Hewn By Herrman

Neal Herrman’s online profile states his occupation as “striker designer at Hook’s Custom Calls.” Under education, it says, “Studied killing all subspecies of the wild turkey at turkey woods.” Those entries say it all. Herrman is a quality custom call maker and seasoned hunter; a true professional at both.

It’s not surprising that Herrman builds custom calls for Hook’s. The company relies on several expert callers and call makers as pro-staffers to promote and craft its excellent variety of calls.

Herrman has been turkey hunting for 23 years, and has completed 15 Grand Slams and three World Slams, one of which was accomplished in one season. Much more can be said about his hunting endeavors, state friction calling championships and extreme passion for the sport, but this column focuses on his calls.

Designed in 2002, Herrman’s Gobble Stix are extremely versatile. They will run on any calling surface and many types or brands of friction calls. They are proven to perform on the contest stage and in the turkey woods by Herrman and many others.

Gobble Stix deliver many sound variations because they come in nine wood options: cocobola, lacewood, purpleheart, ipe, persimmon, yellowheart, chakte viga, gaboon ebony and tulipwood. The softer woods — such as yellowheart and persimmon — play mellow, which is perfect for soft tree yelps, clucks and purrs. The other types deliver various tones, pitches and amounts of rasp to the back side of yelps.

In 2021, Herrman relied on his hunting and contest calling experience, plus two years of research and development, to craft his signature series stoned and anodized aluminum pot calls. He turns and assembles every call himself using ultra-dense hickory wood for excellent sound quality.

Yelps from the anodized aluminum tend to be clearer, as the stoned surface plays a bit raspier.

However, both can run clear or raspy or loud or soft, and they kee-kee and purr well. Herrman is proud of the versatility in the tone and pitch of the calls, and the realism they produce in the woods. Each comes with an all-wood striker, and all calls and strikers feature Herrman’s signature.

A lot of effort goes into designing custom calls. According to Herrman, the final design of any pot call or striker boils down to the density and weight of the wood, and then the thickness of each part and section of the call.

The thicknesses and lengths of a striker, from top to bottom, are modified and tweaked until the desired sounds and balance are achieved. Because of differences in the weight and density of various woods, each striker has a specific design scheme.

For a pot call, Herrman spends lots of energy and time tweaking the pot to ensure the ideal sound of the call’s surface material. The same pot might sound incredible with an aluminum surface but horrible with a glass surface.

Finding the best design of any pot call or striker is the key to crafting excellent calls. That’s the challenge for any call maker. And Herrman has his designs perfected.

To find calls hewn by Herrman, visit HooksCalls.com, or order by calling or texting Herrman at (715) 491-9777.