# Tom Gaskins



## modern_yeoman (Apr 6, 2009)

Anyone ever used this call? I find myself coming back to it more than often. Is it too dated in your opinion? Any feedback welcome.


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## Nicodemus (Apr 6, 2009)

It`s a good scratch box, but the new ones sound nothin` like the ones made by Mr. Tom, back in the late 60s and early 70s. I have one I got 2 years ago, new, and it would make better firewood, than it does as a turkey call.


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## gregg (Apr 6, 2009)

Wow, my dad has one of those, must be 30-40 years old....sounds pretty good, it's the call we used to use down in the South Florida swamps when I was a little dude, brings back memories.


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## modern_yeoman (Apr 6, 2009)

gregg said:


> Wow, my dad has one of those, must be 30-40 years old....sounds pretty good, it's the call we used to use down in the South Florida swamps when I was a little dude, brings back memories.


Yea, they are made out of Cypress in Florida. The old man that invented it died some years back.


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## Nicodemus (Apr 6, 2009)

Back then, you could put $5 in an envelope, address it Tom Gaskins, Palmdale Florida, and the zip code, nothin` else, and send it off. In a few days, you have one, made by Mr. Tom hisself, in your mailbox.


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## modern_yeoman (Apr 6, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> Back then, you could put $5 in an envelope, address it Tom Gaskins, Palmdale Florida, and the zip code, nothin` else, and send it off. In a few days, you have one, made by Mr. Tom hisself, in your mailbox.


Man how times have changed!


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## Nitro (Apr 6, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> Back then, you could put $5 in an envelope, address it Tom Gaskins, Palmdale Florida, and the zip code, nothin` else, and send it off. In a few days, you have one, made by Mr. Tom hisself, in your mailbox.



I have one from 1981...it's been the demise of a few...

Scratch calls are another tool in the arsenal. If you want a great one, contact Tim Sanford here. His callers are pure Turkey...


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## gobblingghost (Apr 6, 2009)

I have 2 both were made back in the 60 or 70s. One have never been used


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## Arrowhead95 (Apr 6, 2009)

Actually the calls are made out of cedar.

Mr Gaskins owned the cypress knee museum. If you drove down Hwy 27 through Palmdale you would see the signs advertising his museum along the way.

Tom Sr used to hunt all around fisheating creek and he wondered those swamps barefoot. The family lived in a cypress cabin right across the street form the museum until about 10 ears ago give or take a couple years.

Nice family. You could stop in and try all the calls you wanted too. Some sounded better than others. They were still being made the same way Tom Sr made them. 

I think they still live in the area but not that cabin.

The oldest turkey call I own is a Tom Gaskins call. The call is not singed or dated but I dated the stamp they used to mail it to the 1940's.


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## gregg (Apr 6, 2009)

> Mr Gaskins owned the cypress knee museum. If you drove down Hwy 27 through Palmdale you would see the signs advertising his museum along the way.
> 
> 
> 
> > Tom Sr used to hunt all around fisheating creek and he wondered those swamps barefoot. The family lived in a cypress cabin right across the street form the museum until about 10 ears ago give or take a couple years.



Yep, I remember that as a boy...we also had a hunting lease on fisheating creek when I was a very little boy, I was just telling my son last night about a time on fisheating creek when my father and I were hunting with bows(recurve) and a turkey spooked and flew off right in front of us.....still remember it like it happened yesterday, that was some beautiful country.


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## SCPO (Apr 6, 2009)

one of the first calls i bought when i first started turkey hunting. left it in woods at big lazar wma one week and it got wet. never sounded same. bought another but i didn't think it sounded as good as first one. funny i ordered another one yesterday from cabelas


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## returntoarchery (Apr 6, 2009)

I picked one up a couple weeks ago. Haven't gotten the hang of it yet.


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## G Duck (Apr 6, 2009)

It was my first Turkey call, given to me by an elderly man from south Fl. Used it to call up my first bird. I also used it to educate many prior. I can remember shaking out of my skin, trying to yelp, when the bird was answering  in the early days. Mine must have been made in the 70s.


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## modern_yeoman (Apr 7, 2009)

Arrowhead95 said:


> Actually the calls are made out of cedar.
> 
> Mr Gaskins owned the cypress knee museum. If you drove down Hwy 27 through Palmdale you would see the signs advertising his museum along the way.
> 
> ...


Yes Arrowhead I knew it was made out of cedar. Thanks for the correction. I guess I had the museum in the back of my head.


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## trkyhnt89 (Apr 7, 2009)

my grandfather has one......it has to be 20+ years old


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## Arrowhead95 (Apr 7, 2009)

> Yes Arrowhead I knew it was made out of cedar. Thanks for the correction. I guess I had the museum in the back of my head.



I know what you mean. Whenever I hear that name the first thing I think about is the cypress knee museum. Even when I see his calls I think of the museum. I passed that place many times and only stopped in a few.

Roadside Americana at it's finest.

Somewhere I have a call with Tom Jr, his wife and sons signature on it. I think the last time I was there they had just recieved a letter telling them they had to move. Sad day.


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## Hawghead (Apr 7, 2009)

They dont sound like they used to...i always either have a gaskins, olin humphries, or bud &betty scratch box in my vest.


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## modern_yeoman (Apr 7, 2009)

A little off topic. I bought a load of Cypress a little below Lumber City, Ga. to build railing above my loft in my new house in December(matches the roughcut lumber pretty good). Wow, how much the cost has went up. Anywho thanks for the input.


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## saltysenior (Apr 7, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> It`s a good scratch box, but the new ones sound nothin` like the ones made by Mr. Tom, back in the late 60s and early 70s. I have one I got 2 years ago, new, and it would make better firewood, than it does as a turkey call.



amen bro.....if i ever lost my old one,i'd take up stamp collecting...i remember tom sr. telling about going to the everglades in a model T to hunt... a 80 mile trip that took 2 days.....an interesting fact that is now forgotten,is that tom sr. and many other sportsmen of the area and time ,did not think spring turkey hunting was very ''sporty''....those men believed fall turkey hunting was the real sport and anybody could call in one of those love sick  toms in the spring.....many also thought that roost shooting  was a real challenge.....when i asked why, i was told ,''just try doing it''.....


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## trkyhnt89 (Apr 8, 2009)




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## Arrowhead95 (Apr 8, 2009)

> amen bro.....if i ever lost my old one,i'd take up stamp collecting...i remember tom sr. telling about going to the everglades in a model T to hunt... a 80 mile trip that took 2 days.....an interesting fact that is now forgotten,is that tom sr. and many other sportsmen of the area and time ,did not think spring turkey hunting was very ''sporty''....those men believed fall turkey hunting was the real sport and anybody could call in one of those love sick toms in the spring.....many also thought that roost shooting was a real challenge.....when i asked why, i was told ,''just try doing it''.....



Saltysenior >> in 1982 I bought a book "Hunting Wild Turkeys in the Everglades". There was an ad listing the book for sale in Florida Sportman. When I got the book I could not put it down. It was written by Frank Harben. Mr Harben lived in Safety Harbor Florida but grew up in Labelle, Moore Haven and Clewiston area. He hunted quite a bit in Fisheating Creek.

He is exactly like you describe. Back then they turkey hunted all the time. When seasons came into effect he did not believe there was a challenge to hunting in the spring.

I looked Mr Harben up about 10or 12 years and asked if I could drop by for a visit. He was a great guy to talk too. He pulled out a shoe box full of turkey beards. At the time he said he had killed something over 650 turkeys.

Another amazing feet is he did it all with a .410.

He wanted to sell his book through the NWTF but they would not do it because of some of the methods he used for killing turkeys. Off the roost and such 2 and 3 at a time. He stated right in the beginning of the book that "this was a way of life". The main call he used was a Gaskins turkey call. He was friends with the Gaskins family.

Reading the stories of his hunting adventurs has always been a favorite of mine. A couple years ago I got to hunt one of the area's he talked about in the book. Hog Cypress. It's located just west of Clewiston. It would be my slice of heaven. It's a private ranch in pristine condition.

Now I want to re-read the book.


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## saltysenior (Apr 9, 2009)

my lucky day.....found out a friend,who does not hunt anymore has 2 real old gaskins calls that where tried and   ok,d  by tom sr.himself.. ...i remember mr. gaskins doing this for me when i bought my first one at his museum..


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## modern_yeoman (Apr 9, 2009)

I guess I got the habit of carrying this call from my dad. His is pretty old 10 times darker than mine from age. We went hunting Sunday together his arsenal is alot smaller than mine. 

Includes the following:

1 pack Redman golden blend (maybe 2)
1-Old Tom Gaskins call
1 or 2 Diaphagm calls


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## returntoarchery (Apr 9, 2009)

modern_yeoman said:


> Yea, they are made out of Cypress in Florida. The old man that invented it died some years back.



Lovett Williams in his book "Wild Turkey Hunting & Management" said he thinks that Tom Gaskins told him that his call was modeled after a call from a call maker near the Suwannee River from the early 1900s.


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## saltysenior (Apr 13, 2009)

another oddity about tom gaskins.....when he roamed the cypress sloughs ,looking for odd shaped knees for his museum, he was barefooted....


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## returntoarchery (Mar 18, 2010)

Nicodemus said:


> It`s a good scratch box, but the new ones sound nothin` like the ones made by Mr. Tom, back in the late 60s and early 70s. I have one I got 2 years ago, new, and it would make better firewood, than it does as a turkey call.



I'm resurrecting this thread as I now may know why the new ones do not sound as good as the ones Mr Gaskins made. I remembered finding this link ( http://kozmicdreams.com/tomgaskins.htm ) with an article on how to make Mr Gaskins' call. It clearly shows the sound board as being a separate flat piece of cedar that is glued to the body. On the new production ones the call is a single piece of wood with the sound slit between the sound board and body simply a kerf cut from a table/circular saw. This leaves the back side of the sound board curved from the lengthwise center bore as well as makes the sound board relief an arc the same shape of the circular saw blade. 

No wonder it sounds different. Cheap / fast way to make the call albeit one that doesn't sound as good as ones made with the original construction method. 

I'm going to find me some cedar and make myself one the same as Mr Gaskins' and use the new one I've got as kindling.


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## Gaswamp (Mar 18, 2010)

thanks for the resurrection.  some good reading.


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## returntoarchery (Mar 21, 2010)

My best friend gave me some really nice cedar today - two 20"-24" lengths from a 8" diameter log. I think I ought to be able to get a couple of Mr Tom's calls made from it.


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## BARFOOTLARRY (Mar 21, 2010)

I'd like to see how you make it. I found the article very interesting. Thanks for reposting.


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## bestbucks (Mar 21, 2010)

Nicodemus said:


> Back then, you could put $5 in an envelope, address it Tom Gaskins, Palmdale Florida, and the zip code, nothin` else, and send it off. In a few days, you have one, made by Mr. Tom hisself, in your mailbox.


 Your right, there not as good as they used to be. Started hunting with them back in the late seventies and considered it a meat call, they loved it so much. After about a hundred gobblers later and the calls aren't made by him any longer, this piece of wood is still with me on every hunt. Unfortunately, I don't believe I own any more he personally sent me in the mail. I wish now I'd a bought fifty.


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## billy673 (Mar 22, 2010)

i just bought one saturday at the fisheating creek campground store, they also dont say palmdale on 'em anymore, they say venus fl . doesnt sound great but i only been playing with it a lil , $25 !


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## 1974gator (Sep 1, 2011)

*A Gaskins family turkey story*

My father's mother's sister (Virginia Bible) married Tom Gaskins, Sr. We lived in AL and would go to Dad's hometown, Arcadia, for a two week vacation every year around Thanksgiving. When I was 11-12 I got my first jake using Uncle Tom's call. Called the bird close enough to kill it with one 410 shot. At least I thought it was dead...when I tried to pick him up he spurred me. Because it was the Thanksgiving turkey, Grandpa didn't want to shoot it again and have to deal with more pellets at dinner so he clubbed it a few times with a tree branch. 
The Treadwells and Gaskins preferred to use natural, throat calls. I would sit with Tom Jr. on the back stoop at Uncle Tom's Palmdale house and watch him throat call jakes into the backyard.  
I believe the reason the Tom Gaskins turkey call is such a fine instrument is because it was invented by a champion, natural turkey caller who found the perfect combination of wood and friction from which to create his original prototype. From there he and Tom Jr. have spent the past 60+ years perfectly reproducing the Gaskins callers you can buy today. Buy 10, when Tom, Jr. passes (he's in his 70s) they won't be making them anymore.


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## gblrklr (Sep 1, 2011)

1974gator said:


> My father's mother's sister (Virginia Bible) married Tom Gaskins, Sr. We lived in AL and would go to Dad's hometown, Arcadia, for a two week vacation every year around Thanksgiving. When I was 11-12 I got my first jake using Uncle Tom's call. Called the bird close enough to kill it with one 410 shot. At least I thought it was dead...when I tried to pick him up he spurred me. Because it was the Thanksgiving turkey, Grandpa didn't want to shoot it again and have to deal with more pellets at dinner so he clubbed it a few times with a tree branch.
> The Treadwells and Gaskins preferred to use natural, throat calls. I would sit with Tom Jr. on the back stoop at Uncle Tom's Palmdale house and watch him throat call jakes into the backyard.
> I believe the reason the Tom Gaskins turkey call is such a fine instrument is because it was invented by a champion, natural turkey caller who found the perfect combination of wood and friction from which to create his original prototype. From there he and Tom Jr. have spent the past 60+ years perfectly reproducing the Gaskins callers you can buy today. Buy 10, when Tom, Jr. passes (he's in his 70s) they won't be making them anymore.



Cool connection gator!  Thanks for chiming in!


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## scott ellis (Sep 3, 2011)

Awesome story...I had two of them,  back from the late 80's that was made of cypress and the other cedar.  I also used to have a book he compiled of turkey stories.  I think it was called Tom tells turkey tale's.  Great call will a truly unique sound...

se


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## Arrowhead95 (Sep 3, 2011)




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## Turkeydoghunter (Sep 4, 2011)

Cool story


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## Gaswamp (Sep 5, 2011)

suprisingly, I have never owned or used one of his calls.  For those of you experienced with the call,  have they pretty much stayed the same over the years or have they changed?


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## Nicodemus (Sep 5, 2011)

Gaswamp said:


> suprisingly, I have never owned or used one of his calls.  For those of you experienced with the call,  have they pretty much stayed the same over the years or have they changed?





They`ve changed. A lot. A man I hunted with back in the early 70`s had a couple of Tom`s scratch boxes that were purty old at the time. They sounded as good as anything you would ever want. A few years ago, I ordered me one, and it might make good kindlin` for a fire.

Why I didn`t get me a couple of them back in the day, I still wonder about. I could have gotten them for $5 at the time.


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