The NWTF Convention kicks off turkey season every year the right way. There's no better community atmosphere and "instant old friendships" are happening everywhere you look. Come hang out in the Mossy Oak booth this year, Booth #701. There'll be in-booth events, a hang out area featuring old VHS turkey hunts, and plenty of gear to get you outfitted for the spring. (Including an exclusive first shopping for the new Spring/Summer Companions line.)
Here's everything going on that Mossy Oak has to offer this year. We look forward to shaking your hand.
In Booth Activities (Booth #701):
The Unprofessional Turkey Calling Contest and Giveaway
Hosted by Cuz Strickland
For kids ages 15 and under.
February 17, 12:30 PM
If your kid wants to try his or her hand at a smaller scale calling contest that isn't quite so intimidating as a stage and is a really fun time, check out our kids' calling contest on Saturday! All kids get a gift for entering, too.
Meet and Greets:
Toxey Haas, Founder and CEO of Mossy Oak
Toxey’s love for the outdoors was instilled in him at a young age by his father. Toxey took the idea of building a business "from the ground up" literally. Using inspiration from the natural surroundings of the woods, in 1986 he founded Haas Outdoors, Inc. and the brand we all know as Mossy Oak.
Will Primos, Founder and CEO of Primos Hunting
As a young boy, Will Primos couldn't wait until he was old enough to tag along on Primos family duck hunts. In 1963, an 11-year old Will crafted his first duck call, and the rest is history. From that first effort evolved what is now heralded as the most accurate, most reliable call on the market, the legendary Primos Hunting Call. Today Primos Hunting makes calls for every variety of game species in North America, along with blinds, trail cameras, and hundreds of other hunting products.
Ronnie "Cuz" Strickland, Executive Vice President of Mossy Oak
Cuz joined the Mossy Oak team in 1988, two years after the company was born, first as salesman, then in marketing and public relations. He worked with Toxey to found Mossy Oak's media productions department, building a large series of retail video titles, then launching the company's first broadcast television offerings with Mossy Oak's Hunting the Country on TNN in 1995. Today, as Senior Vice President, he oversees media efforts that have expanded to include both traditional broadcast and online video. Cuz is the author of three books of humor and instruction on turkey hunting and hosts the Fist Full of Dirt podcast.
Dave Owens
Dave is the guy behind the Pinhoti Project brand. He claims to be nothing more than a turkey hunter, more specifically a traveling turkey hunter. His obsession with Spring turkey hunting has taken him all over the country (49 states) as he completed the US Super Slam. As he attempts to better himself at his craft, he’s also found successes in the competition calling arena including a few Georgia State Champion titles as well as the 2018 Grand National Senior Division Open Champion.
Rut Daniels
"Rut Daniels" is a comedy persona that brings humor back to the hunting scene. He and his signature long hair and 80s-style glasses will be available to make turkey hunters laugh at the Mossy Oak booth.
Custom Painted Bottomland Turtlebox Raffle
Wildlife artist Dustin Dattilio will be painting custom wild turkey artwork on the back of two Bottomland Turtlebox speakers in booth on Friday and Saturday, both of which will be raffled away. Sign up to put your name in the hat to win!
Conservation Aid: A Live Concert to Benefit The NWTF Foundation
This annual concert kicks off the whole show. It takes place at the Grand Ole Opry and will feature familiar country music favorites and up-and-comers Chris Janson, Dustin Lynch, Tyler Hubbard, Lindsay Ell, Drew Baldridge, Chuck Wicks, Mark Wills, Lauren Mascitti, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Tyler Booth, Glen Templeton, and more.
Support wild turkey conservation at the most iconic venue in country music history, the Grand Ole Opry, and kick off the annual NWTF convention the right way.
Where: Grand Ole Opry
When: February 14th, 7 PM, Doors at 6 PM
Tickets are on sale now.
Bottomland Book Club: Past and Present Wild Turkey Literature Discussion:
Wild turkey literature is rich; we want to celebrate the storied history and modern day stories that really show how much hunters love the wild turkey.
When: Saturday, February 13 at 3PM
Where: Ryman Ballroom A-F
Brent Rogers: The Host
Brent Rogers is the most successful wild turkey history collector that any of us have heard of; he collects every article, book, call, and other history that has anything to do with the wild turkey or turkey hunting. He knows it all. He'll be hosting the event, and he's releasing a book of his own, Yelp & Gobble, Inc., later this year. Check out his story below in a video produced by NWTF.
The authors that will be featured on the panel this year will be:
Harold Knight
Harold Knight was born and has lived his entire life near the Land Between the Lakes area of Kentucky. He was one of 10 children and developed a love of hunting and fishing in his youth. He learned to turkey hunt through local mentors; in 1957, he called up and killed a gobbler, and his passion for wild turkeys set his course in life. Harold was a barber from 1963 to 1984 but started building turkey tube calls part-time in 1971. His partnership with David Hale began after Knight’s tubes were popularized through a 1972 magazine article by the late Dave Harbour; that was the beginning of KNIGHT & HALE Game Calls. Knight won a World Goose Call Championship in 1979, and in 1984, KNIGHT & HALE went into business full-time. They made all types of game calls, innovating new calls, of which several would be used to win World Championships. KNIGHT & HALE also produced hunting videos and television shows, and their Ultimate Hunting show ran on the Outdoor Channel from 1989 to 2015.
In 1994, Harold Knight and David Hale authored their first book with Wade Bourne, Harold Knight & David Hale’s Ultimate Turkey Hunting. In 2023, David Hale released a book that includes Knight’s contributions, Adventures In Hunting with Knight & Hale.
Among the recognition and rewards Knight has received for his efforts are a 2009 induction into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame, a 2015 Lifetime Achievement Golden Moose award by the Outdoor Channel, and a 2020 induction into the Grand National Calling Championship Hall of Fame.
Tom "Doc" Weddle
Tom "Doc" Weddle is a carpenter from Bloomington, Indiana. At least, that's what he does for nine months of every year. The rest of the time (those glorious spring months of March, April, and May) he can be found traipsing around the country in pursuit of his favorite passion...the hunting of wild turkeys! With 41 spring turkey seasons under his belt so far, this man is one of the most traveled hunters of all time, focusing mostly on public lands in every state besides Alaska. Those wanderings have allowed him to complete not one, nor two, but a total of four U.S. Super Slams, with only two states remaining until that tally reaches an unheard of FIVE! Doc writes of these extensive travels in a series of acclaimed books entitled, "Turkey Tails and Tales from Across the USA; Volumes 1 - 4," and was also featured in a two-book volume written by Tom Pero which profiled a dozen like-minded souls who have completed Super Slams of their own.
In his spare time, he occasionally crafts fine box calls inspired by the work of Neil Cost, and collects just about anything else pertaining to the greatest game bird of the world: state and federal turkey stamps, books and other literature, and various assorted paraphernalia and accouterments centered around or featuring the wild turkey. If you call this man a turkey nut, he would take that as the ultimate of compliments.
W.H. "Chip" Gross
Ohio outdoors writer W. H. “Chip” Gross has been chasing wild turkeys with both a shotgun and camera for more than 40 years. During recent years, he has been teaching his grandsons to turkey hunt. The author of six books and well over 1,000 magazine articles, Chip’s classic turkey hunting novel, Home, At Last, Is the Hunter, celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2024.
He has written six books:
-Home, At Last, Is the Hunter
-Pro Tactics: Steelhead & Salmon
-Ohio Wildlife Viewing Guide
-Young Beginner’s Guide to Shooting & Archery
-Poachers Were My Prey: Eighteen Years as an Undercover Wildlife Officer
-Trolling Big-Water Walleyes: Secrets of the Great Lakes Fishing Guides, Charter Captains, and Walleye Pros
Michael Simpson
Michael developed a love of the outdoors at a very early age. In fact, he was so small that his dad would have to tote him to the tree while coon hunting. The pursuits of deer and duck hunting soon followed before he found his true passion: turkey hunting.
As a teenager, he heard a man once say, "Pay attention, because you're making memories." He took that to heart and has kept a hunting journal ever since. With those notes, he is able to describe in detail the events that happen on any given day in the outdoors. Those same journals helped create the author's first two turkey hunting books, When Kings Go To Battle and They Mark My Steps.
Sarah Clark
Sarah Clark loves hunting the wild turkey; it wasn't too long before the stories began to pile up. Telling these stories became another passion.
At the ripe old age of 70, it hit Sarah this might be the time to step out on faith and write some of those hunting stories. So after going to a Literature Seminar at the NWTF Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, and talking to a few of the authors there, things started falling into place and God opened doors and voila...her first book was born, Clark-It, True Turkey Tales.
