Vic's Ace

[Tim Beach]

A few weeks ago, I received a message from God.  I believe that little inner voice we have is actually God speaking to us.  The message was to take one of Vic's trumpets out for my first turkey hunt in South GA.  I chose one Vic made from Bocote with a black acrylic bell end.  Vic knew I like my mouthpieces shaped like wingbones and he used an ivory one for this call. It is the call picture on the right.

I hunted with a couple of friends near my property in Abbeville, GA.  We got on a bird they had been hunting for two years.  To make a long story short, the bird really liked the sound of Vic's trumpet and this 3- or 4-year Eastern tom stopped growing old that day. He had a 11 1/8" thick beard that appeared as a double beard when he was strutting.  He had 1 1/4" needle sharp spurs and weighed in at 21 lb. 13 oz.

Later that day, I was on my way to Cabin Bluff for an annual hunt hosted by Bill Jones, III.  The following morning I was out in an area where I had been told birds frequented a food plot.  I was sneaking into the plot when I observed some birds in the field.  I circled back to a spot with good cover along a road leading to the food plot.  I gave a few calls and a hen answered to my right.  A couple of minutes later, (4) gobblers came onto the road from the plot.  I shot the largest one.  When he dropped, the others flushed and one came back for some revenge.  I shot him as well.  One of the birds had a 9 1/2" beard and 1 1/4" spurs.  The other had a 8 1/2" beard with 7/8" spurs.

As a result, my GA season ended in less than 24 hours all with Vic's trumpet.  Much in the tradition of fighter pilots with three kills, this trumpet became an ace...Vic's Ace.

I wrote a letter to Vic hoping it would lift his spirits.  I included photos along with a letter and sent it to Vic.  Naomi gave me a call on Friday after his passing indicating he had a received the letter a few days prior and had enjoyed the photos.

Thank you God for speaking to me, and allowing me to the privilege to know Vic and share in his passion of your grand creation.

[Richard]

That is too cool Tim......an Ace for sure !

[Naomi Louise Warne]

Tim - I saw those exact pictures when I visited Vic at home last Friday. They were right next to him on a coffee table and I know he was pleased to see them. He really spoke highly of you and Preston. We had always talked about one day heading out to your neck of the woods. Now I now where the calls went that he had me take pictures of. I'm going to post some pictures tomorrow of the calls I have.

[Tim Beach]

I have Craig "Cornbread" Corbett making me a shadow box with the beards/spurs from all three birds, some photos of them and Vic's Ace trumpet. It will be made so I can remove the call and still use it.

Mike, I sent the copy of the B&W photo of Vic to Cornbread so he can include it in the shadow box.