Some of you may know Eric Rice from his turkey calls. I learned today that he is battling stage four cancer. The post from his wife was shared to me and I would like to share it here if any of you like to support this cause for him and his family. They are planning to do a turkey call auction in a week or so to help his family. Here is the post below. The post came the Facebook page Turkey call To Action. Please look there for more details.
Eric has stage 4 Cancer in the colon, liver lungs, and lymph nodes.
Eric has been avid outdoorsman & into supporting conservation his entire life. He started hunting turkeys in 1996 in WY but didn't get his first Mn bird until 2000. He's taken a Rio, Eastern, Merriams, Goulds, and still needs a Osceola and an Osselated to complete his world slam.
He joined the NWTF via the Strutting Toms chapter in the mid 90s.
Eric became a turkey call maker in 2000 and his wife entered him in the MN call making competition where he won his first gold metal (Scratch box division) and a silver (call set division). It was there that started his journey into the call maker he is today & all the people he's met since.
He and his family later joined the North Metro Longbeards where he served as a committee member and later President.
A NWTF Diamond Life Sponsor member along with his wife, daughter, father, and brother and is currently a Patron Life Sponsor.
Eric made and gave away over 1,000 Scratch Box Turkey Calls to youth in MN for free at his booth at both the MN Sportsman Show and the Game Fair. Hand burning a Turkey track and the child's name on each one.
He was also on the NWTF MN state board for 7 years. During that time, Eric was asked by the MN state chapter President to take over & rebuild the callmaking competition with the current chairman who was stepping down. He ran the callmaking competition for 2 years, introducing the first mouth call (diaphragm) category.
Using that format, he helped others at the Great Lakes Open and the Ohio Buckeye Championships with their competitions.
Starting with the Scratch Box he challenged himself to grow and learn and went on to compete in several other categories and won in MN, WI, OH, and on the National stage in Nashville.
His first competition in Nashville was in 2012. He took a Silver (Decorated Scratch Box division).
He later won the Jordan award for outstanding Wing Bone call maker Best of Class in 2019 and has gone on to win gold metals in several categories over the past 25 years.
Creation is a passion of his and he feels so blessed to have been able to share his gifts and get better as a maker. Most importantly are the people he's been blessed to meet along the way. He's a humble man who has always answered the call when asked and felt honored to do so.
We can't thank this community enough from the bottom of our hearts
We love you all
Rochelle
