Kenny Morgan

KENNY MORGAN (1946–2011) was an author, teacher, turkey caller inventor, and naturalist. He was celebrated in turkey hunting circles for his vast knowledge of wild turkey behavior gathered from decades of observation and experience in the field. He received a patent in 1973 for The Morgan Caller, selling more than 10,000 of his custom handmade wild turkey callers. Morgan authored Turkey Hunting: A One Man Game, a classic technique book in 1987. and was revered as a skilled hunter who shared the gospel of the sport -- and love of the Creation--with a sizable community of brethren. A Louisiana native, Kenny spent his later years in College Station, Texas, with his wife Sally and their children. Morgan explains in his second book, America, Wild Turkeys & Mongrel Dogs (distributed first in 100 limited edition signed perfect bound manuscript copies by him and his wife Sally just six weeks before his death), why he wanted to write on such a title. "I've long been wanting to impart this knowledge to turkey hunters. Because I have been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, I'm putting my dream down in ink for you with urgency and fervor. I'll begin by telling you about a mongrel--a real mongrel. Our family dog named Buster." After delighting us, the readers, with a myriad of Buster's abilities, Kenny more seriously turns to his dog's unsightly habits, and then asks us to "understand that mongrels pissing on the porch now comprise a large part of America. Some of them even like to hunt wild turkeys. I'm sure I have some mongrel in me too; in fact, it's a good thing to recognize the mongrel within and deal with it." Released in 2014, America, Wild Turkeys & Mongrel Dogs: Life Lesson from a Hunting Master is a full color coffee table book that pairs lush images of wildlife and American landscapes with Morgan’s thoughtful musings on 50 years of pursuing the wild turkey--and the practice he learned along the way to “live artfully.”