Sherman Gray worked
for the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh
Railroad for a large part of his
life. After this railroad
merged with the B & O Railroad,
he finished his career as a section
foreman in the B & O stores
department. He and his wife, Florence,
had 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren.
Sherman Gray was not
a hunter so when he embarked on
his turkey call making journey after
his retirement in 1955, he relied
on a sketch of a turkey call his
nephew drew. After he had a call
that he was happy with, he went
and tried it out on some pen-raised
turkeys and got a resounding response.
He knew then he had something worth
selling and began distributing the
call locally.
His first call was
the Gray's Turkey Caller;
a very nice double-sided box call
made from 5 different woods to get
the tone just right. These boxes
had the Dubois, PA address stamped
on them and they came in a cardboard
box that was also stamped.
There were thousands of these calls
made and they are fairly easy to
obtain.
Sometime later, he
began producing the Gray's Hen
Turkey Call which was a washboard
slate that was 2 7/8" by 1
7/8" by 7/8"tall on the
high end and 5/8" on the low
end. These calls are much more scarce
than the wooden Gray's Turkey Caller.
After Sherman's death
in 1970, his business was sold to
his distributor, William Sheffler,
who continued selling his calls.
It was eventually sold to Babcock
Lumber in Big Run, PA and they sold
many calls that were stamped with
Gray's Turkey Caller - Distributor
- Big Run, PA. I've seen them
with both black and red ink stamps.
Some also had custom wooden cases
that were made to hold the turkey
caller with the Big Run, PA address.
Turkey
Calls Produced
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(Click
on Images to Enlarge)
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Years
Produced
|
Description
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|
1955
- 1970
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The Gray's
Turkey Caller was a
very nice double-sided box
call made from 5 different
woods. These boxes had the
Dubois, PA address stamped
on them and the cardboard
box they came in. There
were thousands of these
calls made and they are
fairly easy to obtain. |
|
?
- 1970
|
The Gray's
Hen Turkey Call was
a washboard slate that was
2 7/8" by 1 7/8"
by 7/8"tall on the
high end and 5/8" on
the low end. These calls
are much more scarce than
the wooden Gray's Turkey
Caller.
I'm not
sure when he started making
these but it was after
he started selling the
box call.
|
|
1970?
- 1984
|
After Sherman's
death in 1970, his business
was sold to his distributor
who continued selling his
calls. It was eventually
sold to Babcock Lumber
in Big Run, PA and they
sold many calls that were
stamped with Distributor,
Big Run, PA. I've seen
them with both black and
red ink stamps. Some also
had custom wooden cases
that were made to hold the
turkey caller with the Big
Run, PA address.
These
calls were made using
the Gray's design but
were of course not made
by Gray.
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