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Back in my early years of turkey hunting I became fond of Penns Woods diaphrams and could not find them here in New Jersey.. Seemed everywhere you went you found the shelves stocked with "Quaker Boy" calls..
Then one opening day of buck season in Bradford County Pa. I was sitting on my tailgate taking off my boot's when I noticed an SUV parked near me with a Penns Woods decal on the window.. Shortly thereafter a guy comes walking out of the woods to the vehicle and we exchanged hello's, So in our small talk I inquire about the Penns Woods decal in his window.. At this point he introduces himself as Frank Piper the owner of Penns Woods Products.. So I explain my problem finding his calls where I live, at this point he takes out a pen and asks for my address and says he would mail me some diaphrams...
Less than a week later I come home to find a huge box in front of my garage door.. Ok what did the wife order now?? It's addressed TOO me and has a Penns Woods return address on it... Like a kid at Christmas I open up the box to find: NOT ONLY DIAPHRAMS but EVERY CALL PENNS WOODS MADE!!! In the box were 2 of everything.. I mean 2 of each box call they made, 2 owl hooters, 2 of the big gobbler calls they made. Diaphrams were packed 12 to a box, yup... 2 boxes of each diaphragm. PW1,PW2,PW3 and others.That totaled over 100 diaphragm calls alone.. THE BOX WAS FILLED TO THE TOP WITH GOODIES.... ONLY THING NOT IN THE BOX WAS AN INVOICE!!!! Like Huh?? Theres a lot of $$$$$$$$ in product in this box.... So I pick up the phone and call Frank... He gets on the phone and I say Frank, I needed a diaphram or two.. NOT THE WHOLE STORE.. Like... What do I owe you??? He says: YOU DON'T OWE ME A PENNY!!! I was stunned...
So I gotta show him my appreciation... So I ask for some invoices and catalogs and told him I'd try and get him in some stores here in Jersey. A week later I get more call's (to use as demos,earlier calls he sent me were for my own use). So I hit the ground running and got him about 15 stores and sold a ton of call's... HE WAS SHOCKED... I ended up becoming a field rep and did some shows and a few seminars for them..
Unfortunately Frank Piper passed on back in 2009... He truly touched on many lives and was one of the fore fathers for what the turkey call industry is today.... Frank was truly that special guy you wanted to share a campfire with and share hunting stories....
RIP... Frank Piper
Then one opening day of buck season in Bradford County Pa. I was sitting on my tailgate taking off my boot's when I noticed an SUV parked near me with a Penns Woods decal on the window.. Shortly thereafter a guy comes walking out of the woods to the vehicle and we exchanged hello's, So in our small talk I inquire about the Penns Woods decal in his window.. At this point he introduces himself as Frank Piper the owner of Penns Woods Products.. So I explain my problem finding his calls where I live, at this point he takes out a pen and asks for my address and says he would mail me some diaphrams...
Less than a week later I come home to find a huge box in front of my garage door.. Ok what did the wife order now?? It's addressed TOO me and has a Penns Woods return address on it... Like a kid at Christmas I open up the box to find: NOT ONLY DIAPHRAMS but EVERY CALL PENNS WOODS MADE!!! In the box were 2 of everything.. I mean 2 of each box call they made, 2 owl hooters, 2 of the big gobbler calls they made. Diaphrams were packed 12 to a box, yup... 2 boxes of each diaphragm. PW1,PW2,PW3 and others.That totaled over 100 diaphragm calls alone.. THE BOX WAS FILLED TO THE TOP WITH GOODIES.... ONLY THING NOT IN THE BOX WAS AN INVOICE!!!! Like Huh?? Theres a lot of $$$$$$$$ in product in this box.... So I pick up the phone and call Frank... He gets on the phone and I say Frank, I needed a diaphram or two.. NOT THE WHOLE STORE.. Like... What do I owe you??? He says: YOU DON'T OWE ME A PENNY!!! I was stunned...
So I gotta show him my appreciation... So I ask for some invoices and catalogs and told him I'd try and get him in some stores here in Jersey. A week later I get more call's (to use as demos,earlier calls he sent me were for my own use). So I hit the ground running and got him about 15 stores and sold a ton of call's... HE WAS SHOCKED... I ended up becoming a field rep and did some shows and a few seminars for them..
Unfortunately Frank Piper passed on back in 2009... He truly touched on many lives and was one of the fore fathers for what the turkey call industry is today.... Frank was truly that special guy you wanted to share a campfire with and share hunting stories....
RIP... Frank Piper
