Maker of the Original "Brass Assassin" Turkey Call
Red Hills Turkey Calls
Red Hills Turkey Calls "Wayne"
Who are you?
Just a little bit over middle aged Florida Cracker :)
Why turkey calls? Been hunting them a long time?
Actually I'm a relative newcomer to chasing turkeys. 15 years or so. Where I grew up, it was walking or bike riding distance to the lower end of Tampa Bay and Terra Ceia Bay, most of us learned to fish more than hunt.
Red Hills Turkey Calls
Always been in the outdoors?
Oh yea. Still remember wrapped around a coffee thermos in the bottom of an old boat fishing for specks with Mom and Dad. Tent camped all the way to Yellowstone once! They loved to fish and camp.
Where did the hunting influences come from?
Had an Uncle in the family that did a little squirrel hunting. Shot em with a slingshot! In a round about way he got me started on turkey calls. High School friends that had hunting families. Lot of great memories.
Tell me more about the Uncle
Darn near full blooded Cherokee Indian is what I been told. Wore old blue bibbed overalls and always had that slingshot in the "ruler" pocket. Been gone about 40 yrs.
How did he play into the turkey calls?
Mom ended up with a scratchbox type call he had and gave it to me when I started hunting with school friends. Never did know who's or what it was until after I ruined it. Kept it in a backpack and broke the lip off of it deer hunting one day. For some reason it really bothered me and I started doing some research on it. It was an old original Tom Gaskins call. You could see the brace and bit, bit marks where the core was hollowed out, and it really wasn't perfectly square to the blank. Tom was an original from Palmdale, FL. We all use to camp down at Fisheating Creek and my Uncle must have got it when we were there once. Probably mid 60's. Anyway, about 15 yrs ago I decided to make one to replace it in Tom and my Uncle's memory. Never had any intentions of selling them, so maybe the Gaskin's family won't be mad.
So now it's pot calls
Yep...but I still got that first one. Made it out of birdseye maple with a mahagony top/lip. It called in a big ol gobbler first time I used it. But I flubbed it up and I didn't kill him. That's a true story!
Tell us about your pot calls
Well, they've evolved... If anybody that got one from me 7-8 yrs ago reads this...and will shoot me a message, I'll send you one for free. (laughs)
Red Hills Turkey Calls
Isn't the turkey call business pretty saturated?
With very few exceptions, I think most every market is pretty saturated. But if you make a product that delivers on your promise..if you're a likeable business...and if you treat people and the market with respect there's a place to fit in.
Also, with today's social media platforms, you can accomplish in 1 day what it took some of the "pioneers" a season to accomplish. Print magazine and film took time to produce. Today a new product is available instantly. Access to the market is available to everyone. But the results hinge on your market....ing.
Tell us more about the "Market"
Maybe a better word would be the industry. Everybody that builds calls. From the BIG name mass producers to the small guy that makes 2 or 3 calls a week. The big name retail places and the independent smaller sporting goods shops. Call making like we do it is going to become extinct one day if we (the industry) don't support it. That goes for duck calls, goose calls and every other kind of game call!
So you support other call makers?
Absolutely. There's guys out there putting out awesome stuff!
2019 and you are selling calls. Why now?
Well, like I said we've been playing with turkey calls quite a while. This year we became 110% confident in our product. From our finishing process to the materials and sounds/tone we've reached with our calls. It was a long time coming. It's been a bumpy but enjoyable journey and we'll continue to evolve. I get more excited now when one of our customers (who really are our friends) sends us pics or shoots us a text "bird on the ground" than I get when I'm blessed to harvest one.
Brass? Are those popular?
They're becoming popular! Harvest rate with our brass call is unbelievable. Now I'm not saying it'll get them every time, but for those that are using them, their success rate is very high.
I think there's a couple of reasons for that. The versatility of that surface, coupled with our call dimensions and soundboard is amazing. It can get loud. It will play soft. A great comment someone made was that they really loved the raspyness at low volumes. He calls soft 99% of the time. Finding a call with the "sweet raspy" at low volumes is tough. Both my birds this year came straight to the gun with that kind of calling. I mean SOFT. Others have had the same results. On wet mornings they're unbeatable with some type of composite (non wood) striker.
We've played with other metals over the years: copper, aluminum, and now the brass. So metals aren't really new per se. We've just never been happy with a metal surface sound until now. Closest I came was with an aluminum top. I actually carry one with me sometimes. I just find it hard to keep consistent. But it can sound really like a box call when it's on, that's how I hear it anyway.
So where do people find your calls?
We'll be at a few call shows this year. The Florida Wild Turkey Extravaganza in Webster, FL is a fun place, held in early February at the TrueHeart Ranch.
Locally, Kevin's Fine Outdoor Gear and Apparel Tallahassee location and Trophy Creek Outfitters in Monticello, FL.
BIG thanks for those that choose to take our calls into the woods. Congrats on all your successes, and thanks for the opportunity to share them with you.
Shoot us an email redhillsturkeycalls@gmail.com and we can talk about what you like in a pot call and get you set up.