Ask Don Miller...or other scatters hunters

[SWAG]

Yea, it is pretty cool, have a copy of it framed in my office. It mentions W.C. Cross and Mr. Jordon being "fishing buddies". Fishing was a passion to them as were the ducks. My wife's grandma (W.C. Cross Sr wife) told me that W.C. and Son fished a many of Christmas morning. Different times no doubt. These men lived for the outdoors and put little else in front of it.

A funny note: I named my son Jon Clinton with the Jon coming from my side of the family and Clinton coming from my wife's side. W.C. stands for Walter Clinton. Anyways, he was born in 1996 and I do not know how many people thought I was some sort of democrat nut naming my son "Clinton" . To this day I still have someone ask me from time to time "Is he named after Bill Clinton?".

Back on the Scatters......Mark, do you think Tippo dumped into the Yalobusha back in the day? Maps look like it wants to, but Tippo is a much deeper canal than the Yalobusha. There are a many of zigs and zags of oxbows and sloughs throughout all the acres below HWY 8 that it is hard to really tell what went where. I would guess it changed frequently, thus making it the duck hotspot that it was? Although Dad (and yours too) hunted much greentree areas up this way, I do not remember any hunting stories detailing anyone hunting flooded timber around the Scatters?

Another "link" to the Scatters area being so good is early rice production throughout the area. From just north of Bear Lake woods all the way south till you reach the Hayward Jack's (Malmaison), there was a big move towards land clearing and rice farming. It set up a scenario (that now Stutgartt lives on).....ducks feeding in rice fields all night and then moving to timber / sloughs throughout the day. Most stories of the men who hunted these areas back then will show that it was not a "break your neck to get out there before daylight" type of event. Plenty of ducks would show mid-morning and they would find a spot to hunt during the breaking of the morning sun. With much of those same "rice fields" now planted to trees, the same scenario just does not exist on the scale it did back in the day.

[Don Miller]

Is Mr. Son still turning any calls? I saw him at the boat ramp the season before last and talked with him for almost an hour. His mind is still sharp but he has got to be in his 80's at least. I blew one his call in the 1989 Heart Of Dixie Regional in Birmingham. I spent a lot of time with him in his workshop back 20+ years ago but have kind of lost contact with him. He is last of the old call makers left in Greenwood.

Bill, you mentioned Greg Hood. I may be mistaken but I think I was told that his calls were modeled after the old Southland calls that were made in Leland.
Also, there was another old call maker from Leflore County that lived north of Schalter. His name was Louie Walker. Although he never made the comp calling circuit that I'm aware of, he did make a might fine meat call. I've got one that he made out of deer antler.

[SWAG]

The first of the first famous Tamer duck calls
Sep 8, 2006 12:00 PM, By Wayne Capooth Freelance Writer wcapooth@gmail.com

At an early age, R.R. McPherson, living outside Leachville, Ark., hunted ducks at Big Lake, one of the most famous waterfowling grounds in the country.

He had heard of and seen some of the duck calls made by the legendary Big Lake duck call-makers: J.T. Beckhart and Claude Stone. He thought to himself, “I can do that.”

So he picked up a stick and drilled a hole, and the “rest is history,” according to his son, Don, of Greenwood, Miss.

At Leachville, McPherson made a living by picking cotton and doing odd jobs. One day, he walked in from the fields and told his wife, “We're moving to Pontiac, Mich., where I hope to get a job with General Motors.”

That was just before the start of World War II. Sure enough, McPherson got a job with the automaker.

The war came on and he and his wife worked the assembly line making parts for military vehicles. Mr. Mac made few calls during that time.

After the war, General Motors sent him to Greenwood, Miss., where he was the dealer representative for Mississippi.

During the mid-1940s to the late 1940s, he made just enough duck calls to satisfy a few friends, all handmade.

When Don McPherson was only a whippersnapper, he traveled with his father to calling contests. When Don was thirteen (1946), he entered the Leflore County duck calling contest, blowing his daddy's calls. His sister, who was a few years younger, also entered contests and did quite well.

Mr. Mac quacked away at Stuttgart several years but never won.

When he retired in 1951 from General Motors, he began turning out more calls. In the mid-1950s W.C. Cross of Greenwood paid a visit to Mr. Mac, the man he had heard so much about. He began using Mr. Mac's calls when he hunted and when he blew in contests.

As for Mr. Mac, he realized that this was no ordinary caller, because Mr. Mac was no ordinary caller himself. He recognized immediately the talent standing in front of him.

Soon others visited his shop, C.M. “Son” Jordan, one mean duck hunter and duck caller himself, dropped by. Before long, he joined the private duck calling sessions, as each prepared for calling contests. Cross got so good that he won back-to-back World Championship Duck Calling Contests in 1957 and 1958 at Stuttgart.

He had no name for his call, so he was about to name it “Mr. Mac.” That was until the day when his daughter told him his call sounded so good that he was going to tame those wild ducks he was calling. From that point on, “Tamer” was emblazoned across his label. Not all of his calls have labels because he occasionally sold a call to a friend before he had time to stick a label on it.

Eventually, he sold calls at Delta Sporting Goods in Greenwood. Over the years, his son said, he made a few thousand calls. In addition, Don made a few calls.

Mr. Mac did most of his hunting at Six Mile Bayou, McIntyre Scatters and Matthew's Brake. I feel fortunate to have one of his calls. I bought it from Mr. Mac when I visited with him in 1982.

One year later, he was dead. He was buried with the very first duck call he ever made — the one made from a stick.




Another article about these same men / areas.

[SWAG]

Is Mr. Son still turning any calls? I saw him at the boat ramp the season before last and talked with him for almost an hour. His mind is still sharp but he has got to be in his 80's at least. I blew one his call in the 1989 Heart Of Dixie Regional in Birmingham. I spent a lot of time with him in his workshop back 20+ years ago but have kind of lost contact with him. He is last of the old call makers left in Greenwood.

Bill, you mentioned Greg Hood. I may be mistaken but I think I was told that his calls were modeled after the old Southland calls that were made in Leland.
Also, there was another old call maker from Leflore County that lived north of Schalter. His name was Louie Walker. Although he never made the comp calling circuit that I'm aware of, he did make a might fine meat call. I've got one that he made out of deer antler.

My mother in law asked Mr. Son to make a call for my son about a year ago. He said he would but I have been too shy about asking him for it. I have only spoken to the man on a couple of occasions.

[Don Miller]

Back on the Scatters......Mark, do you think Tippo dumped into the Yalobusha back in the day? Maps look like it wants to, but Tippo is a much deeper canal than the Yalobusha. There are a many of zigs and zags of oxbows and sloughs throughout all the acres below HWY 8 that it is hard to really tell what went where. I would guess it changed frequently, thus making it the duck hotspot that it was? Although Dad (and yours too) hunted much greentree areas up this way, I do not remember any hunting stories detailing anyone hunting flooded timber around the Scatters?

According to the 1940 Corps of Engineers topo map it did. It is very pronounced. The channel ran from 6 mile through the Scatters. Past by the doughnut hole(the channel is still there with high backs) and Sorghum Mill Lake and dumped into the Yalabusha.
Now Tippo flows into 6 mile and then into McIntyre and out Money Bayou to both the Tallahatchie River and the Yalabusha. Sometime is the 60's and early 70's it rerouted itself and flows the way it does now.
As for Greentimber hunting back then. The only places close to the Scatters were the low lieing lands adjacent to the Yalabusha that would flood when the river got out. Mostly what is now Malmaison Greentree and north of there Oxberry and Double Cypress Hunting Clubs. As you move north toward the hills, Bear Lake and the Wrong Prong area were some pretty good places for greentimber hunting when the delta would flood.

[msdeltadawg]

Don, my Dad bought me a Son Jordan call last year for Christmas, he is till making them and they are amazing. My Dad has a call that he got from Avery Wood back when they were running buddies back in the 40's and 50's he always thought it was a MacPherson call. Well, he was hunting with my cousins son and one of his buddies a couple of years ago and the friend said it was a Son Jordan call. The guy was Son's grandson, and said he would know one of his calls anywhere, anyway Dad is still blowing that call to this day, and it still sounds great. To keep from being called a thread hijacker, dad used to hunt the scatters with Avery, and Johnny back in the days, said it was an amazing place.

[novacaine]

Is Mr. Son still turning any calls? I saw him at the boat ramp the season before last and talked with him for almost an hour. His mind is still sharp but he has got to be in his 80's at least. I blew one his call in the 1989 Heart Of Dixie Regional in Birmingham. I spent a lot of time with him in his workshop back 20+ years ago but have kind of lost contact with him. He is last of the old call makers left in Greenwood.

Bill, you mentioned Greg Hood. I may be mistaken but I think I was told that his calls were modeled after the old Southland calls that were made in Leland.
Also, there was another old call maker from Leflore County that lived north of Schalter. His name was Louie Walker. Although he never made the comp calling circuit that I'm aware of, he did make a might fine meat call. I've got one that he made out of deer antler.

Don, that was an article i pulled from Delta Farm Press.
I don't know what model Hoods calls come from but i do know that his dad was a machinest and jigged the patterns for the duck and turkey calls.
I thought Mr. Louie died a few years ago. I use to live down the road from him in Minter City but never knew he made calls.

Do you have a Speedy Tharpe call?

[Don Miller]

I've got a McPherson, Son Jordan and Louie Walker but no Speedy Tharpe. I'm sure there are a few floating around out there that could be bought. I think Speedy died about 8 or 10 years ago but was making calls right up until his death.
BTW, this post has turned into a good Leflore County Duck Hunting History Lesson. I've learned a few things I didn't even know. If you can get your hands on those articles please make copies for me.

[novacaine]

I've got a McPherson, Son Jordan and Louie Walker but no Speedy Tharpe. I'm sure there are a few floating around out there that could be bought. I think Speedy died about 8 or 10 years ago but was making calls right up until his death.
BTW, this post has turned into a good Leflore County Duck Hunting History Lesson. I've learned a few things I didn't even know. If you can get your hands on those articles please make copies for me.

10-4 If they are out there somewhere- we have enough people on the hunt now!!

[SWAG]

Back on the Scatters......Mark, do you think Tippo dumped into the Yalobusha back in the day? Maps look like it wants to, but Tippo is a much deeper canal than the Yalobusha. There are a many of zigs and zags of oxbows and sloughs throughout all the acres below HWY 8 that it is hard to really tell what went where. I would guess it changed frequently, thus making it the duck hotspot that it was? Although Dad (and yours too) hunted much greentree areas up this way, I do not remember any hunting stories detailing anyone hunting flooded timber around the Scatters?

According to the 1940 Corps of Engineers topo map it did. It is very pronounced. The channel ran from 6 mile through the Scatters. Past by the doughnut hole(the channel is still there with high backs) and Sorghum Mill Lake and dumped into the Yalabusha.
Now Tippo flows into 6 mile and then into McIntyre and out Money Bayou to both the Tallahatchie River and the Yalabusha. Sometime is the 60's and early 70's it rerouted itself and flows the way it does now.
As for Greentimber hunting back then. The only places close to the Scatters were the low lieing lands adjacent to the Yalabusha that would flood when the river got out. Mostly what is now Malmaison Greentree and north of there Oxberry and Double Cypress Hunting Clubs. As you move north toward the hills, Bear Lake and the Wrong Prong area were some pretty good places for greentimber hunting when the delta would flood.

*Still see good greentimber hunts in Bear Lake and other live timber spots around Tippo when it floods (although last year was much to the exception of that), but it does seem as if greentimber hunting has went downhill farther south in Oxberry, Double Cypress, and maybe even Malmaison? I truly believe there is a relationship to rice and green timber.

*I had noticed the water level by water marks and banks of McIntyre and Six Mile back about a year ago was really low. Did last fall/winter floods bring those back up to decent levels? Do they always dry up that low now days? Is the dredging on the river lowering the "summer pool" of these oxbows?

[teul2]

I've got a McPherson, Son Jordan and Louie Walker but no Speedy Tharpe. I'm sure there are a few floating around out there that could be bought. I think Speedy died about 8 or 10 years ago but was making calls right up until his death.
BTW, this post has turned into a good Leflore County Duck Hunting History Lesson. I've learned a few things I didn't even know. If you can get your hands on those articles please make copies for me.

10-4 If they are out there somewhere- we have enough people on the hunt now!!

Hail naw! post em!
I am so into this thread now I got to see the articles.

[LawDawg]

It's threads like these that keep me on this site.

I love some duck calling history.

[novacaine]

Getting closer by the minute!!!!!!!!
Just got off the phone with George Jeffords and he said he has read the articles and it was "Miracle of the Scatters" but i was written by old Dr.Sharpe from Greenwood in the late 50's early 60's(F&S/Outdoor life). There are other articles written by him and Peephole Hall and Bob Price about hunting and fishing at Money Hunting Club back in the day. One article was "Yalobusha Deer Drive" about Money Hunting Club. He told me that Joe Whicker had all the old articles and mags from that era and Joel Whicker may still have them. He also said W.F.Smith should have them.
I am going to run down some of the other leads he gave me.

Side note: Did you know Son Jordon still lives on Park Ave. in Gwood. I think i will stop by and pick me up a call if he still has a few.
Another call maker that i forgot about was Dominic Serio but i don't think any of his calls are still around.

[Don Miller]

Back on the Scatters......Mark, do you think Tippo dumped into the Yalobusha back in the day? Maps look like it wants to, but Tippo is a much deeper canal than the Yalobusha. There are a many of zigs and zags of oxbows and sloughs throughout all the acres below HWY 8 that it is hard to really tell what went where. I would guess it changed frequently, thus making it the duck hotspot that it was? Although Dad (and yours too) hunted much greentree areas up this way, I do not remember any hunting stories detailing anyone hunting flooded timber around the Scatters?

According to the 1940 Corps of Engineers topo map it did. It is very pronounced. The channel ran from 6 mile through the Scatters. Past by the doughnut hole(the channel is still there with high backs) and Sorghum Mill Lake and dumped into the Yalabusha.
Now Tippo flows into 6 mile and then into McIntyre and out Money Bayou to both the Tallahatchie River and the Yalabusha. Sometime is the 60's and early 70's it rerouted itself and flows the way it does now.
As for Greentimber hunting back then. The only places close to the Scatters were the low lieing lands adjacent to the Yalabusha that would flood when the river got out. Mostly what is now Malmaison Greentree and north of there Oxberry and Double Cypress Hunting Clubs. As you move north toward the hills, Bear Lake and the Wrong Prong area were some pretty good places for greentimber hunting when the delta would flood.

*Still see good greentimber hunts in Bear Lake and other live timber spots around Tippo when it floods (although last year was much to the exception of that), but it does seem as if greentimber hunting has went downhill farther south in Oxberry, Double Cypress, and maybe even Malmaison? I truly believe there is a relationship to rice and green timber.

*I had noticed the water level by water marks and banks of McIntyre and Six Mile back about a year ago was really low. Did last fall/winter floods bring those back up to decent levels? Do they always dry up that low now days? Is the dredging on the river lowering the "summer pool" of these oxbows?

I agree about there being a relationship between rice near by and good green timber hunting.
The Scatters all but completely dried up about 4 years ago for the first time that I can remember. The water level can go from a few inches to 12 feet deep some winters, including last winter. It all depends if Tippo, the Tallahatchie and the Yalabusha are backed up. As soon as the Yalabusha starts dropping, it doesn't take long for the Scatters, Six Mile and McIntyre to fall out.

[cupnglide]

Is Mr. Son still turning any calls? I saw him at the boat ramp the season before last and talked with him for almost an hour. His mind is still sharp but he has got to be in his 80's at least. I blew one his call in the 1989 Heart Of Dixie Regional in Birmingham. I spent a lot of time with him in his workshop back 20+ years ago but have kind of lost contact with him. He is last of the old call makers left in Greenwood.

Don't know if he is still turning calls, but he is still around. In the mid '70s, Mr. Son Jordan's house, his sister's house, his brother's house and his parents' house were all on the same street. His brother's wife was my sitter; I was 7 or so. I remember Mr. Jordan sitting on the front porch at his parents' house tuning up a call he'd made for a customer.

He made that piece of wood sound just like a duck, it was remarkable. I'd never heard anybody blow a call like that. My dad would take me squirrel or quail hunting, but I'd never been around duck hunting. Mr. Jordan made an impact on me.

Funny thing is, I never knew all this history about him and his calls until I read this thread. Thank you everyone for sharing these stories. And apologies for hijacking the original thread.