Name: Doug Camp (DECEASED JULY 30, 2004)
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 Camp Callers

Most folks have never heard of Eastaboga Alabama. Eastaboga is located a few miles North of Talladega Alabama and the Talladega National Forest. But for Doug Camp, Eastaboga was the place to live with its abundance of wildlife and more countryside than a person could walk in a hunting season. The Camp’s family farm was located in this part of the country and as a youngster Doug could always be found bird hunting with his father and his bird-dogs. By the age of 11, Doug’s reputation for hunting was well known and older gentlemen frequently accompanied him for his guiding ability. Bird hunting seemed to be the way of life for Doug. However, all that changed when Doug first encounter wild turkeys on a cold winter day in 1955. The event not only changed his hunting preference but his life as well. From that day forward Doug devoted his time to studying and hunting wild turkeys.

Doug spent the next several years hunting turkeys alone and quickly learned what worked in the field and what didn’t. Eventually, Doug began guiding friends for fun and clients for money in 1964. Taking advantage of the 90-day fall and spring seasons, Doug successfully guided turkey hunters from 1964 to 1999. Throughout his working career Doug’s flexible work schedule allowed him to hunt all or part of every day of the season. Doug estimated he has hunted turkeys between 3500 and 4000 days.

Over the years Doug’s passion for the wild turkey could be read in the numerous articles he has written for magazines like Field and Stream, Turkey Call, Turkey and Turkey Hunting and the Georgia Sportsman and Alabama Game and Fish. He is the author of the now out of print book “Turkey Hunting Spring and Fall” and had been working on a new book that would cover his experiences of almost 50 years of turkey hunting. Doug was also an active member of the NWTF and had been a supporting member of its efforts since its inception in 1973.

Doug’s involvement with call making began in the early 1960’s. While still a boy he often built calls out of necessity but eventually call making is how he made his living. In 1983 he was a partner in the Southland Calls Company, but in 1991 he branched out on his own to start what was known as “Camp Callers”. Camp Callers offered a full line of calls from box callers to slate, glass and even push-pin-box calls to name a few. All callers were made from premium wood (cedar, popular, mahogany, black walnut, maple, etc.) because it produces the truest and most realistic turkey sounds. Camp callers were made ready to go to the woods when taken out of the package. Each call was properly adjusted, hand-sanded and chalked before it was ever delivered. In fact part of Doug’s commitment was to test and fine tune each caller before it is shipped assuring the customer complete satisfaction.

Customers interested in callers to show casing in their collections often purchased one of Doug's Limited Edition Series he built each year. These callers were custom built one-at-a-time from the very best wood that was set aside. Limited Edition Series callers were numbered, signed, dated and include custom artwork from wildlife artist Dave Greer. Two of these boxes finished 1st and 2nd in the short box competition at the 2002 National Wild Turkey Federation convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.