This month’s call giveaway winner was Nick Jones. Nick is the proud new owner of a Walnut Turkey Track Aluminum Over Glass Cal. All is not loss, we will be getting a new call up for January’s Call Giveaway very shortly. If you would like a chance at winning one of these calls just post your comment on the post. I would like to thank everyone that has played and congrats to all the winners.

This month’s call giveaway winner was Kaleb Payton. Kaleb is the proud new owner of a Mahogany Spur Aluminum Over Glass Call. All is not loss, we will be getting a new call up for December’s Call Giveaway. If you would like a chance at winning one of these calls just post your comment on the post. I would like to thank everyone that has played and congrats to all the winners.

Derby City Pro Staffer, Dave Berry, tagged this super jake during Kentucky’s 2011 spring season.  Dave and DC Pro Staffer, Scott Cronin, set up in a field and had two jakes come in as soon as the birds flew off the roost.  This jake gobbled and put on a show until Dave dropped him at 50 yards.

This was a special hunt for me.  Scott invited me, Dave, and my father to his Grayson County farm for a weekend hunt.  I have tried to get my father to hunt for almost 35 years now.  He recently started helping us make turkey calls and this peaked his interest.  At 64 years old, dad finally went turkey hunting.  It was a tough year to say the least, but he enjoyed it.  Who knows, I may get him in the deer woods this year also.

Congrats Dave, on a SUPER JAKE.

I  got a email yesterday from March’s call giveaway winner. He had stated that he had received the call, and that it was just what he wanted. Zach had wanted his call engraved with his friend Bryce Russell that had passed away and went on to meet the lord. Bryce was the one that had gotten Zach into turkey hunting. Here is the rest of the story in Zach’s words.

I just wanted to let you know that I received the package in the mail yesterday and LOVE the call.  It is exactly what I wanted and I couldn’t be happier.  I played it some in the morning and loved the sound of it, and I had already been planning on going out with my bow that afternoon.  Well I am normally the guy that I completely loaded down with calls up the wazzu, but yesterday I decided I wanted to go light and I decided to only bring my new call with me.  This is a big deal for me since I usually carry a box, 4 slates, 8 strikers, locators, and 7 mouth calls.  Well I had my bow with me and since I was traveling light I decided to stalk the turkeys rather than sit in a blind.

I got out to the woods at 3:45 PM and I knew where they hung out at that time of day.  I stalked into the area and hit the slate every few steps trying to locate them but didn’t get any response.  I ended up walking up on a strutter at 20 yards across the dried up creek bed.  I had to get set-up fast and the only place I could while still having a shot was a three foot deep cut-out that used to be a cow path, on the bank of the creek.  Well I hit my Derby City slate call one more time and that was it, they came in on a string and I nailed the biggest of the 6 toms with my bow at 14 yards.  I knew you wanted me to send some pictures of me with the call when I got it.  Hope you don’t mind if there is a turkey in the picture too haha.  Fell free to use any of the pictures for anything you want and thank you again for this opportunity. I know Bryce was watching over me on this one.

Zach Rees

The winner of this call giveaway was Scott Strangfeld!!!

Derby City Calls is now going to start a monthly call giveaway. This contest will consist of one lucky winner from each month will receive a free pot call with his or her’s name engraved on the back. Comments about this month’s giveaway is what do you think about our latest call the Turkey Track!

The way this is going to work is, you have to post your comments on this post and we will pick one lucky winner on the last day of the each month. When making your comment on this post please include your valid email address. Reason being this is the way we will contact the winner.

Click play to hear this call in Aluminum.

Turkey Track in Aluminum

Click play to hear this call in Slate

Turkey Track in Slate

One comment for each user, multiple entry’s will be removed. This month we will be giving away a Flamed Maple Turkey Track! Each call will come with a 500 year old growth maple striker. Now let the comments begin!

Good luck!

Today I have gotten some exciting news, that one of our very own DCC pro staff member Tedd Moffett has joined the Field Expert Team of Ol’ Tom. Tedd is very excited about this opportunity in joining such a great company and a great organization like Ol’ Tom! Ól’ Tom is a company that make some the finest turkey hunting apparel and gear out there!

Tedd has been using their products for a few years now, and if it can hold up to his punishment than I know it must be in a league all its own! Tedd I know you will make Ol’ Tom proud as you have done some really great things here for us at DCC. Big thanks goes out to Ol’ Tom and keep making great gear for this great sport that we all love and call Turkey Hunting!

Dave & Tedd Ohio Turkey Calling Contest

This past weekend, Dave Johnson and Tedd Moffett, were in Cincinnati, OH competing in River Valley Longbeard’s 4th Annual Turkey Calling Contest. This was the first contest for both Dave & Tedd while using Derby City Calls. After the dust had settled Dave Johnson had taken 2nd Place in the Amateur Division and Tedd rounding out taking 5th. Tedd’s nerves had gotten the better of him, with a few slips on his fly down cackle. As for the Friction Division Dave ended up finishing 4th with Tedd coming in 7th.

All in all there was some very stiff competition in Ohio. This contest is known for having some of the most talented callers. Probably the only other contest to have as many talented callers competing is the Grand Nationals in Nashville. Congrats to Dave for bringing it all together and putting on a very clean run for both the Amateur and Friction Divisions and putting on a good showing for DCC.

We now have videos up from this event here.

Just because Derby City’s main focus is on turkey calls doesn’t mean we are only turkey hunters.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to chase those longbeards.  Turkey hunting is a passion of mine.  However, deer hunting is not far behind it.  I am looking forward to the cool, crisp autumn air.  There is nothing that makes a hunter feel more alive as when that first cool day arrives.  I can almost smell the sweet aroma of fall.

Living in the suburbs of Louisville, most people would think that wildlife does not exist here.  Serious hunters know that suburbs can hold some great whitetail deer.  I have several whitetail that visit my backyard every day.  As October wains and November appears on the calendar, I normally have some very good bucks come by looking for does.  These bucks can live to maturity.  Most are not pressured and have ample food throughout the year.  As long as they are not hit by automobiles, they grow up to be trophy animals.

I have not hunted them much since I have lived in my house, but that is about to change.  The number of deer in our subdivision has steadily grown over the past 4 years.  I have had as many as 18 deer in the yard at one time.  If time allows, I will be after some of these deer this year.  Good luck and don’t overlook the suburbs.

Here are some pictures from last year.  One is a picture of a small button buck who frequently visited the feeder throughout the day. 

My first turkey hunting trip to Illinois turned out to be one of the most exciting hunts that I have ever had.  I had a game plan set up to hunt a corner where the farmer’s son had been seeing birds for the past two mornings.  I held tight to this original plan until I drove to another spot on the farm just before dark and had a longbeard gobbling to every little sound.  After roosting this bird, I called my friend Scott Cronin for some advice.  We concurred that I needed to set up on this hot bird.  Another close friend of mine, Brent Lynch, was going to sit with me the next morning.  Brent and I snuck in when it got dark and set up a Primos Vision blind in the middle of a cut soybean field.  All we had to do was try to get some sleep that night.

Brent and I got to the blind about an hour before daybreak.  We did not want to take a chance of spooking that bird off the roost.  I set out a Peep-n-Tom and Pretty Penney decoy and we sat in the blind waiting for the day to break.  Lucky for us, we had a mouthy owl in our area and he started hooting early.  When he started, he got the boys fired up.  Not one gobbler was roosted close by, four of them where in the area.  They gobbled continuously on the roost and did not shut up when they hit the ground.  I was using an Old Growth Spur slate/glass and Mahogany Magnum Aluminum/glass.  I called softly with the Old growth pot to let them know I was in the area.  All the gobblers stayed in a hardwood bottom, gobbling every time I called.  I stopped calling, not wanting the gobbling to attract live hens and take the birds the other way.  Too late.  We heard some live hens start calling from where the gobblers were located.  It sounded like the gobblers were heading away from us, so I broke out the aluminum mahogany and did some soft yelps and clucks.  After 10-15 minutes, Brent saw a hen enter the field.  Two more hens came out and we heard a booming gobble in the woods.  I told Brent he would be coming.  About that time, Brent’s eyes got big and he said, “Big gobbler, here he comes.  I said, “How close.”  Brent said, “He is right there.”  I peeked around the blind and the gobbler was in a sprint for the decoys.  He puffed up and strutted to the Peep-n-Tom.  He flogged it and brushed up against it, then he pecked him a few times.  Finally he stepped back just enough to allow me a shot.  He went down in his tracks.  The longbeard weighed 21 pounds.  His beard was 10 1/2 inches and he had 1 1/4 inch spurs.

Brent had a great time.  It was the first time he got to see a successful turkey hunt.  What a hunt it was.  Derby City Calls were very successful in bringing those birds to the field.  Good scouting, good calls, and patterning your gun all pay off.  These three things were extremely important in helping me fill my first Illinois turkey tag.

One of the things I like about hunting is that it allows you to meet a lot of people and develop life- long friendships.  Many of my good friends are hunters who I have met through my love of the outdoors.  Working at Derby City Calls has expanded my network of friends even more.  Brent Stoner has become a good friend of mine.  We recently started hunting together and have had success turkey hunting and chasing rabbits.  Jeff and Eric Sullivan have also become good friends.  There guys are not hunters…yet!!  My love of hunting allowed me to meet these guys when they were looking at manufacturing turkey calls.  Jeff and Eric are hardworking business owners.  They have been great to work with and I look forward to many years of friendship. 

To Brent, Jeff, and Eric- I am blessed to have you guys as friends.  I look forward to growing these friendships over the years.

To Rick Denkhoff (another good friend)- You better kill a big turkey or deer this year if you still want to be a Pro Staffer.