POWERGRAMS

26 from California, Virginia, Texas and Egypt, which is the 15th country represented since 2013. Roberts enjoys converting fellow beer drinkers like one who recently accompanied his wife. "She was tasting and he was standing back. I said, 'Neighbor, are you going to come up to the counter?' He said, 'No, I drink beer.' I said, 'I used to not like wine either, but do you like fruit?' He said, 'I could eat fruit by the handful three times a day.' I said, 'This is fruit,' and he had a taste. Here was a 52-year-old man who had never drank a drop of wine in his life, and he le with three cases. Our product just sells itself." Building the Little Call That Could One side of a small cargo trailer parked outside the WoodHaven Custom Calls factory lists lots of turkey calling titles won by Mike Pentecost. But that doesn't come close to telling the whole story of this colorful caller, inventor and entrepreneur. "There's lots more than that," he says, referring to the trophies painted on the vehicle. "I just got tired of painting on another and another." For the record, for the moment, Pentecost has won 13 world, 13 Grand National and seven U.S. Open turkey calling championships. One year, he won four out of the five divisions at the Grand National, which is considered the most prestigious competition. Most callers are happy to place in one division. But most people aren't Pentecost, who 17 years ago le a good job – "much to the dismay" of his wife, Robin – to follow his head and his heart. For years he had handcraed turkey calls to boost his hunting efforts. Friends asked for the calls and, eventually, he began making them on the side in his grandparents' basement on Woodhaven Lane. When his last boss broke a verbal agreement to let Pentecost off during hunting season, Pentecost took a leap of faith and went into business. Today about 110,000 of Pentecost's 50 or so varieties of deer and turkey calls ranging from $11.99 to $199.99 are sold every year at Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's and other major retailers, in addition to online and in small stores across America. "My plan was I was going to build the very best turkey call ever made. It took a lot of time to figure out and a whole lot of money. But I've been the lile engine that could," he says, beginning to repeatedly pound one fist into his other cupped hand. "High-quality. Integrity. First-class. It costs a lile more but it's a lot beer." Pentecost creates virtually every element of everything he sells. He handmade his first latex mouth calls, then designed a hydraulic press to speed production. He bought an 11,000-square-foot shuered sewing factory, then built and fireproofed each WoodHaven production area, from wood shop to paint shop to labeling to packing and shipping. He made the wooden pegs, holders and slots for painting box calls and strikers, and the racks to dry them on. He created the company logo, comes up with a name for each call he invents and adds catchphrases such as "Put some sting in your call." Pentecost is a hands-on owner hawking goods for a hands-on pastime. He taught each of his 10 employees to build or test every WoodHaven product, which Pentecost says are really musical instruments requiring perfect pitch, tone and cadence to lure the intended target. Any call that doesn't meet his satisfaction is tossed in a disposal bin. "The forest was my classroom and Mother Nature was my professor," he says. "I got an engineering mind. I've got a Ph.D. in woods. I spent so much time in the woods, people thought I was a piece of crap. But I learned what worked and what didn't." Pentecost considered moving the factory to Illinois but says he didn't get far with that idea. He's had offers to take WoodHaven elsewhere but doesn't see how that could help his product. "These guys help me build the best in the business every day, right here in this lile ole town," he says. Pentecost inspects recently painted strikers drying on racks. He considers turkey calls musical instruments. Pentecost

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