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James Remington

James was creating calls as far back as the 1960's in East Tennessee and South Carolina. His calls may have been some of the first true ornate calls crafted in the Smoky Mountains. Up until that time calls made locally were utility box calls. He now lives elsewhere and no longer makes calls due to illness.

Mr Remington has a degree in mechanical engineering and applied his science to turkey calls. He took his favorite call apart in 1961 and began making measurements of each part. He developed his ideas of friction and decided that the paddle should have a greater area of contact with the body.

He began shortening the curve of the box while lowering the curve on the bottom of the paddle.

Up until that time people had made paddles by hand, some using a rasp and others using a belt sander. Mr Remington built one of the first motorized paddle makers. Earlier this year he came to my house and helped me duplicate his original machine. This is the device I use to make paddles today.

If you look at James's call pictured here on the page and compare it to some of mine we've sold, you'll see his influence on my call crafting. In fact, James taught me more in one weekend about callmaking than anyone else had total.

With his permission and input I started duplicating his old call pattern by hand. James's quote that's famous with those that bought calls from him..."If you have to use chalk throw her in the trash." While in fact his calls made of almost any wood work great without chalk...I still put a little chalk on the ones I make.

The interesting idea behind the Remington call is that size doesn't matter. In fact, next to some smaller production calls his call is one of the smallest and lightest on the market. But compare a small call you buy in a store...the screech screech sound you get from them, to James's small call with the deep raspy tone on one side and the yelp from the other side, you'll be amazed at the difference.

In all his years of making calls up until arthritis stopped him he never sold a call commercially. Word of mouth sold his calls and he developed a sort of cult following. He only sold calls he could hand the buyer in person, instructing them on the proper use.

The wall in his den is covered with thank you letters and photos of gobblers knocked down with his calls.

Probably the biggest influence James had on me...and still does though I now see him rarely... is this phrase, "DON'T MAKE A LOT OF CALLS, MAKE A FEW CALLS WELL."

This phrase is now routed in a piece of walnut hanging above my workbench.