Tom Turpin

If there was ever a Duck Call Maker’s Hall of Fame, Tom Turpin from Memphis, Tennessee would be in the first induction class. As compared to other callmakers, not much is known about the early life of Tom Turpin.  What is known is that there was no other call maker that worked as tirelessly as Turpin did to create, in his mind, the perfect duck call. His call making took place in his shop located at 1150 Eastmoreland Avenue in Memphis.  It is believed that he started making calls as early as 1900 and stopped around 1952 due to health reasons.  As an avid hunter himself, it gave Turpin great satisfaction knowing that hunters that used his calls had the proper tools to be successful in the field.  Turpin wrote detailed instructions along with instructional records for hunters to use to become better callers.  His efforts to make the perfect duck call and educate his customers on how to use his calls was borderline obsessive. 

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Philip Sanford Olt

No manufacturer of their time produced more game calls than the historic P.S. Olt Company from South Pekin, Illinois.  The venerable “D-2 Duck Call” has probably accounted for more duck calls sales than any other call made and are still in high demand today.  Philip Olt was the first to produce a true “Arkansas Style” insert that had straight reed and a curved toneboard. 

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Who Made Em? Chapter II, Part 2 - The Groovy Call

Back in the Fall of 2006, the late Jim Thompson, wrote an article for the club newsletter in an effort to find out the maker of some rather “folky” calls that had recently surfaced.  The calls were dubbed the “Groovy” calls because they had grooves cut into the tops of the barrels and at the end of the toneboards.  All of the calls that had surfaced were rather crudely made, had german silver reeds, and all but one was octagonal shaped.  As a collector of vintage calls, I have a passion for trying to identify calls of unknown origin.  I love the early folky looking stuff so this particular call really appealed to me.  With that said, and knowing that fellow collector, Ross Distefano, owned a few of these calls, I contacted him to see what he knew about them.  All Ross could tell me was that one of them was originally owned by an affluent business man out of the St. Louis area by the name of, Rudolf Sibort.  Mr. Sibort owned the Horseshoe Lake Goose Hunting Club in Olive Branch, Illinois. Ross loves the unknown stuff as well and said that he would give me one of his “groovy” calls if I could figure out who made them.  I accepted the challenge but knew that we would probably never figure out who made them since we didn’t really have any solid information to go on.  Fast forward a few years to the Spring of 2015 when a family consigned a group of old calls and decoys to the April Guyette & Deeter Auction that is held annually in St. Charles, Illinois.  The calls and decoys had a little pamphlet with them that stated-  “Ham the Duck Man”, and goes on to say that Ham is  “The man that puts the Duck in the Duck Callers”. Inside the pamphlet, writing inside the pamphlet refers to the calls as “The Mansker Big Lake Caller” with prices of $5.00 and $6.00”, with engraved round barrels calls at $8.00 each. After a little research, I found that “Ham” was a man by the name of Harry Asolphus Mansker from East St. Louis, Illinois.  Harry was born in Jackson County, Illinois in 1873 in the Fountain Bluff Township, and died in East St. Louis in 1930 at the age of 57.  He married Cara Etherton in 1893 while living in Fountain Bluff  and moved up the hill to Murphysboro in 1900. Mansker must have been a man of many trades because the 1900 census report states that he was a “car repairer”; 1910 report shows him living in East St. Louis working as a “brakeman” for the railroad; and, the 1920 report says he was an engineer at a flour mill.  Although I was unable to find any information about Mansker’s call/decoy making career, it is interesting to note that he spent the first 27 years of his life living in the rural Fountain Bluff  Township area of Jackson County in Southern Illinois, which consist of the unincorporated towns of Jacob and Raddle where the famed Glodo call making family was from.  One can only assume that the two families knew each other but anything past that would be pure speculation.  This area of Jackson County can also lay claim to several other historic call making surnames like- Roseberry, Worthern, Berger, Hodgson, Cochran, and Huffman. Hopefully more of these old folky calls will turn up, but as of right now, I would guess there is probably less than a dozen of them known to be in collections today.   I am fortunate to I own one of them but will always be on the prowl for another!  Ol’ Jimmy would be happy to know that another unknown mystery has been solved!

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James Tillman Beckhart

The devastating earthquakes of 1811-1812 changed the landscapes vastly along the Mississippi River in Missouri, Tennessee, and Arkansas.  In northeast Arkansas, the series of quakes altered the drainage pattern of the region and created a 12,000 wetland known as Big Lake.  The area consists of mostly a shallow lake, swamp, and hardwood forest.  The area became a mecca for wildlife, especially migrating waterfowl.  Locals made their living on the lake hunting for the market.  After the civil war, railroads were built in the region to be used for the exploitation of lumber but it was also used as a means of transportation for sportsmen and market hunters from St. Louis, Memphis, and Nashville  looking to capitalize on the abundant amount of waterfowl in the area. 

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Glodo Family of Call Makers

When it comes to historical duck calls, the Glodo name is recognized as being the “pinnacle” of all calls amongst collectors, especially those that collect vintage calls from Illinois and Tennessee.  The Glodo name is also accompanied with much mystery and lore. The first mention of an overall Glodo duck call was in Nash Buckingham’s 1928 article.

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Fred Allen

Fred A. Allen of Monmouth, Illinois was one of the earliest pioneers to make waterfowl hunting products. He made calls, decoys, bow-facing oars in the 19th century. It has always been a toss up on who was the first to make commercial calls, Allen or Grubbs.  Grubbs claimed he made the first commercial call in 1868, and Allen claims he did in 1863.  Whether one wishes to cite earliest rumored production, Allen’s call pre-date those of Charles Grubbs.  

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Earl Dennison

  Earl Dennison from Newbern, Tennessee more than likely made and sold more “Reelfoot” style duck calls than any other call maker..  He was a tireless worker that traveled the country promoting his craft.  Earl was considered to be the “Duck Call Man”!

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Charles W. Grubbs

Charles Grubbs is arguably one the earliest pioneers of modern duck calls.  Born in Ohio in 1848, Grubbs made his way to the famed Illinois River Valley near Putnam in 1872 where he met his future wife, Amanda Hawkins.  Grubbs started the Undercliff Hotel and Summer Resort along the shore of Lake Senachwine, a backwater lake along the banks of the famed Illinois River where he guided and hunted for the market. 

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