I found myself in the Atlanta area today, and went a little further north to meet Lonnie Mabry. Great guy that loves to talk turkey. I consider myself a pretty competent turkey hunter, but it became obvious after a while that this man has forgotten more about killing turkeys than I know. Shortly after our introduction we were talking like old friends. I definitely picked up some nuggets of turkey hunting wisdom in the 2.5 hours I spent at his shop. Ran several of his boxes and pots and all of them would talk turkey. Ended up walking away with a walnut over Spanish cedar box and a padauk slate over a wood soundboard. His padauk and canarywood strikers make that pot sing. The canarywood especially has a deadly sound to it. His slate is extremely easy to run too. Also had to make myself put down one of his long boxes before I bought it too. These calls are a steal for the prices he charges for them. They could easily bring double or even triple what he asks for the quality and sound they can produce. Anyone that's anywhere near him owes it to themselves to pay him a visit. I can guarantee I will be back the next time I'm in the area. Great man to deal with, you leave his shop as a new friend.
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You have done something I hope I'm able to do at some point.
I'm hoping to go before the season kicks off. Does he have a good inventory right now? Wasn't sure if he went to Unicoi or not.
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He told me he went to unicoi but didn't offer calls for sale as he didn't want to get cleaned out. He has probably 30 boxes ready to go and several pots in slate, glass and aluminum. Plus multiple strikers in several different domestic and exotic woods. I chose a padauk and a canarywood striker for mine.
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