Calling Kentucky Toms with the Pros

It pays to have side-by-side vehicles when traversing a 3,000-acre ranch in Kentucky. We loaded ours with decoys, guns, bags, camera equipment … and a 20-pound bird!

While this may be a stretch of the imagination, I can’t help but think I found the inspiration for the evil bird-like bad-guys from the 1982 movie, “The Dark Crystal.”

Nothing beats the feeling of toting a big ol’, first-morning tom out of the woods. I credit it to amazing calling of Mark Prudhomme and Mossy Oak's Obsession camo.

Despite killing a turkey, the greatest treat by far was spending some time with Harold Knight and David Hale. These guys have lived and breathed turkeys and game calls since well before I was born. And despite not running things anymore, they remain active in the business and are a huge part of the Knight & Hale team.

I asked Harold what the first call he ever made was. Thinking he was going to go into an explanation of a modified goose call or something similar, I was surprised when he answered with, “I’ll show you,” and walked off into the yard. He returned with a leaf, and despite it not being the preferred “peach” leaf, which he claimed worked best, Harold gave a few notes that would have killed a bird for sure.

With over 30 calling championships between them and probably more birds killed than either of them can count, Chris Parish (left), brand manager for Knight & Hale, and Knight &Hale pro-staffer Mark Prudhomme (right) were eager to demonstrate the latest calls from Knight & Hale and divulge some tactics that I’ve already put to use in my woods back home.

Big thanks go out to Mark Prudhomme, right, for sticking with the bird. This gobbler nearly drove us mad as he and some pals hammered-off just out of view for over an hour before finally making thier way through some nasty blowdowns where I could get a shot. Mark had used every trick in the book as far as calling goes, but silence is what finally did the trick. I’m not sure which was more enjoyable, listening to his calls, or the gobbler's replies. I spent the next few days hunting with John Skrabo, center, owner of Adventure 2 Outdoors. And while we never got that second bird, we had a blast and came real close smoking one the final morning.