Click on any of the pictures for a closer look!
Shine Box Turkey Calls is a National Award Winning, family owned company located in Minneapolis Minnesota. We are proud makers of some of the finest turkey calls available today specializing in professional wood burning. But….. there is a little more to it than that! I met the owner of Shine Box, Eric Rice about three or four years ago, at a Minnesota Calling Contest. I always stop by his booth at sport shows because I know he has always got something cool to show me. Check that… most of his work is flat out awesome and one of a kind. A few weeks ago while at the Wisconsin State NWTF Convention, he pulls out his phone and show me a picture of yet another one of a kind work of art.
It was a picture of his first ever wing bone call. Now this is not just any wing bone! Keep in mind that Eric had never burned a wing bone call. Also I’m told this wing bone is in fact from at turkey he harvested himself in Iowa. In talking to Eric about this call he tells me. “The wing bone call has about 500 hours of work in it. Not a single line was drawn on the call. Over 2,000,000 tiny burned dots make up the images and this wing bone call was made from my first Iowa gobbler.”
Braided into the lanyard for this call has a 400 year old, stone spear-head found in a creek bed in Pike County, Missouri.
Knowing all of that I figured that this call was going to become a part of his personal collection… Right? Wrong! It was being entered in the 2014 NWTF’s Grand National Callmaking Competition. I was shocked to learn that there was already great interest in this call. See here is the thing about all of the calls that go to the Grand National Callmaking Competition. After the calls are judged, calls are auctioned at the convention during the 11th Annual Premier Grand National Custom Call Live Auction Registration, Reception and Awards. That’s right if Eric wants that call back he will have to get the winning bid. One note Eric asked me to add about this call is that he had help from Kevin Lynch on wrapping this wing bone call. Just look at it! Absolutely Beautiful!
I also wanted to highlight some of the calls Shine Box is known for so you will find lots of examples of Eric’s art throughout this post!
Best of Show at the 2014 NWTF Norseman Call Making Championship
Eric also had the honor of being asked to one of three turkey call makers to be part of documentary called Grand National Glory. This full-length documentary details once-in-a-lifetime moments whereby three competitive, decorative, turkey-call carvers are followed as they prepare for their annual submissions and participate in the 2013 National Wild Turkey Federation’s (NWTF) Grand National Call Making Contest. See more about Grand National Glory here: http://grandnationalglory.com/index.php
2014 Midwest Turkey Call Competition – Decorative Box Call – 1st Place & Best of Class award!
Shine Box Turkey Call was established in 2004 while hunting in the Black Hills of Sundance Wyoming. It was the idea of something different that lead us to a small handmade call with a whole lot of sound! Over 16 years of turkey hunting experience and learning the sounds of the hen wild turkey led us to our design with many months of careful success and failure. They pride themselves on hand made craftsmanship using the finest domestic and exotic woods available.
Owner, Eric Rice specializes in professional wood burning & scratch box style made to order turkey calls. He also make short and long box calls and pot calls upon request. Just let him know what you like to see and hear out of a turkey call. He will combine the two into a one of a kind working piece of art.
Shine Box Turkey Call are proud supporters of the 2nd amendment and great conservation groups like the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Mule Deer Foundation, Pheasants For Ever, Minnesota Waterfowl Association, and many others. We have a strong belief that the children are our future in the hunting heritage and without them involved in conservation & hunting, the future of the great conservation groups we support would be in peril. In 2011 Shine Box Turkey Call started a mission to help anchor our hunting youth into our hunting heritage. We donated over 2000 free turkey calls to kids in MN & SD and will continue to do so each year!!
