Tag: Book Review

The Origin and Evolution of Turkey Calls

by Brent Rogers, Danny Ellis, Chris McDonald, and Rick Powell
Available January 2026

An Essential Book for Any Turkey Hunter and Call Collector: The Origin and Evolution of Turkey Calls is a masterfully crafted tribute to the craftsmen, hunters, and storytellers who shaped one of America’s most enduring folk traditions. Building on Howard Harlan’s foundational work, Turkey Calls: An Enduring American Folk Art, this new title arrives at a moment when the firsthand knowledge of an entire generation of turkey hunters and call makers is slipping beyond reach, a generation whose firsthand knowledge during a period in our nation where wild turkeys nearly vanished on this continent, and roared back over the last eighty years is disappearing rapidly with time. Their stories, their craftsmanship, and their ingenuity form the backbone of this book.

Each year at Unicoi and the NWTF national convention, and on social media, we learn of the loss of those who pass with grand stories of a monumental time in the turkey woods. To those of us who have sat around those campfires at turkey camp, stayed up far too late swapping stories at these camps and annual shows, the loss is profound. In keeping with this, the book is essential to preserving this legacy in their honor.

Written by Brent Rogers, Danny Ellis, Chris McDonald, and Rick Powell, four men immersed in the culture and lineage of turkey call making, crafted a book that captures the evolution of the craft with clarity, respect, and a historian’s eye for detail. As we lose the Great Generation of wild turkey hunters and call makers, their stories, techniques, and handmade relics become more precious than ever. This book ensures their legacy endures.

The quality of the title is outstanding, the collectors offering features of a fine collectible and a handcrafted yelper, and now sold out, the standard edition is currently available. The reader will come across hundreds of high‑quality photographs, including rare pieces, private collections, and newly rescanned relics saved from fading into obscurity. Detailed illustrations trace the development of box calls, wingbones, scratch boxes, tube calls, pot calls, and regional styles. The title offers profiles of influential call makers, their innovations, and the cultural forces that shaped their work, along with historical forays exploring how geography, necessity, and ingenuity guided the earliest designs. The reader will be treated to a sweeping visual timeline documenting the transformation of turkey calls across generations.

On a personal note, it is truly gratifying to see this book come to life and to deliver a great title for the turkey hunting community. The quality of the printing is outstanding, and the turned yelper included with the special edition is a fine piece of craftsmanship; one I fully intend to road‑test this spring in the turkey woods.

What makes this release even more meaningful is knowing that it represents just one of many upcoming efforts to document the rich history of turkey hunting, restoration, and conservation. Plenty of familiar names will be involved in the months ahead, and that is good news for the future of our favorite game bird and for the generations of turkey hunters still to come. It is good to know that the right folks with the right talents and resources will be brought to bear in these efforts.

Also just released, and of great interest to anyone drawn to the history preserved in this book—is the newly launched Wild Turkey Archives at https://www.wildturkeyarchives.com/. It’s well worth a visit. You’ll find an impressive collection of media, photographs, and historical materials—many of which you may have assumed were long gone or forgotten. You’ll find Brent Rogers is also a part of that effort.

This is not just a reference book; it is a preservation of heritage. For hunters, collectors, historians, and anyone who appreciates the intersection of folk art and fieldcraft, The Origin and Evolution of Turkey Calls offers a lasting, authoritative record of how American call makers learned to speak the wild turkey’s language.

The Book is available directly from the authors @
https://turkeycallhistory.com/

© 2026 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media