By Some Guy:
Recently I was in Anthon Iowa for the Oak Ridge Gobblers’ Wild Turkey Federation banquet. I entered the community center where the event was held and was greeted by the normal sounds of turkey hunters blow-gutting about their recent turkey conquests. There was also a lot of chatter going on about the fundraising auction items. But one noise in particular caught my attention the most. . . . A turkey call. The turkey call I heard sounded great!
Now I’m by no means what you would even closely consider a good caller. I’ve tried several calls over the years, slates, boxes, diaphragms. It seems that I never could find one that I can operate effectively. The only thing that really helps me though is the fact that most live turkeys don’t seem to be the best callers either! But even with that, when I have a Tom working and I let lose with my best “scratch-a-crach-a-bletch” call, they have a tendency to bolt, snapping off 4” saplings on their way up and over the far hillside.
Intrigued by the call, I needed to investigate.
There, off to the side of the room was a table set up with a display of assorted Stutn J’s Game Calls turkey calls. And to my surprise the heavenly choir of turkey sounds I was hearing was coming from one of their push button box calls. I’ve tried push button calls before, and I’ve never heard one that sounded good. But this one sounded fantastic! And to further my surprise, the operator of the call was an 8 year old boy. I thought to myself, “Damn, if that kid can work that call, I can to!”.
I picked up one of the calls and in a short time my thoughts were confirmed. I was able to manipulate the call easily, and made really good sounding yelps, clucks and purrs. I wasn’t as good as the eight year old, but I was still better on this call than anything else I tried.
On talking with Strutn J’s owner Kenneth Gardner the secret to his push button call sounding so good is the fact that it is made of wood, instead of the traditional plastic construction. And it also helps that Gardner personally hand makes each call so that he knows for a fact that each call “sounds right” before he sells it.
Gardner has been making calls for over 11 years at his Waterbury NE shop. All of his other product line goes through the same hands-on, personal touch manufacturing. Strutn J’s boasts on their web site that they “Produce a line of game calls that we feel are second to none!”. They also offer a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with their product.
I’m looking forward to using my new Strutn J’s call during Iowa’s 4th season. I truly believe that if I see a Tom bolting over the next hill top it won’t be because of the call; it will be operator error. I might regret not getting that 8 year old kids name and taking him with me. . .
To find out more about Strutn J’s Game Calls you can log onto http://www.strutnjsgamecalls.com/. They offer a number of different turkey calls; and also big game, waterfowl and predator calls.
