He has produced some other “special” editions, including one that was made of teak salvaged from the decking of the U.S.S. He recently produced a limited run to commemorate the forty years he has been making them, numbering each one consecutively and engraving a memento of its significance on the back. The calls are small, light, easy to use, and they work – even for a klutz like me.Īt 76 years of age, Richard Shively isn’t sure how long he’ll continue to make and sell Super Yelper scratch box calls. The preserved fan of a longbeard that was lured with a Super Yelper away from a flock of hens last season rests in my workshop even now. All of his scratch box calls will do that. Any call he sells must be capable of calling a tom turkey in better than any others of its type. Richard Shively has said that his demands are simple. When it comes back, it is inspected carefully, sprayed with a clear finish and tested to make sure it meets the standards of its creator. Shively makes each call by hand, carefully cutting and sanding each piece, then constructing the box and sending it off for laser engraving and hand painting of whatever decoration goes on it. Since then, he has produced thousands of calls, marketed under the Super Yelper brand, out of various woods. One thing led to another and, in 1979, Shively made his first scratch box call out of cedar wood. Shortly after, he came across a scratch box call in Alabama and was fascinated by its tonal quality and ease of use. In 1973 he harvested a gobbler during the spring season using a box call. He had harvested a few birds with a rifle previously (legal at that time) but had never gotten one into shotgun range with a call. Richard Shively, a native of Pennsylvania, moved to Winchester, Virginia and was introduced to hunting wild turkeys.
and a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, Draughon received a patent for a scratch box call in 1900.Īlmost 70 years later a momentous thing happened. The first call of that type was patented by Hardy Draughon. Scratch box calls are some of the best for making that happen. That’s what a hunter hopes will happen when he works his call. In that case a hen’s “yelp” or “cluck” will sometimes bring the boy-bird running. As is true with the males of most species, though, gobblers will sometimes become frustrated when the females don’t respond as readily as they would like and will go looking for a receptive girlfriend. Toms typically gobble with the intention of attracting hens for breeding. One thing to remember is that all turkey calls are designed to get tom turkeys to react in a way that is actually adverse to their nature. A two-part system, it consists of a thin, hollow box made of cedar, chestnut, cherry, walnut, purple heartwood or other hardwoods and a chalked “striker” on which the edge of the box is scratched. One type of turkey call that has proven to be “right” in a lot of situations is the scratch box call. Some hunters select a call the same way they pick the socks they’re going to wear on a particular day, just going with whatever seems right at the moment. For example, a hunter may prefer the tone and volume of a particular slate call and will use it more often than others.īut, if a big tom makes an appearance and begins to move closer, the hunter may choose to switch to a diaphragm (mouth) call which requires no movement that may make the bird suspect something is up. Most serious turkey hunters have one or several of each kind but they also have a few they use most often or, at least, in specific situations. Other calls have been developed over the years – slate calls, box calls, diaphragm calls, push button calls – and all have their supporters.
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