Episode 47: Interview with Trent McCall of the Truxton Turkey and Trout Event

Host 00:00:04

Hello and welcome to the WWIA podcast.

Host 00:00:08

We're honored to have you join us in our mission to bring honor, connection, and healing to America's combat wounded Purple Heart heroes.

Host 00:00:17

If this is your first time listening to this podcast, we welcome you.

Host 00:00:21

If you're a returning listener, thanks for coming back.

Host 00:00:24

Please be sure to tell others about our podcast and leave us a review if you're enjoying what you're hearing.

Host 00:00:31

We could not accomplish our mission of bringing honor, connection and healing to America's combat wounded Purple Heart heroes without having such an incredible group of patriotic supporters throughout North America.

Host 00:00:44

The generosity and selfless efforts these individuals, communities and businesses offer in support of WWIA and our heroes is simply remarkable.

Host 00:00:55

Our special guest today on the WWIA podcast is a shining example of one of the many supporters and friends that we're honored to have as part of our WWIA family.

Host 00:01:07

On this latest episode, WWIA founder and CEO John McDaniel proudly welcomes Mister Trent McCall.

Host 00:01:15

Trent is the co host of the Truxton Turkey and Trout event in Truxton, New York in collaboration with co hosts Ed and Lori Poole and guides Zeb Leach and Josh Stryker.

Host 00:01:26

Their event recently celebrated its third year of honoring and serving purple heart heroes in the historic Finger Lakes region.

Host 00:01:33

Trent is a husband to his beautiful wife, Jennifer, and a proud father to his beautiful daughter, Gabrielle.

Host 00:01:39

His vocation is a woodworker and manager at one source, millwork and hes also the owner of four Leaf custom calls, a hobby inside business that he started in 1995.

Host 00:01:49

Going on 30 years this coming spring.

Host 00:01:52

These beautiful turkey calls are designed, handcrafted and field tested by Trent himself and are all made from premium hardwoods.

Host 00:02:01

We're excited to share this wonderful episode with you.

Host 00:02:03

So without further ado, let's join John and Trent now.

John McDaniel 00:02:14

Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founder and CEO of the Wounded warriors in Action foundation.

John McDaniel 00:02:19

And this is our podcast, Honor Connect heal.

John McDaniel 00:02:22

So today I've got a very special guest.

John McDaniel 00:02:25

Everyone's a special guest or you wouldn't be here.

John McDaniel 00:02:28

That's the way I think about it.

John McDaniel 00:02:30

Anyway, this is a gentleman that I've met for the first time here today by video and voice.

John McDaniel 00:02:38

He's been helping the foundation out for three, four years now and hails from Truckston, New York.

John McDaniel 00:02:45

Welcome to the program.

Trent McCall 00:02:46

Trent McCall, thanks for having us aboard.

John McDaniel 00:02:50

Yep, absolutely.

Trent McCall 00:02:51

Nice to meet you.

John McDaniel 00:02:51

Nice to meet you too.

John McDaniel 00:02:52

You got a nice smile.

John McDaniel 00:02:53

And you know, I was telling you when the pre show, as we were chatting, I said, you know, I promised and a long time ago that I'd, you know, I'd be on every or I didn't promise, but I was on every single new event.

John McDaniel 00:03:05

And that happened for, you know, probably the first ten years or so.

John McDaniel 00:03:09

And then things started getting a little crazy and busy and whatnot, and we were growing and, and then I said five years, every five years, and I mean, give me a chance to, you know, to meet these great Americans helping our combat wounded.

John McDaniel 00:03:21

And that slipped to ten years.

John McDaniel 00:03:23

And so, anyway, I'm honored to have you on the program.

John McDaniel 00:03:27

You know, thanks for all you do.

John McDaniel 00:03:29

You know, you are up in, is it Truxton, New York?

John McDaniel 00:03:32

Am I saying that right?

Trent McCall 00:03:34

Yep.

Trent McCall 00:03:34

Yep.

Trent McCall 00:03:34

That's correct.

Trent McCall 00:03:35

We're about 40 minutes south of Syracuse.

Trent McCall 00:03:38

People know, seem to know about where that is.

Trent McCall 00:03:40

That's, that's the close thing.

Trent McCall 00:03:42

And we're a long ways from the city.

Trent McCall 00:03:44

That's what we.

Trent McCall 00:03:45

Anywhere I go.

Trent McCall 00:03:46

You're from New York?

Trent McCall 00:03:47

Yes, I'm from New York.

Trent McCall 00:03:48

The state, not the city.

John McDaniel 00:03:50

I was just in New York City, you know, briefly, and then Long island.

John McDaniel 00:03:54

And, you know, I, and I've been upstate.

John McDaniel 00:03:58

You know, that's the other thing is, this is funny.

John McDaniel 00:04:00

In my mind, upstate New York meant you were way, way up there.

John McDaniel 00:04:04

But I think what people mean is when they say, and you can correct me, but when they say upstate, they're just saying anything north of New York City.

John McDaniel 00:04:11

Is that true?

Trent McCall 00:04:13

Any where you start to have lawns there you go.

Trent McCall 00:04:17

Anywhere you got grass.

John McDaniel 00:04:18

When you have grass, you're upstate.

John McDaniel 00:04:20

I love it.

Trent McCall 00:04:21

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:04:21

It's a great definition.

Trent McCall 00:04:23

It's a, it's a great place to visit.

Trent McCall 00:04:25

It's a, it's a neat place.

Trent McCall 00:04:26

There's the best and the worst.

Trent McCall 00:04:28

Everything there.

Trent McCall 00:04:29

But, but there, there's a whole lot more state than just that.

John McDaniel 00:04:32

Oh, for sure.

John McDaniel 00:04:33

Now would you consider yourself where you are?

John McDaniel 00:04:40

Is that rural?

John McDaniel 00:04:41

Would you say that?

John McDaniel 00:04:42

Or is that not fair?

Trent McCall 00:04:43

Yeah.

Trent McCall 00:04:43

Yeah.

Trent McCall 00:04:43

We're rural.

Trent McCall 00:04:44

It's a farming community.

Trent McCall 00:04:48

It was built up of a lot of small farms that are now becoming gobbled up by large farms.

Trent McCall 00:04:55

So what was ten farms is not one.

John McDaniel 00:04:58

Yeah, thats happening a lot in this country.

John McDaniel 00:05:00

Its happening in Wisconsin, too.

John McDaniel 00:05:02

And if theyre not gobbling them up, what theyre doing is leasing the land and gobbling it up and using it for whatever purpose that might be for ag or usually agriculture.

John McDaniel 00:05:14

But yes, its happening a lot of places.

John McDaniel 00:05:17

The small farmers hurting.

Trent McCall 00:05:20

Yeah.

Trent McCall 00:05:21

I was raised on a farm across the valley that was, we milk 70 cows, and that's not even a hobby business now.

John McDaniel 00:05:29

No.

Trent McCall 00:05:29

And my parents raised four of us and sent us to college on that farm.

Trent McCall 00:05:35

And it's not possible now.

John McDaniel 00:05:37

No, no.

John McDaniel 00:05:38

The equipment costs alone, you know, I mean, just to have and maintain, you know, that kind of heavy equipment and, you know, and just the cost of everything.

John McDaniel 00:05:47

Right.

John McDaniel 00:05:48

And labor included.

John McDaniel 00:05:50

If you don't have a big family and you have to hire the help done.

John McDaniel 00:05:53

Forget about it.

John McDaniel 00:05:53

It's not happening, you know, unless you're on large, large, large scale.

Trent McCall 00:05:57

Right, right.

John McDaniel 00:05:59

But anyway.

John McDaniel 00:06:00

Well, okay, cool.

John McDaniel 00:06:01

So, you know, I looked at.

John McDaniel 00:06:02

I looked at where you live on a map.

John McDaniel 00:06:04

This morning, as I was getting ready for our chat, and what I was immediately drawn to was the topography.

John McDaniel 00:06:15

I looked at it on a relief map, and, you know, you've got all kinds of really cool, you know, streams, rivers, creeks, you know, that are all running generally the same direction, probably because of the glaciers and, you know, and then, you know, how far are you from the finger lakes?

Trent McCall 00:06:35

Um, 40 miles.

John McDaniel 00:06:36

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:06:37

So, you know, they're saying, yeah, so it's an interesting terrain.

John McDaniel 00:06:41

You know, of course, we'll talk about, you know, I mentioned Keith Tidball from, you know, Cornwall, Cornell University, who's our, the foundation's science advisor and a good friend of mine.

John McDaniel 00:06:51

Um, he's the guy that, you know, kind of got you going in this space for turkey, right?

Trent McCall 00:06:57

Yes, definitely.

Trent McCall 00:06:59

Uh, we were, uh, my daughter and I were at a show, um, selling calls, and he came to the booth and asked if we would do a custom call, do a few of them, actually, for a fundraiser for his FlX event, the bucks and ducks.

Trent McCall 00:07:15

And, you know, instantly, anything that's.

Trent McCall 00:07:18

Anything needs to do with the kids or military where we're on board, there's.

Trent McCall 00:07:23

You can't.

Trent McCall 00:07:23

You can't service everybody that comes by looking for something.

Trent McCall 00:07:26

But those are things that we're kind of partial to.

Trent McCall 00:07:29

And when Keith just told us what he was doing with, with his event out there and what it would raise money for, we were definitely on board.

Trent McCall 00:07:38

My daughter is interior designer.

Trent McCall 00:07:41

I'm pretty proud of the fact that she's a gone through four years of school and done that.

Trent McCall 00:07:44

And as Keith walked away through the show, he said, you know, take a few minutes and.

Trent McCall 00:07:49

And think about it, and I'll come back from.

Trent McCall 00:07:51

And.

Trent McCall 00:07:52

And my daughter looked at me and she said, isn't there a wood called Purple Heart?

Trent McCall 00:07:55

And I said, there sure is.

Trent McCall 00:07:57

And so we.

Trent McCall 00:07:59

We made ten Purple Heart calls that were one of tens and, and took them out to his event.

Trent McCall 00:08:07

And when I met the people out there that were at the event.

Trent McCall 00:08:12

It's the culmination of their event.

Trent McCall 00:08:14

They're kind of a banquet thing, and they have a fundraiser type thing at the end.

Trent McCall 00:08:18

And, yeah, that was our introduction to this.

Trent McCall 00:08:24

It was shortly after that a neighbor friend that we hunt with built a camp with basically cut the trees off of his land and wanted to build a camp by a pond.

Trent McCall 00:08:35

And I helped him design it, and he called me and he was done.

Trent McCall 00:08:38

And he said, you know, I want to do something back.

Trent McCall 00:08:40

You've got some connections in the, in the hunting and the fishing and that kind of thing.

Trent McCall 00:08:44

And Keith was the first thing I thought of.

Trent McCall 00:08:46

So we got ahold of Keith and, and he kind of put us with you and, and that's how the event started.

John McDaniel 00:08:54

Great stuff.

Trent McCall 00:08:55

It's just nothing we planned, but it, we fell into a dream, you know.

John McDaniel 00:09:01

I love the stories, man, on how, you know, people have found us.

John McDaniel 00:09:06

You know, most what most people don't, I guess, understand, and I don't know why they would, so don't don't feel bad.

John McDaniel 00:09:13

But, you know, I often like to remind myself and anybody who might be interested in what we're doing with our nation's wounded veterans with the Purple Heart community involves all volunteers.

John McDaniel 00:09:33

You know, everybody that's out there found every single for.

John McDaniel 00:09:37

We have 42 missions today in 2024 in 35 different states or something like that.

John McDaniel 00:09:43

But, you know, every single one of these opportunities has a volunteer at the center of it who found the organization by one way or another and stepped forward and said, I want, I want to, I want to, I'm in.

John McDaniel 00:09:57

I want to help.

John McDaniel 00:09:58

I want to get involved.

John McDaniel 00:09:59

You know, we don't go out there and look for people and go, hey, would you, huma, huma, huma, you know, hey, we got these guys.

John McDaniel 00:10:04

Yada, yada, yada.

John McDaniel 00:10:05

You know, that's never happened.

John McDaniel 00:10:07

I've never said that.

John McDaniel 00:10:08

Not one time have I ever said that.

John McDaniel 00:10:10

And so it was just remarkable to me.

John McDaniel 00:10:12

And I feel so blessed that so many people want to help our veterans, especially those that are struggling by way of recovering from the traumas of war and getting reconnected to their fellow veterans and, you know, in America, you know, and so it's really phenomenal.

John McDaniel 00:10:36

Thanks for what you're doing.

John McDaniel 00:10:38

I genuinely appreciate it and want to thank you publicly for providing this opportunity for our Purple Heart heroes out there.

John McDaniel 00:10:50

It's really great.

John McDaniel 00:10:51

Trent, I know you've got an amazing team.

John McDaniel 00:10:53

We already talked about Keith Tidball, but tell us about the rest of your, your team, I mean, at the center of the team is the coach, if you will.

John McDaniel 00:11:02

That's you, the leader, but you got a great team.

John McDaniel 00:11:05

You mentioned your daughter, but I'm sure there are other wonderful people out there that are helping, you know, make this happen.

John McDaniel 00:11:12

Tell, tell us about your team.

Trent McCall 00:11:14

We'll start with the core group because they, as you know, these teams are so big that somebody's going to get missed and forgotten.

Trent McCall 00:11:20

But the core, the core group is my good friends Ed and Lori Pool, who is, you know, they were the adjoining farm to ours growing up.

Trent McCall 00:11:30

We have a lot of, a lot of the kids in their family, and our family match up age wise and known them for a long time.

Trent McCall 00:11:37

They're the ones that have the chunk of land that has the camp on it.

Trent McCall 00:11:41

They also, Lori runs a diner, ice cream stand, and probably the world's best pie maker.

John McDaniel 00:11:49

What kind of pies does she make?

Trent McCall 00:11:51

You name it.

Trent McCall 00:11:52

You name it.

Trent McCall 00:11:54

She is a, she's, I can't even tell you how many thousands.

Trent McCall 00:11:57

So, so they have the camp sounds good that we hunt off and, and some of the land, and they, they do an awful lot to on that end of it as far as the, the housing and whatnot.

Trent McCall 00:12:09

And I, I kind of take care of the hunt end of it.

Trent McCall 00:12:14

And when we first started, it was just myself and theme.

Trent McCall 00:12:17

We started with one hero and one guide.

Trent McCall 00:12:21

And as we get into it and saw what we wanted to do, I instantly knew that we could house a few more, but we were going to need a few more guides.

Trent McCall 00:12:30

So a couple friends of mine that are fantastic hunters but just fantastic people as far as guides, and that's what you want.

Trent McCall 00:12:41

You're spending a lot of time with somebody out in the woods.

Trent McCall 00:12:44

Of course you want to go out with somebody that's going to give you the best opportunity on a bird, but, but somebody that's just a genuine good.

John McDaniel 00:12:50

Person, you're going to spend a lot of time in a turkey blind.

John McDaniel 00:12:53

You know, you better, like, I would say it's not important to like the guy, but it sure helps if you, if you're dealing with somebody who's a genuine nice person and doing this for the right, right reasons, which everybody on our team is.

John McDaniel 00:13:06

So.

John McDaniel 00:13:06

Yeah, go ahead, please.

Trent McCall 00:13:08

Zeb Leach and Josh Striker are two guys that come in and help us, help us guide.

Trent McCall 00:13:15

And they were kind of, you know, we kind of snuck them in and we didn't tell them a whole lot about what was going on.

Trent McCall 00:13:21

And, boy, they were hooked as soon as just like everybody else.

John McDaniel 00:13:26

You can't help it, man.

John McDaniel 00:13:27

You can't help it.

John McDaniel 00:13:28

You know, I mean, just sitting there listening to some of their stories or being close to these amazing Americans, you know?

John McDaniel 00:13:36

And of course, when you're hunting, you're hunting, but, you know, still with it.

John McDaniel 00:13:39

In a turkey blind, you can talk like this and have a great conversation, right?

John McDaniel 00:13:44

That's what happens a lot, right?

John McDaniel 00:13:46

You know, because you're going to spend, you know, a couple days with this person usually, and you're going to, you know, you're going to cut up and have fun and, you know, and then when, when that big old gobbler comes in after you've been calling him and your, your heart's in your throat, like, if your heart isn't in your throat, I don't care how long you've been doing it.

John McDaniel 00:14:05

When he gets all puffy and gets close within range and he's coming in on your decoys and responding to the call and he gets all puffed up and starts strutting, man.

John McDaniel 00:14:14

If your heart, like, isn't right in your throat and the adrenaline's just pumping through you, then, you know, this ain't for you.

John McDaniel 00:14:22

But I don't know of anybody, you know, who's into turkey hunting that, that it doesn't happen to not just one time, but like every time.

John McDaniel 00:14:30

It's such a cool every time, right?

Trent McCall 00:14:32

Yeah, it really, it's so interactive.

Trent McCall 00:14:35

You, you, you kind of control your own destiny a little bit more than sit and wait, you know?

John McDaniel 00:14:39

That's right.

Trent McCall 00:14:40

So, you know, it's, it's just a ball getting these guys out there.

Trent McCall 00:14:43

And some of the guys, guys that we've hunted with or have, you know, have haunted turkeys before, they haven't hunted them here.

Trent McCall 00:14:50

Some of the guys, it's brand new.

Trent McCall 00:14:51

And like you said, it's almost as much fun looking at the side profile and watching their eyes pop open and almost seeing their heartbeat as it is to watch the turkey come in.

Trent McCall 00:15:02

Well, and that's what these guys bring.

John McDaniel 00:15:04

To the table, too, so.

John McDaniel 00:15:06

Good.

John McDaniel 00:15:06

I mean, here's the thing.

John McDaniel 00:15:07

This is why I look at it, you know, and I was mentioning this the other day as I was chatting with somebody on another podcast.

John McDaniel 00:15:16

But imagine, you know, going off and serving your country in some, some cases.

John McDaniel 00:15:22

These guys, you know, are 1015, you know, almost 20 years now, removed, you know, from the forward edge of the battlefield and having been wounded, you know, and, you know, they're, they're usually much better adjusted at this stage.

John McDaniel 00:15:42

I say usually, but at the same time, you know, every, most, all of them, you know, hey, like, I go so far as to say 100% of them have PTSD.

John McDaniel 00:15:54

I don't know how you couldn't, you know, do what they did and see what they've seen and not have some effects, certainly.

John McDaniel 00:16:02

Oh, by the way, they were wounded, you know, they were blown up, sometimes many times, shot, sometimes many times burned, sometimes many times.

John McDaniel 00:16:13

And walk away from that and go, yeah, I'm all right.

John McDaniel 00:16:16

Okay, so there's a process involved there.

John McDaniel 00:16:19

But my point is this.

John McDaniel 00:16:22

Imagine going off to a foreign country somewhere and doing that, having that experience, and then getting essentially kicked out of the military because, hey, your wounds preclude you from doing the job that you signed up to do.

John McDaniel 00:16:35

And so you get discharged, and now you're back on the block, and now what, Chuck?

John McDaniel 00:16:39

You know, the thing that you wanted your whole life is now gone.

John McDaniel 00:16:43

Your life is inexorably changed, and you finally get around to like, hey, you know, I think I'd like to learn more about this organization.

John McDaniel 00:16:54

The next thing you know, you know, they're on a WWIA event, and they're in some place they've never been before, would never have the opportunity to go.

John McDaniel 00:17:03

In this case, let's just pick, you know, your beautiful country, upstate New York and Truxton, New York.

John McDaniel 00:17:08

You know, they meet you, your family and your team, and they're sitting in a turkey blind for the first time of their life.

John McDaniel 00:17:13

They've seen this stuff on tv, maybe, but they've never actually done it.

John McDaniel 00:17:17

And then here comes this monster gobbler from across the field in on these decoys.

John McDaniel 00:17:21

And the reality of what is setting in is just, you know, all of a sudden gripping you to the point where, you know, you are in that moment and you're going to get that opportunity and you take it, and you're successful or you're not for whatever reason, but what you're doing is you're creating wonderful memories, and you're saying to them in a way that only supports men, can say, welcome home.

John McDaniel 00:17:48

We appreciate what you did.

John McDaniel 00:17:49

We value what you did for this country.

John McDaniel 00:17:52

You're in a safe place, and I'm going to put you on.

John McDaniel 00:17:55

I'm going to give you the best I have today and tomorrow and the next day while you're here.

John McDaniel 00:18:00

You know that right there, those expressions are, in fact, the most powerful expressions that I think we as american citizens can offer to these great Americans.

John McDaniel 00:18:16

That's my true feeling.

John McDaniel 00:18:18

I know it.

John McDaniel 00:18:19

I see it.

John McDaniel 00:18:20

I do the work.

John McDaniel 00:18:20

Have been doing it for 18 years.

John McDaniel 00:18:23

And you and I share a lot in common, even though we just met.

John McDaniel 00:18:26

And I think that's phenomenal.

John McDaniel 00:18:28

That's what I think.

Trent McCall 00:18:31

I appreciate what you're saying so much that for having the opportunity to do that, what we do in four days is the most minute part of a thank you that we, that these guys deserve, but we're going to give it 1000% for those four days.

John McDaniel 00:18:49

You're going to serve.

John McDaniel 00:18:50

You're serving, man.

John McDaniel 00:18:52

You're serving.

John McDaniel 00:18:53

That's what you're doing.

John McDaniel 00:18:54

That's what I do, too.

John McDaniel 00:18:55

Honest to God, when I go up to my camp, that's what I'm.

John McDaniel 00:18:57

I'm a server, I am a servant, you know, and I put all my, you know, stuff, whatever it is, away, you know?

John McDaniel 00:19:06

You know, and I focus on that mission of providing the best opportunity that I and that and my team can, can produce for these heroes.

John McDaniel 00:19:15

That's it.

Trent McCall 00:19:16

What we always tell them, we're, as soon as they get here, kind of.

Trent McCall 00:19:20

Kind of break the news to them that we're always going to be successful out there.

Trent McCall 00:19:26

Yeah, sometimes we're going to harvest, sometimes we'll harvest.

Trent McCall 00:19:30

We're always going to be successful.

Trent McCall 00:19:32

And we're giving it a, giving these guys, hopefully a life, a lifelong hobby, something.

Trent McCall 00:19:40

We'll teach them how to do these things.

Trent McCall 00:19:42

And if we don't happen to harvest bird here, maybe they go home and get one in their community or at least have an idea what they're doing when they get out in the woods to have some more, you know, the lifelong part of it.

Trent McCall 00:19:55

What we do in those four days is unbelievable.

Trent McCall 00:19:59

The friendships that we form are amazing in that short amount of time.

Trent McCall 00:20:04

But hopefully it's a longevity, too, of what we're giving them for hobby aspect in the future as well.

John McDaniel 00:20:12

It's like the old saying, give a guy a fish, or in this case, give a guy a turkey, eats for a day, teach the guy how to turkey hunt, and he might eat for a lifetime, you know, metaphorically speaking, you know, I mean, it's really true.

John McDaniel 00:20:27

And not only do you guys do the turkey, you know, you guys are fly fishing, at least you used to.

John McDaniel 00:20:32

I assume that's still part of the program.

John McDaniel 00:20:34

You got a lot of fishy waters around you, don't you?

Trent McCall 00:20:37

We do.

Trent McCall 00:20:38

We do.

Trent McCall 00:20:38

And again, back to Keith Tidball.

Trent McCall 00:20:41

Yeah, doctor Keith Tidball.

Trent McCall 00:20:45

We like to call him Uncle Keith UK because he's kind of.

John McDaniel 00:20:50

His new call said UK.

Trent McCall 00:20:52

Yeah, he at this, I think I've heard you say before, the hundred pound head.

John McDaniel 00:20:57

Oh, yeah, that's true.

John McDaniel 00:20:58

He's got a hundred pound head.

John McDaniel 00:21:00

He's a smart guy, man.

Trent McCall 00:21:01

He is.

Trent McCall 00:21:02

He's done an awful lot for us to get.

Trent McCall 00:21:04

To get into this.

Trent McCall 00:21:05

And one of the things he helped us with is, at the camp, there's a pond that he helped us get stocked with trout.

John McDaniel 00:21:11

Cool.

Trent McCall 00:21:12

So we come back, we can only, in New York, you can only hunt turkeys till noon, so we've got noons open.

Trent McCall 00:21:19

Yep.

Trent McCall 00:21:21

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:21:22

I don't think I've ever.

John McDaniel 00:21:23

I don't, now that you say it.

John McDaniel 00:21:26

I've hunted a lot in upstate New York, deer and upland bird, and I fished a lot.

John McDaniel 00:21:33

You know, the asabel I fished the years ago, but I've never hunted turkey, so I didn't know that.

John McDaniel 00:21:41

Not there anymore.

Trent McCall 00:21:41

Yeah, we.

Trent McCall 00:21:43

We can hunt from, uh, it's half an hour before sunrise till noon, and that gives us the afternoons to do a lot of other stuff.

Trent McCall 00:21:50

So, um.

John McDaniel 00:21:51

Cool.

Trent McCall 00:21:51

We brought keith in, who's a very accomplished fly fisherman.

John McDaniel 00:21:55

Yeah.

Trent McCall 00:21:55

Um, and we got with Cortland line, which is a world famous.

John McDaniel 00:21:59

I know Cortlandt.

John McDaniel 00:22:00

I.

John McDaniel 00:22:00

Cortland.

John McDaniel 00:22:01

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:22:02

Fly lines.

Trent McCall 00:22:03

So they.

Trent McCall 00:22:04

They've been nice enough to join with us, and, uh, we get the guys all set up with a full.

Trent McCall 00:22:09

Full set of gear with fishing poles, flies, and all that.

Trent McCall 00:22:12

Keith was nice enough to come in to teach him how to fly fish, and it's the first year we've done it, and within an hour of his instruction, they had all had a trout in their hand.

Trent McCall 00:22:25

And then we do all weekend.

John McDaniel 00:22:27

How cool is that?

Trent McCall 00:22:29

Yeah, it's a real neat, real neat situation where we've got it.

Trent McCall 00:22:33

It's just everything is lined up perfectly for a good weekend, for outdoors.

Trent McCall 00:22:39

And we don't have to go anywhere.

Trent McCall 00:22:41

We sit at the.

Trent McCall 00:22:41

We sit on the deck of the camp and fly fish.

John McDaniel 00:22:43

I love that.

John McDaniel 00:22:44

And I got to ask you this, man, as a host, because you mean about 42 others out there in the country share the same.

John McDaniel 00:22:53

I don't know, I think maybe same feeling, but certainly the same space as a host, right?

John McDaniel 00:22:58

That's what we call them.

John McDaniel 00:22:59

The guy or gal that's putting on the event.

John McDaniel 00:23:02

The host.

John McDaniel 00:23:03

The event host.

John McDaniel 00:23:06

And like I said, I still do it.

John McDaniel 00:23:08

So I'm the original host, I suppose.

John McDaniel 00:23:11

But the one thing that always happens to me, and I'm just curious, I'll share my story, and I'd like to hear yours, like, after an event.

John McDaniel 00:23:20

Okay, so this is what I liken it too.

John McDaniel 00:23:22

Right?

John McDaniel 00:23:23

There's all this energy that nobody gets to see.

John McDaniel 00:23:25

That happens before the event.

John McDaniel 00:23:27

It's the windup, like the.

John McDaniel 00:23:28

The baseball pitchers wind up, right?

John McDaniel 00:23:31

You know, he goes to the mound, he grabs the bag, he gets some resin on his hand, he catches the ball, you know, he gets on the rubber, he looks into, you know, all this stuff going on before that pitch, right?

John McDaniel 00:23:43

So it's the same thing with the foundation.

John McDaniel 00:23:45

You know, all this planning and preparation that's happening around this event back here at the headquarters, certainly in the field.

John McDaniel 00:23:51

So you got all this wind up going on, and then the heroes show up, and they're there for three or four days, and that's the pitch, right?

John McDaniel 00:23:58

Boom, it happens like that, and then it's over.

John McDaniel 00:24:01

And then there's the.

John McDaniel 00:24:02

The follow through.

John McDaniel 00:24:03

What happens after that?

John McDaniel 00:24:04

That catcher either catches the ball or the hitter hits the pitch.

John McDaniel 00:24:08

There's all kinds of stuff that happens after that, too.

John McDaniel 00:24:10

So it's the wind up, the pitch and the follow through.

John McDaniel 00:24:13

And so the headquarters is involved in all of that, and you, as a host, are involved in all of that.

John McDaniel 00:24:19

But my question to you is, you know, what happens?

John McDaniel 00:24:23

The feelings that you have after they leave, they're drawing out of the driveway, or you've dropped them off at the airport, and they're going back to wherever they came from.

John McDaniel 00:24:33

The combat wounded heroes on the event and the guide are going back to wherever they came from.

John McDaniel 00:24:38

You get back to your house, you get back to your cabin, and then what?

John McDaniel 00:24:43

Like, what's that?

John McDaniel 00:24:44

I don't know if you share the same feelings as I do afterwards, but I always call it the post event coma.

Trent McCall 00:24:50

It's the.

Trent McCall 00:24:51

It's funny that you asked that, because I don't share it with a whole lot of people.

Trent McCall 00:24:55

I probably should share it with more.

John McDaniel 00:24:56

Yeah.

Trent McCall 00:24:58

You talk about the wind up and you talk about the nerves and all that, trying to show these guys a great time and trying to get turkeys in front of them and trying to do all this stuff.

Trent McCall 00:25:07

And then you meet them and you have that wonderful weekend and all those wonderful experiences, and then I take them back to the airport.

Trent McCall 00:25:15

Uh, anybody that's flying, uh, you know, we.

Trent McCall 00:25:18

We say our goodbyes at the camp to those that drive, and then.

Trent McCall 00:25:21

And then I get everybody back to the airport.

Trent McCall 00:25:25

And as that.

Trent McCall 00:25:27

As that plane leaves the Syracuse area, uh, that's when it.

Trent McCall 00:25:31

It pours.

Trent McCall 00:25:32

Yeah, I.

Trent McCall 00:25:33

I don't drive for half an hour.

Trent McCall 00:25:35

Yeah, it's.

Trent McCall 00:25:38

It just comes out.

John McDaniel 00:25:40

Yeah.

Trent McCall 00:25:40

It.

Trent McCall 00:25:40

It.

Trent McCall 00:25:41

I sit there and cry for half an hour.

John McDaniel 00:25:43

God bless you, man.

John McDaniel 00:25:44

I mean, I know, I know.

John McDaniel 00:25:46

And you can't.

John McDaniel 00:25:47

You can't put your finger on that.

John McDaniel 00:25:49

There's no way in the world.

John McDaniel 00:25:51

You just can't.

John McDaniel 00:25:52

And you can't explain it, and you don't have to.

John McDaniel 00:25:54

That's the thing.

John McDaniel 00:25:55

And you know why?

John McDaniel 00:25:56

Because you don't understand it.

John McDaniel 00:25:57

And neither do I.

John McDaniel 00:25:58

It's like I said to my sister, I'll say this because I don't.

John McDaniel 00:26:01

I'm not afraid of anything, you know, that I'm aware of.

John McDaniel 00:26:04

But, you know, I was asking my sister because she was, you know, one of my very, you know, we're really close and the person, you know, one of the people that I trust a great deal.

John McDaniel 00:26:15

And I said, you know, I just don't understand.

John McDaniel 00:26:17

You know, I go to church, you know, and I said, I weep at church.

John McDaniel 00:26:21

I said, I don't understand that.

John McDaniel 00:26:23

I didn't.

John McDaniel 00:26:23

When I was a kid, I didn't, you know, but now I'm like, I don't know.

John McDaniel 00:26:26

I don't understand that.

John McDaniel 00:26:27

Shoot.

John McDaniel 00:26:27

You know, I don't know why that is.

John McDaniel 00:26:29

You know, what's wrong with me?

John McDaniel 00:26:30

She's like, there's nothing wrong with you.

John McDaniel 00:26:32

You know, it's just that you're probably experiencing feelings that you don't understand.

John McDaniel 00:26:36

And I was like, that's exactly right.

John McDaniel 00:26:39

Right.

John McDaniel 00:26:39

And it's this.

John McDaniel 00:26:40

It's the same.

John McDaniel 00:26:41

It's the same thing, you know, and it's powerful.

John McDaniel 00:26:44

And so that just tells you you're doing it right, man.

John McDaniel 00:26:47

That's why I feel about it.

John McDaniel 00:26:48

You're doing it right.

John McDaniel 00:26:49

If you don't have that, like, that's it.

John McDaniel 00:26:51

That's.

John McDaniel 00:26:52

That's what.

John McDaniel 00:26:52

Right.

Trent McCall 00:26:52

Looks like I sit there in my truck after, you know, dropping off the manliest of men I've ever been around, and here I am.

Trent McCall 00:27:00

A puddle.

John McDaniel 00:27:00

Exactly.

Trent McCall 00:27:01

And I'm thinking I'm either doing something really good or something real wrong.

Trent McCall 00:27:05

Can't be wrong.

John McDaniel 00:27:06

No, it's not.

John McDaniel 00:27:07

No.

John McDaniel 00:27:07

Hey, brother, I appreciate that.

John McDaniel 00:27:09

I appreciate you sharing that with me.

John McDaniel 00:27:10

That's super cool.

John McDaniel 00:27:12

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:27:13

Wow.

John McDaniel 00:27:13

Okay, so that's enough blowing snot bubbles for the day.

John McDaniel 00:27:20

Let's.

John McDaniel 00:27:21

Let's switch gears a little bit.

John McDaniel 00:27:22

I want to talk about.

John McDaniel 00:27:24

I want to talk about your calls.

John McDaniel 00:27:26

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:27:26

You have a business.

John McDaniel 00:27:29

And.

John McDaniel 00:27:29

Oh, by the way, so I don't forget, I want to order if I can.

John McDaniel 00:27:33

I know you said you want to put them in my hand, and I would love you for you to be able to do that, but I want to order some from the foundation and we can talk those details.

John McDaniel 00:27:41

But, you know, here's what I'll hear.

John McDaniel 00:27:43

And I'm not asking for a gimme.

John McDaniel 00:27:44

I score.

John McDaniel 00:27:45

We're doing a business deal right here on the air.

John McDaniel 00:27:47

So that.

John McDaniel 00:27:48

Be prepared, man.

John McDaniel 00:27:49

And I'm not taking them.

John McDaniel 00:27:50

I'm going to give them to you as an answer that I.

John McDaniel 00:27:52

That I will not accept.

John McDaniel 00:27:54

But here, here's the thing.

John McDaniel 00:27:56

Seriously, man.

John McDaniel 00:27:57

I've looked at your calls on, on your web, on your Facebook page.

John McDaniel 00:28:00

And they're beautiful.

John McDaniel 00:28:01

And I'm a box call guy.

John McDaniel 00:28:03

If it was a slate, I would say I'd still have this conversation with you.

John McDaniel 00:28:08

Because I love slate calls as well.

John McDaniel 00:28:11

But I am a box guy and I am died.

John McDaniel 00:28:15

You know, I love box calls for turkeys.

John McDaniel 00:28:18

That's what I use.

John McDaniel 00:28:19

If you say you can only bring one thing, I go, guess what?

John McDaniel 00:28:22

I'm only bringing one thing.

John McDaniel 00:28:23

Anyway.

John McDaniel 00:28:24

I'm just a box call guy.

John McDaniel 00:28:25

And I know there's dudes that are suit.

John McDaniel 00:28:26

Way more talented than me.

John McDaniel 00:28:27

They got the box call, they got the read, they got the slate.

John McDaniel 00:28:30

And I use this for that.

John McDaniel 00:28:31

And humma, humma, not me, man.

John McDaniel 00:28:33

I use that.

John McDaniel 00:28:34

Right, what you have in your hand right there.

John McDaniel 00:28:37

Only thing I carry out there in the woods.

John McDaniel 00:28:39

And I wouldn't call myself a very accomplished turkey hunter.

John McDaniel 00:28:44

I've been successful.

John McDaniel 00:28:46

I love it.

John McDaniel 00:28:46

That's all that really matters.

John McDaniel 00:28:48

But that's what I bring.

John McDaniel 00:28:49

So what I wanted to ask you was, well, first off, I want to order like ten of them.

John McDaniel 00:28:54

And if you can only do five, because it's too much, then I'll take five.

John McDaniel 00:28:58

And on no timeline, but I would love.

John McDaniel 00:28:59

I have our logo on it.

John McDaniel 00:29:01

And whatever else you got, you got.

John McDaniel 00:29:03

You know, I've seen the logo, the four leaf custom.

John McDaniel 00:29:06

That's beautiful.

John McDaniel 00:29:07

Maybe somewhere slap our logo on there and honor, connect, heal.

John McDaniel 00:29:10

Because what I'll do with them is I'll make sure they go for charitable purposes.

John McDaniel 00:29:16

But I want to purchase them from you.

John McDaniel 00:29:19

But then we'll use them to.

John McDaniel 00:29:20

As gifts and as ways of raising additional resource at, say, some of these events that we do, fundraising activities.

John McDaniel 00:29:32

So let's talk those details offline when we get done.

John McDaniel 00:29:36

But I want to tell you that that's what I would like to do.

John McDaniel 00:29:40

With your permission.

John McDaniel 00:29:41

But tell us about, you know, the box call.

John McDaniel 00:29:44

I mean, I know you mentioned you were using, you know, purple heart wood, you know, as part of the call in the past.

John McDaniel 00:29:52

And I'm not asking you to do that.

John McDaniel 00:29:54

I know that's expensive.

John McDaniel 00:29:55

And it's, you know, maybe not the greatest word would, to work with.

John McDaniel 00:29:58

I don't know, but maybe you don't choose.

John McDaniel 00:30:01

What's that?

Trent McCall 00:30:02

I said, maybe you don't get to choose.

John McDaniel 00:30:04

Maybe I don't get, see, I love that I don't get to choose.

John McDaniel 00:30:07

Even better, I don't get to choose.

John McDaniel 00:30:09

John, shut up.

Trent McCall 00:30:10

Maybe it already is.

Trent McCall 00:30:10

Is Purple Heart.

John McDaniel 00:30:11

Maybe it already is.

John McDaniel 00:30:14

Hoping it would go anyway.

John McDaniel 00:30:16

So tell us about that.

John McDaniel 00:30:17

I mean, what, why the box call?

John McDaniel 00:30:19

How long you been doing it?

John McDaniel 00:30:20

How did you get into it?

John McDaniel 00:30:21

And, you know, tell us about that.

John McDaniel 00:30:23

I'd love to hear about that.

Trent McCall 00:30:25

So, like I was saying, before I grew up on a farm, my father was not a deer hunter.

Trent McCall 00:30:31

And, you know, boat with a bow, with a gun, right on up through.

Trent McCall 00:30:36

And I, as we got older, when the farms started going into bigger conglomerates, my parents sold their farm, kept a lot of the wooded lot.

Trent McCall 00:30:47

We have a couple hundred acres here that we can hunt.

Trent McCall 00:30:49

And my brother moved to Florida.

Trent McCall 00:30:51

He's just down the road from you.

Trent McCall 00:30:53

He's down in Naples, south of you.

Trent McCall 00:30:56

And when he moved down there, he would come back for walleye season, which coincides with turkey season.

Trent McCall 00:31:04

I'm a woodworker now by trade.

Trent McCall 00:31:05

I do high end woodworking.

John McDaniel 00:31:07

You do?

Trent McCall 00:31:07

And I said, yeah, that's, that's what I do for a living is, uh, it's fancier.

Trent McCall 00:31:12

Moldings, trims, cabinets, that kind of thing.

Trent McCall 00:31:15

Carving.

John McDaniel 00:31:16

Wow.

Trent McCall 00:31:16

And that, and the, and the fact that I like to hunt, I decided that it was turkey season when he came back.

Trent McCall 00:31:23

I said, if I build a call, will you, will you go with me while you're here?

Trent McCall 00:31:27

And, and he said, sure.

Trent McCall 00:31:29

And so we went out, and first thing, we set up in the morning and called a bunch of woodpeckers and robins and decided maybe we weren't doing it right.

Trent McCall 00:31:38

So we stood up and made a move, and we actually called in a coyote first thing in the morning, which I thought, again, I'm terrible at this, but we, we were providing a meal for that coyote, I guess.

John McDaniel 00:31:50

Right?

Trent McCall 00:31:51

As I, as I learned later, and then half an hour later, I killed one of the best birds I've ever shot in my life, and I was absolutely addicted to it with a piece of wood that I made, and I've got it here.

Trent McCall 00:32:05

I kind of showed you.

John McDaniel 00:32:05

Is that the one you used?

John McDaniel 00:32:07

Is that your first one?

Trent McCall 00:32:09

This call will be going out for its 30th season this spring, and it's, every bird I've ever harvested has heard this.

John McDaniel 00:32:16

What's that picture on the side there looks like Debbie?

Trent McCall 00:32:21

Yeah, I got it.

John McDaniel 00:32:22

Right?

John McDaniel 00:32:22

Debbie.

Trent McCall 00:32:24

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:32:24

Oh, my gosh.

John McDaniel 00:32:24

Why is that on there?

John McDaniel 00:32:26

That's what you call it?

John McDaniel 00:32:27

That's the name of the box.

Trent McCall 00:32:28

It's big Debbie.

John McDaniel 00:32:29

Yeah.

Trent McCall 00:32:29

Dude, we always take little.

Trent McCall 00:32:31

Little Debbie snacks with us in the woods.

Trent McCall 00:32:33

So she's.

Trent McCall 00:32:34

She's big Debbie.

Trent McCall 00:32:35

So I got it lasered on there.

John McDaniel 00:32:37

That is awesome, man.

John McDaniel 00:32:39

That's so cool.

Trent McCall 00:32:41

That's how it started.

Trent McCall 00:32:42

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:32:42

But so what did you do?

John McDaniel 00:32:44

Just look at.

John McDaniel 00:32:45

Did you just look at another example of one of these things and then just crank one out and experiment with it until you get.

John McDaniel 00:32:51

I mean, it's not like rocket science, I don't reckon, but it's.

Trent McCall 00:32:54

It's.

John McDaniel 00:32:54

It's beautiful.

John McDaniel 00:32:55

And I don't know how they work.

John McDaniel 00:32:56

Right.

John McDaniel 00:32:57

I mean, it's just the.

John McDaniel 00:32:58

And what.

John McDaniel 00:32:59

What is that?

John McDaniel 00:33:00

What is that?

John McDaniel 00:33:00

Chalk?

John McDaniel 00:33:01

What do you do?

John McDaniel 00:33:02

Do you have your own chalk or do you use a chalk?

John McDaniel 00:33:04

What, I mean, what do you.

John McDaniel 00:33:05

What is that?

Trent McCall 00:33:07

It's a chalk designed for calls.

Trent McCall 00:33:09

Um, a lot of people pick up different kinds.

Trent McCall 00:33:12

But what it is, it makes the call more crisp.

John McDaniel 00:33:16

Okay.

Trent McCall 00:33:17

Where the friction plated.

Trent McCall 00:33:18

Where the friction between two pieces of wood comes together to make the noise, it makes it more crisp.

Trent McCall 00:33:23

Once you get a call that beat in and works really well, you don't need it anymore.

Trent McCall 00:33:27

A lot of people won't.

Trent McCall 00:33:29

But this call hasn't had chalk on it in ten years.

John McDaniel 00:33:32

You're kidding.

Trent McCall 00:33:33

Just, you use.

John McDaniel 00:33:33

It doesn't have.

John McDaniel 00:33:35

It doesn't have chalk on it and it works.

Trent McCall 00:33:39

There, there was.

Trent McCall 00:33:40

Yeah, it's.

Trent McCall 00:33:41

There's no chalk on that.

John McDaniel 00:33:42

Hit it again.

John McDaniel 00:33:43

I missed that.

John McDaniel 00:33:44

Can you hit it?

Trent McCall 00:33:45

I don't hear it with them.

John McDaniel 00:33:49

Yeah, it's not picking up on the mic.

John McDaniel 00:33:51

That's okay.

John McDaniel 00:33:51

No, you got.

John McDaniel 00:33:53

He's got this little head boom on that we sent everybody.

John McDaniel 00:33:56

It's not very sophisticated, so it's not picking it up.

John McDaniel 00:33:59

But that, that is so.

John McDaniel 00:34:00

You know, I'm glad you say that, because here I was all worried, like, oh, my God, I'm running on a chalk.

John McDaniel 00:34:06

You know, where am I going to get this chalk?

John McDaniel 00:34:07

You know?

John McDaniel 00:34:08

This thing won't work right, without chalk.

John McDaniel 00:34:10

But I've used it without chalk and it still works.

John McDaniel 00:34:12

So here, here I'm talking a caller who's, you know, a guy who makes calls, like, yeah, I ran out of chalk 29 years ago.

John McDaniel 00:34:19

It still works.

John McDaniel 00:34:21

I love it.

Trent McCall 00:34:22

They.

Trent McCall 00:34:23

In the beginning, they require quite a bit, but.

Trent McCall 00:34:26

But then so, so kind of to get back to that.

Trent McCall 00:34:30

We.

Trent McCall 00:34:30

I built that call, and so then I built one for my brother.

Trent McCall 00:34:35

We'd build them, you know, and just take friends out and stuff.

Trent McCall 00:34:38

And I really didn't.

Trent McCall 00:34:39

I knew kind of what they looked like, but I just started fiddling around with it and filing and bending and doing this stuff.

Trent McCall 00:34:46

And there's not a lot you could do different with it.

Trent McCall 00:34:50

It's a box with a lid that strikes, but it's a matter of, you know, how you file it, how you change it, how you move it.

Trent McCall 00:34:58

And I got better at it, and more people said, you know, you really ought to think about selling those things.

Trent McCall 00:35:03

And I had.

Trent McCall 00:35:04

I just.

Trent McCall 00:35:05

It wasn't something I had planned to do or something I thought I was good enough at.

Trent McCall 00:35:09

I bought a.

Trent McCall 00:35:10

I bought a table at a rod and gun show for $25 for one day, little show, and I sold a call, and it was like, wow, maybe I can do this.

Trent McCall 00:35:21

I think it only cost me, like, $300 to sell that call for 20.

Trent McCall 00:35:24

But it was.

Trent McCall 00:35:26

It was the start.

John McDaniel 00:35:28

I know I do some oil painting, and mostly just for me, but I got brave once upon a time, and I put up a few of my paintings online, you know, on Facebook, you know, just to my friends, you know, say, hey, you know, check it out, man.

John McDaniel 00:35:50

And mostly just.

John McDaniel 00:35:52

I don't know why.

John McDaniel 00:35:53

It's like, I was afraid to do it, and that's why I did it.

John McDaniel 00:35:56

So you gotta face your fears, right?

John McDaniel 00:35:58

I was.

John McDaniel 00:35:58

I was, like, afraid, right?

John McDaniel 00:35:59

I was afraid to put my paintings on Facebook.

John McDaniel 00:36:02

I say afraid.

John McDaniel 00:36:03

That's not the right word.

John McDaniel 00:36:05

I was.

John McDaniel 00:36:05

I was.

John McDaniel 00:36:05

I was apprehensive about doing it because I.

John McDaniel 00:36:09

You know, who likes to be criticized, right?

John McDaniel 00:36:12

Nobody really likes that.

John McDaniel 00:36:13

Although, you know, I did study art a little bit, and, you know, in college before I switched gears to economics.

John McDaniel 00:36:20

And, you know, in the art world, that's part of the deal.

John McDaniel 00:36:25

You're getting criticized, right?

John McDaniel 00:36:26

So I got over that pretty quick.

John McDaniel 00:36:27

But anyway, I put it out there, and then people.

John McDaniel 00:36:30

A few people were like, hey, man, can you do one for me?

John McDaniel 00:36:33

And they were on the side.

John McDaniel 00:36:34

I started doing artwork for other people, for money, you know, and it wasn't a lot of money, like you say, you know, I bought a $300 table and I sold a call for $20.

John McDaniel 00:36:45

Like, you know, it's like, I'm not doing that.

John McDaniel 00:36:49

I'm not doing that again.

John McDaniel 00:36:50

But anyway, so I understand that.

John McDaniel 00:36:53

So how do they.

John McDaniel 00:36:54

How do they find you?

John McDaniel 00:36:55

Like, if somebody wants to.

John McDaniel 00:36:57

Wants one of your.

John McDaniel 00:36:58

Your calls, you don't have to.

John McDaniel 00:37:01

I mean, I don't know if you're still in the business of doing this, but if you don't want to tell us, to tell people how to find you.

John McDaniel 00:37:08

I already mentioned your name, so you might be out of luck there, buddy.

Trent McCall 00:37:13

No, I.

Trent McCall 00:37:14

About as fancy as it gets is I have a Facebook page that's four leaf custom calls, and I do meet people that way.

Trent McCall 00:37:24

And I've sent calls out different places.

Trent McCall 00:37:27

The majority of what I sell is at shows.

Trent McCall 00:37:30

I like the interaction.

Trent McCall 00:37:32

This has never been about a money thing.

Trent McCall 00:37:33

It's more about the people that I meet that get to use the calls.

Trent McCall 00:37:37

So, if you look at the Facebook page, you can get my number off there, and.

Trent McCall 00:37:42

And then we can meet and talk and kind of get you set up with.

Trent McCall 00:37:45

With what you need.

Trent McCall 00:37:47

But again, it's.

Trent McCall 00:37:48

It's for me, too.

Trent McCall 00:37:49

Yeah.

Trent McCall 00:37:50

It's me getting to meet somebody that.

Trent McCall 00:37:51

Like yourself.

Trent McCall 00:37:52

This.

Trent McCall 00:37:52

This.

Trent McCall 00:37:53

Basically, everything that, right up through the wounded warriors has happened by accident, by the fact that I make these calls.

Trent McCall 00:38:01

We, you and I wouldn't be talking right now had it not been for these.

Trent McCall 00:38:05

So it's just.

Trent McCall 00:38:07

That's the payout.

John McDaniel 00:38:08

That's cool, man.

John McDaniel 00:38:09

That's so true.

John McDaniel 00:38:10

Right?

John McDaniel 00:38:10

It's like, you never would have thought that, you know, you deciding to make turkey calls would lead you to where you are, like the.

John McDaniel 00:38:18

The branches, the sequels, the.

John McDaniel 00:38:20

You know.

John McDaniel 00:38:21

But that's.

John McDaniel 00:38:21

That's it.

John McDaniel 00:38:22

It's the call.

John McDaniel 00:38:23

And that makes that so much more valuable to me, anyway, and to the foundation.

John McDaniel 00:38:28

The fact that, hey, you're a woodworker.

John McDaniel 00:38:30

You decided to make calls.

John McDaniel 00:38:32

Keith did.

John McDaniel 00:38:32

Balfange did some for his FlX event.

John McDaniel 00:38:36

The next thing you know, you're a host, and you and I are talking on.

John McDaniel 00:38:39

On, you know, a podcast, right?

John McDaniel 00:38:41

And eventually, we'll meet.

Trent McCall 00:38:43

I mean, what an amazing trip it's been, right?

John McDaniel 00:38:46

Right.

Trent McCall 00:38:47

It's crazy.

John McDaniel 00:38:47

It is crazy.

John McDaniel 00:38:48

And I think, you know, I mean, I like to say, you know, well, there's a reason for all of it, right?

John McDaniel 00:38:54

I mean, there just is, you know, and, you know, it's.

John McDaniel 00:39:00

You know, we got a good idea.

John McDaniel 00:39:02

We got a good thing going here.

John McDaniel 00:39:03

And, you know, it's hard.

John McDaniel 00:39:06

As I said the other day, you know, it's hard to defeat a good idea.

John McDaniel 00:39:10

And.

John McDaniel 00:39:11

And so, you know, I appreciate all that.

John McDaniel 00:39:13

You do.

John McDaniel 00:39:13

I.

John McDaniel 00:39:14

You know, I would like to hear a little bit more about your.

John McDaniel 00:39:19

Your woodworking outside of the calls.

John McDaniel 00:39:23

I'm just curious.

John McDaniel 00:39:24

I mean, that's.

John McDaniel 00:39:25

That's what you do.

John McDaniel 00:39:26

You're a woodworker.

John McDaniel 00:39:27

I mean, you mentioned moldings.

John McDaniel 00:39:29

I mean, tell me, please, I would love to hear.

John McDaniel 00:39:32

I'm fascinated by the trades, and I love woodworking.

John McDaniel 00:39:37

I'm horrible at it, and I'm not really, other than shop when I was in high school or something like that.

John McDaniel 00:39:43

But I do love woodworking.

John McDaniel 00:39:45

I've always admired it.

John McDaniel 00:39:47

But tell me about, what kind of work do you do?

Trent McCall 00:39:51

We work in.

Trent McCall 00:39:52

We work quite a bit in multi million dollar homes that I probably wouldn't have any business being in, other than the fact that I'm building them.

John McDaniel 00:40:01

You're building the home or doing the trim work or what are you doing?

Trent McCall 00:40:04

We don't build the house.

Trent McCall 00:40:06

We'll do the moldings, the trims.

Trent McCall 00:40:08

We do a lot of curved moldings, curved crowns, stuff that it kind of stuff that nobody else wants to do or knows how to do.

Trent McCall 00:40:18

I can show you pictures and stuff of different things.

John McDaniel 00:40:21

You have to soak the wood before you curve it.

John McDaniel 00:40:22

Is that what you do?

Trent McCall 00:40:25

We do a lot of laminate work where we cut thin layers, put it on forms, and re glue it back together to hold its shape and in vacuum bags and that sort of thing.

Trent McCall 00:40:36

And that's where the turkey call thing kind of shakes hands with the woodworking and the hunting part.

Trent McCall 00:40:47

I've been able to do some calls that are very unique, that I don't believe anybody else is doing via the stuff, the tools that we have.

Trent McCall 00:40:59

Most of the homes that we work on are not primary residents.

Trent McCall 00:41:03

They're the 7th or 8th house, and they're showpieces.

Trent McCall 00:41:08

They're over the top, that kind of thing.

Trent McCall 00:41:12

And it.

Trent McCall 00:41:13

That's.

Trent McCall 00:41:14

We.

Trent McCall 00:41:14

I built houses when I got out of college.

Trent McCall 00:41:16

That's what I went to school for with my father in law.

Trent McCall 00:41:20

And I noticed that when we got to the trim portion of it with the, you know, the stairs and the cabinets and stuff, that was the part that I liked the best.

Trent McCall 00:41:27

And I don't know if you've heard of Stickley furniture.

Trent McCall 00:41:32

It's a, it's a high end furniture company that's, that's near here that had some openings.

Trent McCall 00:41:38

And my father in law said, you know, I know you really like the detailed part of it.

Trent McCall 00:41:42

They've got some openings.

Trent McCall 00:41:43

Give it a try.

Trent McCall 00:41:43

If you don't like it, come on back.

Trent McCall 00:41:45

And, and so one thing led to another, and I built their prototypes for, like, 16 years of the prototype furniture pieces and got to build some stuff for some famous people, and I haven't got to meet them, but, but then I moved from that into a smaller shop where we do moldings and trims.

Trent McCall 00:42:04

It's called one source millworks.

Trent McCall 00:42:06

And they've, they've been, they've been awful good to me to allow me to do the calls.

Trent McCall 00:42:12

And they stand behind what I'm doing with the wounded warriors, too.

Trent McCall 00:42:17

They've made a very nice donation to that as well.

Trent McCall 00:42:20

So I'd like to mention them as a source and a help.

John McDaniel 00:42:23

That's cool.

John McDaniel 00:42:25

Well, that's really cool.

John McDaniel 00:42:26

So if one of the things I want to do in my, my personal, my personal home is just change out the moldings in the whole house, right.

John McDaniel 00:42:38

It's not a big house.

John McDaniel 00:42:40

You know, it's very modest, but just the doorways, like, as an example, you know, when you start to.

John McDaniel 00:42:48

I was just at a friend, a friend of mine's home in upstate New York on Long island, and a little rendezvous going on up there.

John McDaniel 00:42:56

And I was looking, I was admiring his trim work, and I'm like, oh, my gosh.

John McDaniel 00:43:01

Wow.

John McDaniel 00:43:01

Holy crap.

John McDaniel 00:43:02

You know what a difference it makes in an entryway just for every door.

John McDaniel 00:43:07

Like, every single door in the house has got a, has got molding around it that's just really neat.

John McDaniel 00:43:13

And if it's done right and it's really high quality versus the stuff.

John McDaniel 00:43:16

Nothing against Home Depot, okay.

John McDaniel 00:43:19

You know?

John McDaniel 00:43:20

All right.

John McDaniel 00:43:21

Nothing against.

John McDaniel 00:43:22

Because that's what builders use for the most part.

John McDaniel 00:43:24

Like, this is your house, and they want to sell it.

John McDaniel 00:43:26

In 1985, they built this, you know, 2000 square foot, you know, ranch style home.

John McDaniel 00:43:31

And this is what you got.

John McDaniel 00:43:33

And unless you want to change it, it's going to be there until somebody does.

John McDaniel 00:43:39

Right?

John McDaniel 00:43:40

And I'm like, thinking to myself, you know what?

John McDaniel 00:43:42

It would just be a cool little project.

John McDaniel 00:43:45

It's not that hard.

John McDaniel 00:43:46

Like, getting it up.

John McDaniel 00:43:47

It's not hard, right.

John McDaniel 00:43:49

The hard part is like, the, and the angles aren't even that hard, right.

John McDaniel 00:43:53

It's the, you know, so an average person could do it.

John McDaniel 00:43:57

Like, I could do that if I had it, I think I could do it, right?

John McDaniel 00:44:01

But I don't have it, and I don't know where to get it.

John McDaniel 00:44:04

And that, that's the thing is, like, I want to ask my buddy, like, I felt really like a jerk one day.

John McDaniel 00:44:08

I was like, I'm not even going to ask him.

John McDaniel 00:44:10

Like, hey, dude, do you remember who did your molding?

John McDaniel 00:44:12

I mean, I just want the words couldn't, I couldn't get the words out of my face.

John McDaniel 00:44:16

But anyway, so one source, Millworks.

John McDaniel 00:44:19

If I can, I go online and look at their molding and order it and have it show up in Florida.

Trent McCall 00:44:24

For sure.

John McDaniel 00:44:25

Really?

Trent McCall 00:44:25

For sure.

Trent McCall 00:44:26

We've.

John McDaniel 00:44:26

Yeah, I'm doing it.

John McDaniel 00:44:28

I'm doing it.

Trent McCall 00:44:29

I've done work in Naples.

Trent McCall 00:44:30

I've done work in Fort Myers.

Trent McCall 00:44:32

You.

John McDaniel 00:44:32

Really?

Trent McCall 00:44:33

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:44:34

Oh, my gosh.

John McDaniel 00:44:35

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:44:35

I'm going to check it out.

John McDaniel 00:44:36

That.

John McDaniel 00:44:36

And you work that at that place?

John McDaniel 00:44:38

One source, Millworks.

John McDaniel 00:44:40

That's where you work?

Trent McCall 00:44:41

Yep.

John McDaniel 00:44:41

All right.

Trent McCall 00:44:41

Yeah, we, it's a pretty neat company.

Trent McCall 00:44:44

They, we do moldings, trims.

Trent McCall 00:44:46

There's a commercial side and a residential side and, and then the, the custom portion of it that I actually manage that part of it.

John McDaniel 00:44:54

Oh, that's great.

Trent McCall 00:44:55

And they've, they've, they've allowed me, I don't know if you can see in the, you see the right here?

Trent McCall 00:45:01

Let's see if I point at it.

John McDaniel 00:45:04

Yeah, that right there.

John McDaniel 00:45:05

Yeah, I do see that.

John McDaniel 00:45:06

I don't know what I'm looking.

Trent McCall 00:45:08

That's the world's largest box call.

Trent McCall 00:45:10

And they allowed me to build that.

John McDaniel 00:45:12

Oh, my God.

John McDaniel 00:45:13

Wow.

John McDaniel 00:45:15

Did you get a world record out of that?

Trent McCall 00:45:17

I'm in the process of getting it in the Guinness book.

Trent McCall 00:45:20

World Records.

Trent McCall 00:45:21

It is.

Trent McCall 00:45:22

It is the world's largest call.

John McDaniel 00:45:23

God bless you, man.

John McDaniel 00:45:24

What a great story.

Trent McCall 00:45:26

It's 6ft tall and it weighs 70.

John McDaniel 00:45:28

Pounds and it brings in a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Trent McCall 00:45:33

There you go.

John McDaniel 00:45:36

Can hear him coming.

Trent McCall 00:45:39

You better be ready to be ready, man.

John McDaniel 00:45:42

Better bring a 50 caliber for this guy.

John McDaniel 00:45:44

Well, that's so cool.

John McDaniel 00:45:45

I love it.

John McDaniel 00:45:46

I love it.

John McDaniel 00:45:47

Well, you know, it's been a pleasure, you know, getting to know you, and I just had a great time today chatting with you.

John McDaniel 00:45:55

You've made my day, man.

John McDaniel 00:45:57

I appreciate it.

John McDaniel 00:45:59

So I usually, or I try to always give my host the last whack at the pinata, you know, don't save any rounds, man.

John McDaniel 00:46:08

It's like, you know, this is, this is Gettysburg and they're coming.

John McDaniel 00:46:12

You know, you get, you might as well just expend all ammunition if you got anything you want to chat about that we've missed today.

Trent McCall 00:46:21

Just.

Trent McCall 00:46:22

Thanks for the opportunity to do this.

Trent McCall 00:46:25

I thought a lot about this when you asked me to be on the show of different things that I wanted to say.

Trent McCall 00:46:29

And I could go on for days and days and days of the experiences that I've had and what we've gotten out of it.

Trent McCall 00:46:37

I hope the warriors have gotten out of it as much as we've gotten out of it ourselves.

Trent McCall 00:46:44

I think in my weird mind, I think of you as a funnel and the idea is that everybody wants to do something.

Trent McCall 00:46:57

Everybody wants to go in a direction.

Trent McCall 00:46:59

And I didn't realize it until we got into this, how much truth there is to that.

Trent McCall 00:47:05

I didn't myself realize how much I wanted to do this until I was given a direction.

Trent McCall 00:47:10

And I think of wounded warriors like a funnel.

Trent McCall 00:47:13

It's everybody.

Trent McCall 00:47:16

You take all these desires to do the right thing, and it hits the funnel, and it's consolidated into a spot in the middle.

Trent McCall 00:47:25

And that's the very best we can do.

Trent McCall 00:47:28

You're catching all the very best of the best.

Trent McCall 00:47:31

And I appreciate you being that funnel.

John McDaniel 00:47:34

Well, I appreciate you putting it in that way, Trent, because nobody's ever said it that way.

John McDaniel 00:47:38

And I will take that to heart and use it again, footnoting it accordingly.

John McDaniel 00:47:46

But I do appreciate it and thanks for what you and your team have done and continue to do.

John McDaniel 00:47:57

And it's great.

John McDaniel 00:47:58

You're doing phenomenal work.

John McDaniel 00:47:59

And I was told before we first chatted this morning, before I first met, that I was going to like you and that you were a wonderful man.

John McDaniel 00:48:11

And I.

John McDaniel 00:48:12

All that is true.

John McDaniel 00:48:13

So I appreciate you.

John McDaniel 00:48:15

I look forward to, you know, shaking your hand someday here in the not too distant future, I hope, and I'll.

Trent McCall 00:48:22

Hold you to it.

John McDaniel 00:48:23

I know.

John McDaniel 00:48:23

Well, that's why I said it.

John McDaniel 00:48:25

Listen, you have a great day, and if there's anything we can ever do for you, please don't hesitate to ask.

John McDaniel 00:48:32

Keep doing what you're doing, man, and send my best to your team and everybody who's supporting you.

John McDaniel 00:48:39

And it means a lot, you know?

John McDaniel 00:48:41

Means a lot.

John McDaniel 00:48:41

Not.

John McDaniel 00:48:42

Not.

John McDaniel 00:48:42

Not just to me, but, you know, the lives you're affecting and, and, you know, you're doing it, too.

John McDaniel 00:48:47

And that's the good stuff.

John McDaniel 00:48:50

That's, that.

John McDaniel 00:48:50

That's the thing.

John McDaniel 00:48:51

You're.

John McDaniel 00:48:51

You're creating memories, positive memories that are supplanting some that aren't so good, you know?

John McDaniel 00:48:58

And, and, you know, for them, the, you know, these great Americans to come, come back home to America and then settle in on the life after the service and to be exposed to great people like yourself and your team is life changing in many cases, and it really is.

John McDaniel 00:49:19

I mean, that just that expression of, hey, I don't know these people from a hole in the wall, but they're letting me into their homes.

John McDaniel 00:49:27

I'm having this amazing experience.

John McDaniel 00:49:28

These are high quality people.

John McDaniel 00:49:30

Wow.

John McDaniel 00:49:31

What I did is really valued.

John McDaniel 00:49:34

And that's subconsciously or even perhaps consciously in some cases.

John McDaniel 00:49:41

That's the message that's being embedded in them, in their hearts and their minds, in every fiber of their being.

John McDaniel 00:49:53

And that's what makes it so powerful.

John McDaniel 00:49:55

And you're doing it because you know you love them.

John McDaniel 00:49:59

You know you do it because you respect them and you respect what they did.

John McDaniel 00:50:03

And this is your way of giving back, and you're doing it superbly well.

John McDaniel 00:50:07

Thank you.

Trent McCall 00:50:09

Thank you.

Trent McCall 00:50:10

Thank you.

Trent McCall 00:50:10

And again, thank you for the opportunity.

Trent McCall 00:50:13

These are resilient men, and all we're doing is trying to help them remember to enjoy the country that they defended.

John McDaniel 00:50:23

Oh, that's right.

John McDaniel 00:50:24

Great.

John McDaniel 00:50:24

Say, yeah, man.

John McDaniel 00:50:26

You got it going on, man.

John McDaniel 00:50:28

You've thought a lot about this, and I can tell it's coming from your heart, and that's you're hitting on some very, very key, key ideas and key concepts that make this really as great as it is.

John McDaniel 00:50:44

Thanks, buddy.

John McDaniel 00:50:47

When you get around to, you know, the calls, let's.

John McDaniel 00:50:52

I'll tell you what, we'll send.

John McDaniel 00:50:53

We'll sign off here, and then we'll.

John McDaniel 00:50:54

We'll chat a little bit of business off air.

John McDaniel 00:50:56

How's that sound?

Trent McCall 00:50:58

Sounds good.

John McDaniel 00:50:59

All right.

John McDaniel 00:50:59

Thanks for all you do.

John McDaniel 00:51:00

Have a great day.

John McDaniel 00:51:01

Stick around.

John McDaniel 00:51:02

We'll chat in the post room.

John McDaniel 00:51:03

Okay.

Trent McCall 00:51:05

All right, sounds good.

Trent McCall 00:51:06

Thanks.

John McDaniel 00:51:06

Bye.

Host 00:51:11

Thank you for listening to the WWIA podcast.

Host 00:51:14

Podcast.

Host 00:51:15

To learn more about the wounded warriors in Action foundation and how you can get involved, please visit our website@wwwiaf.org, or follow us on social media, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Host 00:51:31

If youd like to comment or offer feedback about our podcast, or if you have a suggestion for a future episode, please email us at podcast wwiaf.org.

Host 00:51:43

thank you for your support and for helping us honor, connect, and heal our combat wounded purple heart heroes through the power of the great outdoors.