Champion turkey caller fulfilling life-long dream

Billy Yargus of Hannibal is holding one of the four turkey callers marketed under his name. He, with assistance of his wife and several part-time employees, produce 100,000 turkey callers a year. They are distributed via Woodhaven Custom Calls. Contributed photo

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

On March 1, probably before the ice completely melts away from the shorelines of the Mississippi River at Hannibal, and before the crocuses poke through the winter floor on the woody hillsides, Billy Yargus will be in position for the opening of turkey season in South Florida.

“We will be on the road here before long,” Yargus said.

He will be hunting the Osceola turkey, which has white and black bars on its wings. “When you get down south in Florida, the bottom part of the wing is black,” he said.

“My job, when I say we go hunting,” he explained, “that is part of the job.”

Yargus makes signature turkey calls for Woodhaven Custom Calls, and is well known and respected in the turkey calling world.

“We have a YouTube channel, and we go to all these different states. It advertises the calls, and shows people what they do. That’s part of the job I really enjoy.”

Yargus, who was inducted into the NWTF Grand National Turkey Callers Hall of Fame in 2024, will be traveling with his wife, Nanette, and “four or five camera guys, who travel with us, along with Mike Pentecost, owner of Woodhaven Custom Calls.”

The camera operators will film segments for posting on YouTube. “They get to hunt, too, so they become part of the show as well.”

Award winner

Yargus, as a turkey caller, has earned a number of prestigious awards, including the N.W.T.F. Grand National title in 2008, 2015 and 2016; the Mid America Open seven times, U.S. Open in 2004, the Missouri State Championship six times, two World Championship titles in the Two Man Team Challenge, and many other titles since his first calling contest in 1996. He also won the World Championship in 2016.

Grand slam

To kill a grand slam, you need the four types of North American Wild Turkey sub species, Yargus said, the Osceola, Eastern, Rio Grande and Merrriam’s.

Merriam’s are found in Wyoming, Minnesota, Colorado and Nebraska.

The Rio Grande can be found in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.

“We will be traveling to Alabama, Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Washington and Oregon” to turkey hunt, he said.

Missouri turkey season opens April 21.

“Later in May we will go to Old Mexico for the Gould’s turkey, a bigger turkey,” he said. “The tail fan has a whole lot of white in it.

You need to shoot a Gould turkey, in addition to the other four subspecies, in order to achieve a turkey Royal Slam.

Started as a boy

Billy Yargus, who is now 61, started hunting when he was 14.

“There was a man named Russell Roberson. He was probably one of the best outdoorsman and woodsman and fishermen around. He taught me how to hunt and fish, got me started using a turkey call and going turkey hunting.

“My dad, John, (who is now 86) owned a full-service gas station and garage on South Main Street, Yargus 66. We had the coldest ‘sodie’ in town, it would get almost slushy. People would come all over town just to buy soda.

“Russell traded (at the station) all the time. He asked if I wanted to go squirrel hunting. That was August 1977. From then on he was my best friend.

“The last thing that Russell and I got to do together was in August 1992. We went squirrel hunting together. He had a heart attack and died the next day.”

Billy, in turn, was able to teach his own father to hunt. “I called in his first turkey for him.”

Affiliations

Billy Yargus worked for Titan Wheel for 33 years, and made turkey calls as a sideline. Now he works full time making calls for Woodhaven Custom Calls.

He designs and makes the calls, and they bear his name. “I have four different calls with Woodhaven right now,” he said.

He is also affiliated with Mossy Oak camouflage, a clothing company. “I wear their clothing on the hunts.”

Yargus admits that he is living his dream.

“If anybody has a dream, it can be had if you work hard enough. I wanted to get better at making turkey calls, and it turned into full time job.” He now makes 100,000 turkey calls a year, with the help of his wife and a few part-time employees.

Testimonies

“I do a lot of seminars, and speak at wild game suppers,” Yargus said. “I usually do a 30-minute seminar, then a 30 minute testimony.

“What God is doing in my life. Part of my testimony would be that I got saved when I was 10. During my teenage years I got away from the Lord. I made hunting and horses the God of my life. Until you realize that’s not the way things should be. God straightened me out.

“There’s nothing wrong with horses or hunting, but without God we can’t do any of these things. It’s just keeping your priorities straight.”

He travels all over in order to share his story, including Daytona Beach, Fla., Alabama, all around Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois. “I do four or five a year, including a kids’ camp in Tennessee.

“Covenant ranch has camps for kids all summer long, how to shoot bows and guns, trail cameras for deer, learn how to canoe and fish. In the process they learn Bible verses, about God, and everything you really need in life.”

The camp is in Paris, Tenn. “I’ve been going every year for 14-15 years. I do a turkey hunting seminar on Sunday evening, Monday I do a Bible study, then we head back home.”

In addition, “We do our own youth turkey hunt at the Crossing Church” where he and his wife are members.

“Years ago, people would go to turkey calling contests to learn.” Yargus attended his first competition in 1996. “Now people watch YouTube. You can learn anything you want off of YouTube, he said.