The morning started promisingly enough, with two birds gobbling on the roost shortly after the first rays of light started to brighten the sky. Sitting in a ground blind tucked into a corner where a large field met an even larger woodlot — turkey decoys set up in front of us — excitement was high as we hoped to beat the odds and take a wild turkey in the Lehigh Valley, an area that isn’t necessarily considered one of the state’s turkey-hunting hotbeds.

My guide for the morning was Brian Benolken, the Slate Belt woodworker turned turkey-call maker and hunter who makes the 4-play Turkey Call, an outside-the-box “box call” that features a forward-mounted wheel that allows the user to move the call’s paddle back and forth. This innovation creates the ability to not only strike the rails located on both sides of the call, but also strike all four rails — each made from a different wood — in different locations, producing a wide range of tones and sounds.

Since its release a few years ago, the 4-Play has been selling across the country, with hunters in 46 states using them. This year, Benolken rolled out a new version of the call, the “Rafter,” sort of a 4-Play on steroids since it can produce an even wider array of turkey-attracting sounds.

“If you look at the calls quickly, it would be hard to tell the difference between the two other than one is labelled ‘Rafter’ on it,” said Benolken, who makes his calls under the name Cutting Edge Game Calls. “What I’ve done is… I’ve deepened one cavity (on the call) and what that does is the depth of the cavity will increase the depth of the call.”

Benolken said he originally wanted to name the new call “The Flock,” but that is a term often used in the industry.

“I did a little research and I’d never herd the term ‘rafter,’” he said. “It’s a unique call and I thought it was a unique name for it.”

Benolken, who builds his calls at his Bangor-based custom cabinetry and furniture business, Candera Period Designs, says part of the reason for designing a new turkey call was feedback he received from hunters, who said the 4-Play might be even more appealing if it made sounds that more closely resembled a traditional box call.

“I have a call that’s very effective for attracting birds, obviously, because it’s killed a lot of birds,” Benolken said. “But I have to sell it to a hunter who has an idea of what a box call should sound like. The whole idea of the 4-Play was to sound different than other box calls, because say you go out into the woods and if you’re hunting public land and somebody’s been using a Quaker Boy or whatever, the birds get used to it and they just don’t respond. The 4-play sounded different.

“So, by deepening one pocket, what I’ve done is kind of made one side sound more like a standard box call, but it’s also made a bigger range of sounds I can make. I can go from a deeper tone to the original high tone the 4-Play had. It’s a small change, but it’s made such a big difference.”

Benolken says the new call is already gaining traction in the turkey-hunting world, with turkey-hunting guides and hunters across the country starting to use it. In just one example, 2015 World Turkey Hunting Championship winner Jeff Budz, who has taken more than 500 birds during his career, is now using The Rafter, both personally and when guiding other turkey hunters across the country.

In an effort to spread the word about the effectiveness of the 4-Play, and now the Rafter, Benolken attends a variety of outdoor shows throughout the region including the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg; Early Bird Sports Expo in Bloomsburg; West Virginia Fishing, Hunting & Outdoor Sports Show in Morgantown, W. Va.; and the New Hampshire Outdoor Expo in Milford, N.H. He’s also attended the National Wild Turkey Federation’s annual convention in Nashville. No matter where he appears, the results are the same, with many sportsmen intrigued with his calls due to their unique design and sounds.

“Going to new shows in new areas is really neat,” he said. “When I went up to New Hampshire, I never had a show like that in my life. I had people four deep at my booth… They were just really amazed by (the call), they hadn’t seen it before.”