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G.G.G.
Turkey Calls
 If
you happen to meet Gene Fout you will quickly learn he is a dedicated
family man. Road trips in the family motor home, driving racecars
and taking his children scouting in the woods have always been a
part of Gene's adult life. He is the father of 4 children who have
all finished school and married, a task alone that has kept him
busy over the last 58 years. Balancing family time and work it's
hard to believe he has been able to squeeze in 45 years of hunting
in the mix. For Gene it has just been his love of the outdoors and
hunting. Gene was born and raised in Logan County, Ohio. Today he
resides in Zanesfield, Ohio where he lives with his wife. He is
a member of the NRA, Buck Masters and the North American Hunting
Club. With retirement just a few short years away, Gene looks forward
to spending time with his wife and devoting more time to hunting
and his newfound hobby of callmaking.
 Prior
to 1990 Gene had never been turkey hunting and during this time
frame a good friend convinced him to try his hand at it. Telling
him the sport of hunting turkey was a real challenge Gene decided
to make a go of it. After that first hunt he got the bug and the
rest is history. Now each season you can often find Gene and his
son-in-law Doug hunting each time the opportunity presents itself.
 Gene
became interested in making turkey calls in 2002. The motive behind
his interest was none other than the desire to see what a call of
his own would sound like. The first call made was a poplar box with
a walnut lid, which didn't sound bad. After completing the first,
he decided to try building a second call. This time it was a walnut
box with a Padouk lid. From there the challenge was to see if he
could improve on the last call and before he knew it he had started
what would become his new hobby. Gene has never relied on input
from others for building his calls, but instead enjoyed the challenge
of teaching himself. With over a year of making calls under his
belt, he has tackled problems like the thickness of the box walls,
how deep to make the chambers and primarily the kinds of woods that
work best with each other.
 Each
call made starts out with a solid block of wood. He starts by boring
out the chamber and then progresses to the sidewalls where he sands
it down to the desired tolerances. His next step in the process
is making the paddle for the top. Careful attention is made during
this step specifically in the selection of the type of wood. To
add the finishing touches he puts oil on the call to bring out the
grain and he then covers it with 3 coats of poly. Many of his custom
calls are made from exotic woods like Padouk, Blacklimba, Zebrawood,
Cocobolo and Bocote. Domestic woods preferred are Maple, Elm, Ash,
Walnut and Mahogany. What is unique about his calls is he has no
set style. Where most call makers have a pattern or example to follow,
Gene prefers to let his creativeness drive the looks of the call.
No two calls ever look exactly the same, which in return makes for
a truly created custom call.
 Gene
currently makes fewer than 50 box calls a year. Each call is hand
made one at a time by Gene and he enjoys spending the time making
them. His custom line mostly includes calls made from exotic woods
and his field grades are made from domestic woods. Having a call
made to order is never a problem; all Gene asks is the customer
calls and specifies what they would like. His main goal is to help
other people enjoy the sport as much as he does and the satisfaction
comes when a customer drops him a line telling him about a big gobbler
they bagged with one of his calls.
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