It seems that Southland no longer exists but I notice a company called Sweet Apple Game Calls is marketing some very similar sounding products in Birmingham, AL. Do any of y'all know if this is the same company or perhaps Southland was bought out by Sweet Apple? I'm trying desperately to find a Southland Yellowheart Crystal and was just wondering is the Sweet Apple Yellowheart Crystal is the same call. Thanks.
I posted this same topic in the call forum, but I figured it would get 3x as many views here.
http://www.lonnies-sportinggoods.com/yellow-heart-crystal-call-p-25117.html
From what I understand sweet apple did buy out southland. And the sweet apple yellow heart crystal is the southland yellow heart crystal at the time of the buy out. However the call maker that made the original yellow heart crystal either went to or formed hunters addiction game calls before they were bought out. The one I have is from when they were still in talladega al before they moved to mccalla. I believe he put a purple heart strip down the middle of the call after he started making them for hunters addiction game calls due to Patten rights or something. If I am wrong someone please correct me but this is the way I understand it.
I've run a Southland glass call for years and will continue to use it! I've also used a couple different Southland mouth call - Eastern Supreme and one that was a Steve Brown signature call. The signature call sounded awesome, but hadn't seen one in a couple years. Sure wish I could find that particular mouth call again.
Be interested to find out if sweet apple will produce any calls of that type.
Quote from: jtg88 on March 13, 2016, 04:43:12 PM
It seems that Southland no longer exists but I notice a company called Sweet Apple Game Calls is marketing some very similar sounding products in Birmingham, AL. Do any of y'all know if this is the same company or perhaps Southland was bought out by Sweet Apple? I'm trying desperately to find a Southland Yellowheart Crystal and was just wondering is the Sweet Apple Yellowheart Crystal is the same call. Thanks.
I posted this same topic in the call forum, but I figured it would get 3x as many views here.
Yes you are correct. Go to www.sweetapplegamecalls.com or look up Jason Bussey.
Sweet Apple Game Calls purchased Southland Custom Calls at the end of 2014. We kept Jason Bussey on board as our head call designer and have only improved the line customers came to love with Southland. I assure you there is no other company producing southland calls. We have our full line listed on our website www.sweetapplegamecalls.com
To be very honest with you, some of the new Sweet Apple calls are truly spectacular. Their Illusion Custom Box that was designed by the Sweet Apple team in conjunction with well known callmaker Tony Reynolds really is remarkable for a hand made but mass produced box. It has two totally different hen sounds (young and old) and will absolutely gobble like the real thing. Sweet Apple came up with what they call a GobbleBand, which wraps around the box to allow the caller to gobble with it. The call features a Brazillian cherry lid and bottom and American yellow poplar soundboards. There's a video on the Sweet Apple website that shows the box and the gobble. Their website is www.sweetapplegamecalls.com.
You can still order the remaining Southland game Calls from turkeyhuntingsecrets.com in Des Moines, IA. Great company...easy to deal with. Big website to navigate.
I have the southland yellow crystal. Found it eBay. Hunters addiction made it too from the same maker junior robinson. I have 2 of them. They sound great.
Hunter's Addiction made a simple tube call for around $12 that was an excellent call. Can't blame a guy for selling a small business when offered a good price but it's a shame there are fewer of those around.