Mike Lapp Kicks Off New NWTF Legacy Callmaker Collection
It was the fall of 1989 when Mike Lapp harvested his first gobbler. He was in his 20s in the woods with coworkers who had invited him to tag along to bust up some birds. Hearing the men call in birds was exciting for Lapp, and it was then that the fire was lit.
The following spring season, Lapp heard his first gobble.
“It was kind of funny,” he said. “We separated because this guy was going to call this gobbler in for me. He was sitting behind me, and I heard like 18 yelps in a row. I'm thinking, ‘Why is he calling so much?’ After a bit, a hen walked past me and went right straight down to that gobbler.”
Later in the season, Lapp saw his first tom, and he never even thought about shooting because of how amazed he was watching that bird come in.
A decade later, in 1999, Lapp broke his favorite box call — a Quaker Boy Grand Ol’ Master — and attended the Eastern Sport Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in search of a new one. He approached the booth of Albert Paul, a prestigious call maker from Mississippi. The two men got to talking, and a friendship developed. Lapp explained how he tried to fix the call he broke because he was a carpenter by trade. They talked about other calls Lapp has tried to make in the past, and he ended up leaving the sport show with one of Albert Paul’s calls to replicate.
“I'm not far off if I tell you I called him every day for two months asking questions,” Lapp said. “Without him, there's no way I'd be able to do what I do. He cut that learning curve for me.”
When he was just starting out, Lapp only had tools for carpentry at his disposal. He had tools to build a house, not a box call. He was cutting lids with a jigsaw, and he was trying to smooth lids on a belt sander, which caused the lids to shoot across the room.
He started selling his calls at the local hardware store his mother worked at for $40 a call and, as he sold more calls, he put money toward buying the right tools. Lapp eventually posted a few on eBay, which started selling for over $100.
One of those calls was purchased by Dick Kirby of Quaker Boy Game Calls. Kirby told Lapp to build him six calls for him to sell at the NWTF Convention and Sport Show in 2003.
“Dick said, ‘I'll sell them for you, and I'll just keep a percentage of each one for selling,’” Lapp explained. “So, I built six calls, and I sent them to him, but I didn't know — he didn't tell me — that he pre-registered me in the NWTF Grand National Custom Callmaking Competition.”
Lapp earned third place in his category that year, and since then, Lapp has entered himself into the NWTF Grand National Custom Callmaking Competition and has been successful in various categories through the years in the Turkey Hunting Division. He has received over 150 ribbons for his work as one of the nation’s most talented call makers. He is a three-time NWTF Gibson Award winner, which recognizes the best-sounding box turkey call and call maker, and he has won the NWTF Call Maker of Year Award twice. Lapp is the only individual to date who has placed first in all three categories (short box, long box and onesider) at the NWTF Grand National Custom Callmaking Competition in the Hunting Call Division in 2006 and again in 2008.
What started out as a hobby to provide extra income to pay for his hunting trips turned Lapp into a turkey call making legend.
“It’s been an interesting ride, and everything just fell into place,” he said. “After I killed a turkey using a call that I made, that was it. There is nothing else like it.”
In 2012, Lapp was inducted into the NWTF Pennsylvania State Chapter Turkey Hunter Hall of Fame, and in 2021 he became an NWTF Vanguard Life Sponsor for his donation of turkey calls to various chapters. The award recognizes that his call donations have exceeded $75,000 to support the mission of the NWTF.
Lapp began donating his calls to NWTF chapter banquets after Jerry Zimmerman, an NWTF regional director at the time, reached out to him. Shortly after that, the floodgates opened as hunters were requesting his custom calls. Back then, Lapp said it felt like he could sit down and build a call every day for the next year and still not catch up.
“But now that I'm retired, I hope to catch up,” Lapp said with a chuckle. “I still do love building turkey calls. The biggest thrill is the photographs I get in the spring and fall with the turkey and my call and then a long story about how great the hunt went.”
While he still loves to hunt, Lapp has found himself invested in the additional efforts that sustain wild turkeys, habitat and America’s hunting traditions.
“This organization supports more than just the turkey,” he said. “Habitat improvement helps all wildlife, and that's what I appreciate. So, I think everybody that hunts should be a member of some organization and give back so that the next generation can enjoy listening to a wild turkey on a spring morning, as we have.”
Through a new series beginning this month — titled Legacy Callmaker Collection — the NWTF is featuring one iconic call maker per month, sharing their story and highlighting why they are passionate about turkey hunting and wildlife conservation.
This month features Lapp and his No. 1 of 1 box call comprised of Pennsylvania holly and snakewood from Suriname. The call features an NWTF Legacy Callmaker Collection inlay coin and is signed by Lapp.