Featured Callmaker: Dave Constantine

For Dave Constantine, call making wasn't a family tradition passed down through generations. It began with something much bigger: the return of the wild turkey. 

Back in the early 1980s, Wisconsin was in the midst of successful wild turkey restoration efforts, and Constantine found himself fascinated by a bird that had only recently returned to his home state. Rather than simply buying a call, he decided to make one himself. 

"I've been making turkey calls since 1983,” Constantine said. “Somewhere around there, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources decided to start a reintroduction of the wild turkey, which has been very successful, and I got it in my head that it'd be really cool to make a turkey call and try to kill a turkey with it.” 

At the time, turkey hunting was still new to many hunters in the Upper Midwest. Armed with little more than curiosity and an article he found in a magazine, Constantine built his first box call. By his own admission, it wasn't exactly a masterpiece. 

"I cut my teeth literally on a box call that I made that sounded terrible, and thank God a two-year-old gobbler thought otherwise,” Constantine said. “I've been hooked ever since." 

That first hunt remains one of his most vivid memories. Sitting against a tree before dawn during one of Wisconsin's early turkey seasons, he worked a gobbler across the hills and valleys until the bird finally appeared within range. That encounter sparked a passion that would evolve into a lifelong pursuit of craftsmanship. 

As Constantine's interest grew, so did his curiosity about the mechanics behind great turkey calls. What started as a simple desire to build a call that worked quickly became an obsession with understanding wood, sound and design. 

"That actual experience kind of lit a fire under me as far as building calls," he said. 

His early focus was on box calls. Each new project became an opportunity to learn how different woods, grain patterns and designs influenced a call's tonality. Along the way, Constantine began spending time with some of the most respected names in the callmaking world, including legendary craftsmen Neil Cost and Earl Mickel. 

One conversation with Cost would leave a lasting impression. 

"Neil said to me one day, ‘I want you to make a one-sided box with no angles on the selling board, straight up and down; see if you can make one that sounds like a turkey,’" Constantine said. 

Constantine accepted the challenge. When he returned the following year and handed the finished call to Cost, the response validated years of experimentation and learning. 

"He played it, and he said that you met the challenge,” Constantine said. “He was very pleased with it." 

The experience reinforced a philosophy that would define Constantine's career: learn from the masters but develop your own path. While many call makers gravitated toward established designs, Constantine focused on creating original calls that reflected his own ideas and artistic vision. 

While many know Constantine today for his decorative masterpieces, his roots are firmly planted in functional hunting calls. A professional artist, sculptor and carver for more than four decades, he became fascinated by the challenge of creating unique calls that sounded like real turkeys. 

Over the years, he developed his own approach, drawing inspiration from legendary call makers while refusing to simply copy their work. 

"My whole intent from day one was to never do that," Constantine said. "All of the hunting calls I make are all original designs and original, if you will, in the way they're built." 

His dedication to innovation helped establish him as one of the most respected craftsmen in the NWTF Grand National Custom Callmaking Competition. A participant since nearly the beginning of the contest, Constantine has earned eight Earl Mickel Awards and three Call Maker of the Year honors before retiring from competition. 

Yet the awards are not what he values most. 

"It's really humbling in the first place, because in my travels in this industry in general, I've realized there is not a better group of people anywhere on the planet," Constantine said. "Really, really good people, which lends itself, especially at least for me, to want to contribute to that cause. And over the years, I've met so many good people that it's real hard for me not to want to support the cause and the conservation efforts.” 

That sense of community is what has kept him involved for more than 40 years. 

Constantine credits the NWTF with creating the platform that helped elevate custom call making from a niche craft into a thriving culture within the turkey hunting community. 

"If it wasn't for the NWTF, there would not ever have been a venue or a platform for a call maker and also for a turkey caller," Constantine said. 

His commitment to that culture extends beyond his own workbench. In recent years, Constantine has become a mentor to aspiring call makers and artists, sharing techniques and encouraging newcomers to pursue the craft. 

"My advice would be, if they wanted to save a lot of time, to grab one of the guys that's making calls and say, ‘hey, would you share something with me?’" Constantine said. “From what I've seen, this community is so rich, and the people are so good. I think nobody would turn somebody down like that.” 

From sketching grain patterns on restaurant napkins to teaching carving classes, Constantine continues to invest in the next generation of craftsmen. One of his proudest moments came when a student he mentored, Heather van Doorn, entered the NWTF Decorative Competition and won multiple prestigious awards.  

Today, after more than four decades of call making, Constantine remains grateful for the people, experiences and conservation successes that shaped his journey. In many ways, it all traces back to that first turkey restoration effort in Wisconsin and a hunter who wanted to make his own call.