A few weeks ago me and my girlfriend made a trip down to see her family in South Carolina, we are in Pennsylvania and i was fortunate enough to take a trip down to meet Mr. Lonnie Mabry (3 hour trip). I have to reccomend to anyone thinking of doing so to go ahead and do it, he is an awesome guy and turkey hunter the conversation was as good as the call's i came home with. I was able to visit Lonnie for about 8 hours, he makes you feel like you've known him your whole life.
I had read about his calls and about the past 6 months or so was figuring out the logistics and everything and had to make the trip. I came away with 10 pot calls, a wingbone call, two box calls, and 24 strikers. I am a pot call guy but quite honestly had never played or even held a I guess it is called a hewn out of solid wood box before and have to admit I now have a thing for those calls as well. They seem to play so much easier for me than the glued in boxes I have. I would love to add some pix I have but I am clueless as to how add, thanks for the read fellas!!
That would of been awesome...quite the haul!!!
Well, rub it in why don't you.
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Congrats!!
Thanks guys, was definitely an awesome time Jed, highly recomended trip WV. I am still loving running these calls :)
8 hours??? Mr Lonnie was just getting started! I'm not even sure that man sleeps. :TooFunny:. Glad you made the trip and made some good scores. Congrats!
Thanks Kentucky, I would have loved to stay longer but had a three hour tip back to her parents, he sure is a great guy and call maker!
Lonnie is a super guy and he has shared a few tips with me for building my box calls
Does anyone know when he starts making calls, I thought he said he shuts down after turkey season
Quote from: Grouperdawg on October 06, 2016, 04:19:03 PM
Lonnie is a super guy and he has shared a few tips with me for building my box calls
Does anyone know when he starts making calls, I thought he said he shuts down after turkey season
Lonnie is a super guy, you are right. He will share his knowledge willingly and is very humble about that. He makes calls year round and only stops for our spring season in GA. He is a diabetic and will sometimes suffer setbacks but he makes calls all year. He is great friends with Lamar and at Unicoi Lamar told me "that man is pure death on turkeys!". He has hunted with him and helped him build his shop if I remember correctly. Lonnie visited Neil Cost one time only. Most of his skills were self taught though after studying dimensions and various call types. He refuses to call himself a call maker to this day. He won't ship calls because he wants you to pick out the sound you want for yourself. And talk turkey!!!!! He is a great guy, a good friend, and one heck of a turkey hunter. He has easily harvested over a hundred gobblers as evidenced by the multitudes of capes hanging in his shed. He finally raised his prices after going to Unicoi this year. Lamar would call him and ask "are you still selling calls for cheap?". Lonnie deserves all the recognition he gets. He doesn't make them beautiful, he makes them KILLERS.
Quote from: wvmntnhick on September 26, 2016, 06:13:50 PM
Well, rub it in why don't you.
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Concur!
One of my favorite pics of Lonnie playing one of his pots with a wingbone yelper as a striker. This pic was taken by my friend and award winning callmaker Anthony Ellis.
Wonderful testimonials!!! But how do we get him to not be so stubborn? So us Minnesota guys can order some :turkey2:
Awesome picture headhunter, hooker just make that trip if you go to the show, you won't be dissapointed. Lonnie is a 75 year old retired carpenter who loves making these calls, if he were to send them out by mail the demand would be staggering I'd imagine!