Name: Dick Turpin
Address: 801 S. 35th Street; Lincoln, NE 68510
Phone: 402-475-1586 Fax:
E-mail: rturpin@inetnebr.com
Personal Website: www.turpincalls.com

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 Dick Turpin Turkey Calls

Dick Turpin grew up in the northern sandhills of Nebraska. He has been married to his wife Reenie for over 40 years and is the proud parent of 5 children and 11 grandchildren. Dick recently retired in 1999 with over 40 years of service for the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission. Working his way through the ranks he has held several titles to include Conservation Officer, State Hunter Safety Coordinator and Chief of Law Enforcement. To this day, Dick continues to work in the field of hunting and conservation. He serves as a board member for the National Bowhunter Education Foundation, the Izaak Walton League of America and the Nebraska Game Protectors Association, just to name a few. Needless to say, his involvement with conservation efforts such as these has sparked an addiction to studying and hunting Wild Turkeys.

Turkey hunting has become a major part of his life thanks to the State of Nebraska re-introducing turkey hunting in the early 1960’s. Spring turkey hunting is by far his favorite. Through the years his hunting has fueled an interest in turkey calls, and eventually lead him to start the creation of his own box call. Dick has tried his hand at different types of woods and shapes for his calls not to mention a variety of finishes. As the old saying goes, “with practice comes knowledge” and this knowledge has helped him develop the call he makes today.

Each call that is made starts with a solid block of walnut. Dick first shapes the top of the box call to its desired dimensions. His next step is to remove the center of the call where he begins to test strike for that desired tone. This process is repeated by continually thinning the walls of the call until he is satisfied with the results that it produces. Next he sets the bottom on the call and starts his hand and treating the wood. This last step of treating the calls is something that sets his calls apart from other calls on the market. Dick patterns his wood treatment from a similar type of lacquer treatment that Antonio Stradivarius used on his famous violins. Dicks lacquer treatment is made with a mixture of black beer, turkey blood and rabbit manure. In theory, black beer contains a lacquer, blood or red wine is used for color and the rabbit droppings (when boiled and strained), contain and acid. Each call is carefully hand dipped and hung to dry. Once dry they are each hand rubbed with a commercial lacquer.

Dick finishes his calls with a personalized touch. Each call is numbered and dated and then personalized on the bottom with the customer’s name. Once complete, Dick rubs the under side of the lid with Pine tree pitch rosin that he collects in the forest. He has found that rosin works better than chaulk because it is less effect by moisture. It also produces a good raspy sound on the call. Each call that is delivered is backed by its craftsmanship guarantee. If you are not satisfied with the workmanship or sound he will replace the call for you.