By Steve Howze | March 6, 2023

Team Wing Bone (TWB) has a long history of turkey hunting we would like to share with you. Y’all ready?!? Let’s Geaux!!!!

The foundation of TWB began to be built in the early 1900’s with the Howze family. They resided in a small community called Ott’s Mill which is located just north of Holden, Louisiana in the heart of Livingston Parish (In Louisiana, Counties are called Parishes). 

The Team Wing Bone story begins with Lawrence Howze, born in 1894, and his brothers, Manual Howze, Henry Howze as well as other family members. All of the hunters in the family used a two-piece wing bone to call up wild turkeys within shotgun range of their single shot shotguns loaded with paper shotgun shells. The Parishes located in the Southeastern part of Louisiana at the top of the foot of the boot, which include Livingston Parish , are known as the Florida Parishes. During the early 1900's, the Florida Parishes were home to one of the most prolific populations of turkeys in the United States. The boys in the Howze family were highly competitive with each other and took pride in their turkey calling ability. As a result of this competitiveness, they perfected the art of the two-piece turkey call and then handed down their skill and knowledge to the next generation. To this day, over 100 years later we still use the exact same style wing bone turkey call. 

The second generation of hunters for TWB, born in the 1920s, included Truett Howze (The Gobbler), Kerney Sibley, Carl Howze (White Bear), Squawky Clark, Russel Curtis, along with other Howze and Whitehead family members. They were all avid hunters and excellent woodsmen. As young children during the Great Depression, they were forced to hunt to put food on the table. As they grew older and the Great Depression ended, hunting transitioned from a necessity to provide food, into a sport they enjoyed. The second generation of Team Wing Bone were part of the Greatest Generation and many of them served and fought in World War II. One of our most unique stories is from The Gobbler (Truett Howze), who when drafted into service for WWII in 1942, took his wing bone turkey call with him as his one personal item. That wing bone call was made by his father Lawrence Howze. We venture to guess he was the only serviceman to go to battle in WWII with a wing bone turkey call in his possession. After returning home from the war in 1945, to Livingston Parish, “The Gobbler” made many wing bone calls throughout his remaining years. He never sold any of the wing bone calls he made, instead he gave them as gifts to family and friends. The tools and methods he used to make those numerous calls are being used to this day by his son (Turkey Hunter) and grandson (Little Turkey Hunter).

The third generation of TWB hunters was born in the late 1940s and early 1950s. James Howze (Turkey Hunter), Pat Harris (Green Trout), Douglas Sibley (Big Boy), Malcolm Sibley (B-12) and Charlie Sibley (Spiderman). The previous generation was very serious about turkey hunting. As the third generation of Team Wing Bone grew up, they were immersed in turkey hunting stories told by “The Old Timers”. As kids growing up they would hang on to every word of the stories those old timers told. The third-generation youngsters often asked detailed questions about the turkey hunting stories and this was the genesis of the training of the next generation. One common story told by Gen 3 was that whenever someone outside the family circle would ask the old timers to call on the wing bone their response was always the same, “put one in front of me and I’ll show you how it’s done”!!!! As Gen 2 taught Gen 3 the art of the wing bone call, the names of the calling sequences like the “Smack Madam” and the “Lone Lost Lonesome Sexy Call” were born.

The Fourth, or current generation of TWB hunters were born in the 1970s. The 4Gen includes, but is not limited to, Steven Howze (Little Turkey Hunter), Jason Harris (Perch), Vick Vicknair (Hindleg) and Jeffery Purpera (Bagman). Due to space limitations, we cannot list all the hunters, family, and friends in and around our community who are, and always will be, part of TWB’s history. As mentioned previously “Gobbler” would make wing bone calls and give them as gifts to family and friends. As the recipients of the Gobbler's gifts would find success in the turkey woods, all too often they would bring their prize to the Gobbler’s back porch. Grinning ear to ear, they would share with him the story of their hunting success. As soon as they departed, the Gobbler would call Little Turkey Hunter and tell him another longbeard had fallen victim to one of his wing bones. The conversation always started with, “Well another one goes down for Team Wing Bone”. Then he'd share the name of the lucky hunter and retell the story of the successful hunt. This is the generation that officially selected the name of Team Wing Bone, for the obvious reason. And so began the filming of the TWB hunts that end up on YouTube to document and share our love of this great sport with others. 

Check out the amazing Turkey Hunting action from Team Wingbone.