trophy bird and a very close 2nd to Dave’s trophy.