Breaking the Sound Barrier

Easton was born with a hearing defect and has gone through multiple tests and procedures to help him hear normally, something you and I probably take for granted every day. His dad, Jeremy Phillips, worried his son would never hear a turkey gobble. But after a few years and cochlear implants in both ears, Easton could not only hear gobbles, but he could run a turkey call better than most.

He had attended the NWTF National Convention and Sport Show for years in Nashville and watched the best callers in the world compete on stage. One day, he decided he wanted to get on that stage and compete, too. So he did – winning the Georgia State Junior Division championship the week before finishing fourth in the Poults Division (10 and under) at Grand Nationals this year.

Easton should have been at a disadvantage. He hears sounds digitally, almost like they’re coming through a computer, his dad said. Easton only hears one sound or tone, not the various sounds that a turkey call can make. It should have been nearly impossible for him to run a call like it should be run. But Easton made the impossible possible by harnessing an ability to feel the different sounds a box call can make.

A good friend of the Phillips, renowned call maker David Halloran, put it this way: “He could feel (the sound). When I build a box call, I’m not really listening; it’s mostly feel. It’s kind of like hearing a turkey gobble: you can feel it in your chest.”

“I can feel it in all my body,” Easton said about running a call. “I can remember the vibrations when I’m running it.”

Jeremy Phillips said his son refused to let a barrier stop him from doing something he enjoyed. Simply put, Easton practiced and figured out how to make it work.

“Just because you have a disability doesn’t mean you’re disabled,” Jeremy Phillips said.

There was no other option, really. Easton was running a turkey call in a stroller and was born to be a turkey hunter.

“I have loved turkey hunting since I was a baby,” he said. “I fell in love with it.”

Get out there this spring and into the summer and do what you enjoy. Be like Easton when adversity presents itself. Find a solution and work at it until you beat it. As Easton’s dad said, “The grind is part of the journey.”

You can find Easton’s hunting videos on YouTube and follow his Instagram account @EastonJasePhillips.