Hello. I'm a new member to this forum and very much looking forward to interacting with everyone. I've been chasing gobblers across the country since the early 80's and have amassed a ton of memories, just as I'm sure each of you has as well. Along the way I started to build wingbone calls (circa 1990) and made several for friends and even sold a few.
My passion for drawing fit well with the call building and many of those early calls of mine included hand drawn scrimshaw. I enjoyed doing scrimshaw as it was very challenging. I got away from my art and call building for many years as family, work and life were my focus. Well after formally retiring in 2021, I got the itch to begin building calls again. I found my art passion again as well and figured out how to marry the two. By the end of 2022 I had begun call making and drawing again; resulting in building several more calls and actually selling a few more. I was blown away by the interest in my work as my hobby started to get a bit more serious. 2023 found me building many calls and including my art on most of them. Rather than scrimshawing these days, I've found a way to use pencil, ink, and infused color for added realism.
I also started to build other styles of calls too:
...River Cane yelpers;
...Jordan Style yelpers;
...Hybrid calls (bone, antler, cow horn, etc)
Please see the photo below as an example of some of my current work.
Pretty soon my little hobby became a joyful passion that found me in my art studio or at my work bench almost daily.
All my work can be found on my main facebook page in my photos tab:
https://www.facebook.com/jeffery.dagostinoAll my calls are 100% hand-crafted to meet precise, realistic sound standards. Each custom piece is signed and numbered, & includes a Certificate of Authenticity. I particularly enjoy sending along a personal, hand written letter describing the call, it's voice and reference to the materials used.
Special locations and moments in time spawn inspiration for me. This inspiration is then carried over to each custom piece which then drives a dynamic build and design phase where I get to see the call begin to come to life. With input from a very close musician friend, my tuning phase is laser focused on yielding the best turkey voice for each call. The artwork completes the story drawn from my initial inspiration.
Transforming natural raw elements into works of art possessing realistic turkey voices is a great joy for me. There's nothing like seeing the call come to life, seeing the joy on an individual's face when they receive the call and when they inform me of their success afield.
Sorry to be so long winded in my initial post. I'm excited to be a part of this forum and look forward to participating here as often as I can. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any questions at all.
The countdown toward another memorable spring is well underway.
Cheers all!
Jeff D'Agostino
Wilderness Originals
"The Artistry of The Call"
