Roy Exum
When Chattanooga’s Jeff McKamey won the Grand National award for making the top wild turkey call in the United States, one “kinda’ bad” thing happened and another “real bad” thing occurred. “The real bad thing about it is I don’t have time to go hunting.
“And the kinda’ bad thing is that since word got out that I had made this year’s best turkey call, I’ve been flooded with so many orders I’m really struggling trying to get the calls into folks’ hands before the season ends in the middle of May.”
The National Wild Turkey Federation’s annual meeting and show was held this February in Nashville and when you ask Jeff, who was totally shocked when judges awarded his box call the highest honor in a field of over 700 entries, about what has happened since, a sly grin breaks his craggy face.
“Oh, let’s see … I’ve bagged four turkeys in Alabama, two in Florida and two more in Tennessee,” he laughed recently but not as hard as he did just two weeks ago when his award-winning calls also dominated the competition in Raleigh at the Southeastern Nationals show.
“I’ve loved nature and the outdoors all my life and found out the Indians first made what is today the modern box call. It’s a way to call a gobbler in a time-honored tradition and one day it dawned on me that maybe if I tried, I might be able to come up with a call that fell within the rigorous guidelines of the federation.
“The National Wild Turkey Federation loves turkeys a lot more than anyone can imagine and there are some woodsmen, for lack of a better word, who have caught the same fever. I adore the eagle as our national bird, but the wild turkey is a mighty close second,” he said, showing the beautiful mahogany and maple call that wowed the national judges.
The call is actually a slender box with a flat piece on its top. As the top piece “scratches” the box, the sound, in the words of one grateful customer, “makes the prettiest mountain music known to mankind.”
“Yeah, it’s that much fun to call a puffed-up gobbler to you,” Jeff explained, “and the idea that I can create a call, with my own hands that will fool a turkey is far more humbling, I guess you’d say, than winning the awards for it. I think the bird itself offers the greatest compliment.”
A 1979 graduate of McCallie, Jeff didn’t start “really hunting” until he was well into college and his love for turkeys has all but eliminated the other species of wild game he once called. “Oh, I still enjoy getting outside and I’ll always love duck hunting, but the turkey thing, studying ancient calls and with my profound respect for Native Americans, has captured my full-time attention."
Jeff is the vice president and general manager of Capital Toyota, a thriving auto dealership, but his hobby has grown to mammoth proportion since the huge awards have been given for the various types of calls. Quite simply, to win the Grand National is akin to winning the World Series in baseball.
“At the Southeastern a mahogany double-sider won the top award, but I got a first and second with two long boxes and a first and second with a couple of one-siders. The calls are different because the various woods I use, plus the inlays and top combinations, create unique sounds that are different to a judge’s ear,” Jeff explained.
“I really enjoy working with wood, particularly some of the really beautiful pieces I find for my calls. I’ve been lucky to get some great cuts of wood, if that makes sense, and then things just seem to fall into place,” he said.
Jeff adores the others who hunt turkeys. “Some of my best teachers are men who win these awards. When I won I was flooded with emotion, of course, but the huge thing was not beating my teachers but joining them. Outside of my wife and children, winning the grand national is one of my biggest thrills.”
Jeff’s calls, and more about them, can be found on his website, www.twistingcreekcalls.com and lest you think “Twisting Creek” is some magical hollow where the Cherokees once hunted, Jeff will ruefully tell you it’s “my street address!”
royexum@aol.com
Jeff McKamey