Legacy Callmaker Collection – Jeremiah Cluesman

One of his first successful turkey hunts came when he was a young teenager. He and a friend headed into the woods one morning without much of a plan beyond finding a place to sit, working a call and listening for a gobble. His friend’s dad was hunting a few ridges away, and the boys could hear him working a bird in the distance.

Before long, their own calling pulled birds in their direction. By the end of the morning, both young hunters had taken double-bearded jakes — an early memory in a hunting tradition that would eventually lead Cluesman somewhere he probably did not expect: into the world of custom call making.

That journey started in 2015 at a deer camp in Indiana.

Cluesman had brought along the pieces of a duck call he had been working on, figuring he would have time to tinker with it if he happened to fill his tag early. On opening morning, he killed a 10-point buck, leaving the rest of the week wide open.

So he went to work.

With sandpaper he had brought from home, Cluesman shaped and worked the tone board. When he needed material for a reed, he dug through the trash, found a piece of clamshell packaging and cut one from it. He kept sanding, adjusting and tuning until the call finally came together.

More than a decade later, that same curiosity still drives his work.

Cluesman enjoys seeing what a simple piece of wood can become in his hands. Black walnut remains his favorite material, though he also enjoys Macassar ebony and other exotic woods. His style leans heavily toward the decorative side of call making, where he tries to bring elements of nature into each piece in a way that feels natural and flowing.

He also makes a point to do things differently.

Rather than simply recreating what has already been done, Cluesman likes experimenting, thinking outside the box and finding ways to make each piece distinctly his own. Along the way, he has drawn inspiration from call makers including Brad Samples, Brian Byers and Ron Gould on the decorative side, along with Dave Constantine, Tim Oldham and many others whose work pushed him to improve.

That desire to get better eventually led Cluesman deeper into the NWTF callmaking community and its competitions.

For him, though, competition has never been solely about collecting awards. The real reward has been the people standing beside him.

Through NWTF events and callmaking competitions, Cluesman found a network of craftsmen who challenge one another, share ideas and celebrate each other’s successes. Those friendships became even more meaningful when flooding badly damaged his family’s home. Members of the callmaking community rallied around them, organizing fundraisers and offering support from across the country.

It showed Cluesman that the community surrounding the craft was every bit as meaningful as the calls themselves.

“It’s not so much about beating them; it’s about being with them,” Cluesman said.

That camaraderie is one reason he continues entering and donating calls through NWTF competitions. He enjoys winning, but he enjoys seeing his friends succeed, too — standing alongside them on stage and knowing that each person there has put countless hours into getting better at the craft.

Call making has taught him that success rarely happens immediately.

“The best competitors out there are not the ones who started out the best,” Cluesman said. “They’re the ones who wanted to be the best.”

That mindset has carried him through more than a decade of sanding, carving, experimenting and starting over. Every new piece offers another opportunity to push his abilities a little further while contributing to the community and conservation efforts that helped shape his journey.

For Cluesman, that is where the legacy of call making lives: not only in the finished call but in the friendships built around it, the lessons passed between craftsmen and the hunting tradition that started it all.