Box Call Market

[Tarheel]

I am not nearly in the know as most of you guys as I don't do the social media thing and haven't been to National since 2008 (going this year though). But from what I have seen from competing in the Great Lakes show, donating to banquets and selling a few here and there......I think the box call market is slowed up becuase there isn't an Earl Mickel around. IMO that guy took custom calls to a whole new level. Granted there a lot of other guys that help elevate collecting, but ol'Earl sure was a charismatic son of gun! Just my humble 2 cents worth.
FYI....I stumbled across this site by pure accident and am really enjoying it https://oldgobbler.com/Forum/Smileys/classic/icon_thumright.gif

This is a very accurate assessment of the state of turkey callmaking in general.  Earl Mickel maintained a circle of serious big time turkey call collector friends, and they talked and competed with one another building their turkey call collections.  That group basicly handled the marketing for their chosen callmakers.  If certain call collectors liked the calls a callmaker built, it wouldn't be long before their friends were calling wanting calls.  It was an interesting time..........

[runngun]

There's a certain popular YouTube Turkey hunting star that if he posted a video of him blowing on a pinecone, you would not be able to find a pinecone!!!


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[Tarheel]

There's a certain popular YouTube Turkey hunting star that if he posted a video of him blowing on a pinecone, you would not be able to find a pinecone!!!


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Now that's funny.......

[King Cobra]

The box call is my "Go To" call... Versatile and easy to use.

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Well I just received my first box call which is a fiddle box from Don Watkins.  I made some "turkeyish" noises with it, but I have a long ways to go.  I will say Mr. Watkins is a fine fella to deal with. 


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[trb136]

I've been building Boxcalls about 15 years and competing as well, What I have found as a callmaker is "the  list" is a big pain in the butt. I had "the list" for many years and would feel guilty if I wasn't in the shop building calls on my days off. I never intended callmaking to be a job and that's what it felt like. It started to drain the passion.. So I stopped taking names, I caught up "the list" and from that point on I have just built what I want , when I want and offered it for sale, my creativity went through the roof bc the passion came back... I am only speaking for me but I understand it! As far as trumpets go, I actually hunted with air operated calls before boxes, but it was always someone else's trumpet. So just like any other challenge I decided to change that, it seems I did it just about the time this trumpet craze started, I expect YouTube and other outlets fueled it, whether or not it's on the rise and box calls are on the decline... who knows. What I do know as a callmaker and turkey hunter is we love good calls, calls that we as individuals can have success with. We all know turkey hunters have a wide opinion on what a turkey sounds like, So I guess we will always look for "that" call. It's just part of our disease... lol

[Yoder409]

It's just part of our disease... lol

It IS a disease !!!

[ferocious calls]

Many days they have an ear for wood. My Toms seem to react to boxes better than most others.
Makers that make good box calls,  at reasonable prices, shouldn't have any issues. The phone has been ringing for a month and a half. "Yep, I have one rite here"