It should be no surprise to anyone who knows Peyton McKinnie that he still has the first turkey call he ever owned, a Cedar Hill Little Scratch that has been made since 1982.
He won it as a door prize at the first NWTF banquet he ever attended.
“It’s my good-luck charm,” he says.
McKinnie and Nathan Pilgreen use Cedar Hill calls exclusively, mainly because the calls produce consistent results for them.
But another reason is that they are made in Downsville. The wooden ones are hand crafted from cedar wood from local cedar trees.
Both are also on the Cedar Hill pro staff.
McKinnie is the first one to give witness to Pilgreen as the top caller he’s ever been turkey hunting with.
Pilgreen uses box calls, slate calls and mouth calls, but that isn’t what sets him apart.
“Taking an owl call and locating a turkey, then using a turkey call to bring him into shooting range is exciting, as is getting a good shot,” Pilgreen said.
But it is much more exciting to take it a step further, calling aggressively to bring gobblers all the way in.
“It takes patience. Real patience,” he said. “But it not only gets the gobbler even closer, it makes him be more aggressive. He will really put on a show when he thinks he’s right there in the hens and all the girls are watching.
“You have to have a lot of confidence to do that, but if you stay still you’ll get a big, big bonus in your hunting.”
You can learn more about the local calls they prefer at www.cedarhillgamecalls.com/store.
