Answering the call: a Bryan family tradition of turkeycalling and hunting
- May 11
- 7 min read
Updated: May 14
By Ford Walpole
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY JASON BRYAN
For Jason Bryan, building a house on his grandfather’s place in Ruffin was a lifelong dream that took him many years to accomplish. As an eight-year-old boy, Bryan harvested a deer on the exact spot where his home now stands. Though Jason grew up deer hunting and fishing the Salkehatchie Swamp, his introduction to turkey hunting was unusual. He bought VHS tapes on turkey hunting from the sporting goods section of Walmart and was immediately intrigued with the sport.
Though Bryan’s father was not a turkey hunter, he committed to helping his son bag a gobbler. Royce Herndon, a well-known Colleton County turkey hunter, provided helpful pointers. Through much trial and error, Jason and his father hunted turkeys for five years before the boy finally harvested his first bird at age 13.
Bryan later discovered a valuable mentor in Rudy Clark. “Mr. Rudy took me under his wing and instilled in me the two most important qualities of a turkey hunter: patience and persistence. He told me, ‘You are turkey hunting; you aren’t necessarily turkey calling.’ Mr. Rudy turkey hunted day in and day out and would sit for 14 hours at a time.”
The woodsman also provided Bryan with further hopeful advice. “Every gobbler has his day when he really wants to die, so if you go hunting enough, you will be there on the right day!”
“After spending time with Rudy, things took off, and I learned the tricks and trades of turkey hunting,” Bryan continues, who began watching videos of legendary turkey callers such as Matt Marrett, Michael Waddell, Eddie Salter, and Tom Stuckey. “I saw them calling, and that got me interested in competitions when I was a teenager. I mainly wanted to get better at calling so I could be more successful at hunting. You don’t have to be a great caller to be a great hunter, but boy, it sure helps!” Bryan says.
Bryan entered the then-annual calling contest held at Bass Pro Shops in Savannah. “The more callers I met at contests, the more competitions I started to go to, and it just exploded from there,” he says. “At the time, I didn’t realize turkey calling was as big as it was.”
In addition to participating in South Carolina’s local contest, Bryan traveled to competitions in Georgia and North Carolina.
When he was only three years old, Bryan’s son Gavin entered his first calling contest at The National Wild Turkey Federation’s (NWTF) Grand National Calling Championships in Nashville. “Gavin fell into turkey calling by default; he didn’t have a choice!” Jason laughs. The event includes several categories: Poults for callers aged 10 and under, Juniors for those aged 11 through 15, Intermediate for 16- to 20-year-olds, and Senior Division for adults.
Bryan recalls Gavin’s progression. “In 2018, I qualified in Claxton, Ga. and competed at the Grand National. Gavin was winning locally, and he kept getting better and better, so he always got a trophy. But that year at Grand National, he finished dead last in Poults. That was a real humbling moment for him at six years old. He realized — through the tears — that if you are going to succeed, you have to practice.”
For Gavin, practice and hard work would soon pay off. He continued winning more contests in South Carolina and Georgia. In 2023, Gavin won the Poults division at Grand Nationals, the Super Bowl of turkey calling contests. Jason Hart, director of community marketing for Mossy Oak, presented Gavin with his trophy. The next day, the Bryans attended the NWTF convention. The young champ spoke with representatives from Drury Outdoors, Primos, and The Hunting Public. Bryan’s friend Shannon Rolander introduced the boy to Mike Tussey, who runs Osceola Outdoors.
“Mr. Mike Tussey looked at Gavin and asked what he was doing the following weekend. He wanted to know if he would like to hunt an Osceola turkey on Youth Day in South Florida. Gavin did have a birthday party he would have to miss, but I said, ‘Man, we are there!’” Jason says. Jared Lewis of Apex Ammunition filmed the successful hunt titled THE KID: A Turkey Hunting Film, produced by NWTF and shared on multiple YouTube outdoors channels.
“That year really opened the door for Gavin,” Bryan points out. “He got invited to Georgia, where he killed a gobbler on Youth Day.”
Acclaimed turkey caller Gracie Herman invited Gavin to Nebraska, where he experienced another successful hunt. Gavin has already accomplished two Grand Slams, which included harvesting each of the four most common subspecies of wild turkey found in the United States. Then in 2023, Gavin pulled off this feat in a single season. That year, he shot Easterns in Ga. and S.C., an Osceola in Florida, a Merriam’s in Montana, and a Rio in Kansas.
“It is just really cool how you get into it,” Jason reflects. “The wild turkey got us to where we are in the turkey calling world, which has given us a lot of friends and connections and has provided Gavin with a lot of opportunities — all because of a bird!” This year, Gavin drew a tag to hunt in Florida for three days. Anybody who has been turkey hunting will remind you how difficult the sport is. “The whole time, we didn’t even hear a turkey gobble, but we did see strut marks and tracks,” Jason says. “We sat from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. with a break for lunch. It rained four times on the last day!”
Gavin reflects on what has been most meaningful about his turkey calling and hunting experiences. “The fellowship and the friends I make throughout calling and hunting are the most important,” he says. “I have met children and adults in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and New Hampshire.”
Gavin was only five when he killed his first turkey in Orangeburg County. “Man, he has killed a pile of turkeys since then!” Jason declares. Competitive sportsmen are seldom satisfied, and Gavin is no exception to this rule. He hopes to complete additional turkey harvest goals of a Royal Slam, a World Slam, a Mexican Slam, and a Canadian Slam.
“I would also like to kill a turkey in Hawaii,” Gavin says. “That would be cool!” Regarding calling, he aspires to win the Junior Division, then the Intermediate Division, before he turns 21. In addition, he is chasing the World Title for Junior and Intermediate at the June World Championship Turkey Calling Contest in Mobile, Ala.
When he was younger, Gavin hunted with a Mossberg Bantam .410 in Mossy Oak Bottomland camouflage. Bryan had the barrel threaded to accommodate a turkey choke. Gavin later graduated to a 20-gauge Weatherby semi-automatic. The Bryans have been loading their own Tungsten Super Shot (TSS) shells long before the ammunition became popular among turkey hunters.
Gavin also enjoys hunting deer and ducks, but gobblers are by far his favorite game. “I love turkey hunting because of the adventures and the places they go. With deer, you walk to the stand and wait until the deer shows up,” he says. “Duck hunting is fun, but you still stay in one spot. But with turkeys, you can walk all day hunting them!”
For the Bryans, turkey calling competitions and hunting are a family affair. Jason’s wife Jessica has accompanied him to most of the events — since he began competing back when they were high-school sweethearts. She enjoys deer hunting and will join Gavin on turkey hunts during trips out west.
Jason and Jessica’s daughter, Kinlee, is nine years old. She finished in second place in the Poults category at this year’s Grand National. She hopes to win Poults next year, which will be her final year before aging out of the division. When she was only seven, Kinlee took her first gobbler on a Youth Day hunt sponsored by the NWTF Swamp Fox Chapter. She is a Merriam’s turkey shy of completing a Grand Slam. She has killed an Eastern in S.C., a Rio in Kansas, and a public land Osceola on a Florida Youth Day hunt. Last year, Kinlee harvested the first and last turkey of the year among her family, bagging out-of-state birds during February and June.
To finance their hunting trips and travel to calling competitions, the Bryans operate Racks and Plaques, which they market on Facebook. Through this side endeavor, Jason prepares European mounts for deer hunters. Unlike other, less time-consuming methods, he produces mounts through a superior process known as maceration. Skulls are placed in a bucket of lukewarm water for a week. At that point, ammonia and Dawn dish detergent are added for degreasing, which requires an additional two weeks.
Besides deer, the Bryans prepare turkey tails and skulls, as well as those of ducks, alligators, bears, beavers, and other predators. Both children assist their father in the shop. They help with the logbook, create and attach name tags on skulls, and tidy up the workspace. Gavin handles the woodworking, builds plaques, and changes out the water in the tanks.
This year, turkey season collided with Gavin and Kinlee’s busy baseball and softball schedules. Though this reality has presented a challenge concerning out-of-state trips, the Bryans did manage a trip to Kansas and plan to drive to Ohio to hunt at the end of that state’s season during Memorial Day Weekend. We anxiously await the future turkey hunting tales and calling accomplishments of this talented outdoors family.
Ford Walpole lives and writes on John’s Island and is the author of many articles on the outdoors. He teaches English at James Island Charter High School and the College of Charleston and may be reached atfordwalpole@gmail.com.
