HARRISBURG
Walking the aisles filled with vendors selling turkey calls at last month's Great American Outdoor Show at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show Complex reminded me of Harry Nilsson's crooning on the soundtrack of the classic film "Midnight Cowboy."
All I could think about were those lyrics: "Everybody's talking at me; I don't hear a word they're sayin'; Only the echoes of my mind."
Then, turning a corner, my ears picked out a distinct sound from the booth to my right. There I saw the familiar face of Matt Morrett, the Linglestown native who is nationally known for his calling ability and expertise in bringing even the most call-shy gobblers into shotgun range.
These days Morrett is vice-president of marketing and sales for Zink Game Calls Turkey Division in Port Clinton, Ohio. During the last few years Zink Calls have carved out a very large chunk of the national market with a variety of turkey calls that provide custom quality and performance at a fraction of what one-of-a-kind calls cost.
So impressed was Morrett with the workmanship and sound of Zink Calls that he made a major career shift and joined the company's pro staff. His input has resulted in a new line of diaphragm mouth calls that bear the "Matt Morrett Signature Series" name and in the development of the new "Wicked Series" friction call.
This week, Morrett will be talking about these calls and other Zink products when he presents a seminar on hunting spring gobblers Wednesday, March 5, at Cabela's Hamburg store, beginning at 6 p.m. Anyone who heard him working the calls at the GAOS came away impressed, as he was able to produce sounds that made one almost, but not quite, feel sorry for any gobbler coming under their spell this spring.
"Putting these calls and our Avian X turkey decoys to use on hunts for our 'Avian X TV' program on the Pursuit Channel has allowed us to show hunters how effective these products are," Morrett said. "As head of the company's turkey division, I have a hand in everything from developing, selling and marketing, and it's really hands-on all the way.
"Certainly the hunting segments are what attract people to the products, and I've been hooked on turkey hunting since my dad took me with him into the woods of central Pennsylvania. What I believe, however, allows us to really feel the pulse of turkey hunters on a daily basis is being able to travel the country promoting the sport and the company.
"Other than hunting, what I live for is meeting people at outdoors shows such as this where they can try the calls for themselves. Better still is being able to do seminars like the one coming up at Cabela's because they allow time to exchange ideas with other hunters."
Winning his first calling contest at age 6, Morrett has literally spent most of his life involved in turkey hunting or calling. He went on to win both Junior and Senior Division National Wild Turkey Federation Grand National championships, five World Friction championships and seven U.S. Open championships.
For nearly 30 years Morrett has been working professionally in the call business, from building to designing them. One of his favorite personal designs for mouth calls that he has been using for years has resulted in the "Matt Morrett Signature Series" that uses the custom-built diaphragm technology of Zink Calls.
"These custom-built diaphragm calls provide a mix of two reeds of prophylactic and one light latex top reed with a special 'snake tongue' cut," Morrett said. "With this combination the call is very easy to achieve great rasp and high-end calling."
What makes the "Wicked Series" unique to other nationally manufactured pot calls is it is the only custom friction call on the market today that is constructed with impregnated wood. By impregnating acrylic into the Brazilian cherry pan, it creates a call that is completely weatherproof and produces sound quality that is unmatched.
"Combining these features is the key to making this a one-of-a-kind, custom friction call," Morrett said. "We discovered this material on the waterfowl side of our company and realized that it is a home run for not only durability, but sound quality as well.
"Along with the striker conditioner, no-slip grip ring and the one-of-a-kind built-in sweet spot for soft calling, the "Wicked-Series" calls are unmatched. And, the calls are available in slate and crystal."
As impressive as it was listening to Morrett work the calls while demonstrating them during the nine-day run of the GAOS, it quickly became apparent one need not be a champion caller to reproduce the call of a lonely hen. Chances are, had a gobbler been loose in the hall, it would have heard what she was saying.
(Dietz is outdoors editor)