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Photo by Travis Faulkner
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Harold Knight and David Hale
Anyone who has ever yelped to a fired-up longbeard during the spring or coaxed a thick-necked bruiser buck into bow range with a grunt tube can probably tell you about Harold Knight and David Hale. For good reason, this dynamic duo set the gold standard for call manufacturing and hunting video production many years ago.
It’s an amazing American success story that began with a limited budget, strong work ethic and a dream that seemed almost out of reach.
However, years later a small town barber and a modest farmer from the rolling hills of Kentucky formed a business that changed the hunting industry. Here is the true story of how Harold Knight and David Hale combined their talents to become outdoor icons and living legends.
Harold Knight
As a young boy, Harold Knight was fortunate enough to grow up in the heart of the isolated backwoods country of western Kentucky. A love for hunting and the outdoors was a natural fit for Knight, who spent most of his early childhood years chasing squirrels and deer near his home. The splendor of the woods intrigued Knight and served as his classroom where he learned to master the skills that put food on his family’s table during lean times. Little did he know that these same skills would lead to a career that would not only change his life, but also impact millions of others.
According to Knight, hunting was much more than a mere hobby or young boy’s fascination.
“During my childhood years, I always loved hunting and being around nature. I spent countless hours combing the hardwood ridges and open river bottoms that later became Barkley Lake after the Tennessee Valley Authority completed the Land Between the Lakes Project,” he said. “Hunting was an important way of life that helped feed a large family of 10 bothers and sisters. It was essential for me to sneak quietly through the woods without being detected and accurately read an animal’s body language. Most importantly, I needed to communicate with wildlife and use sounds to bring game animals in close. Basically, I practiced with my natural voice to produce a variety of calls that would draw squirrels, quail, turkey and even deer into gun range.”
Back then, Knight couldn’t afford one of the few commercially made turkey calls. He had an old handyman from his community make him a handcrafted cedar turkey call. This simple wooden call would later serve as a source of inspiration for Harold to make his own line of calls. His knowledge and personal experiences in the woods helped mold a proficient hunter into a master call maker.
Knight became one of the first hunters to officially tag a wild turkey during the historic Kentucky Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge turkey hunt, which is the area now known as the Land Between the Lakes. At the time, this event was the state’s first legal turkey hunting season in more than 41 years, and only 12 gobblers were tagged out of 377 hunters. Everyone in the community read about a 16-year-old boy named Harold Knight and his successful turkey hunt in the newspaper. This first turkey made Knight famous as a local hunter, and years later it would be turkey hunting that would make him a nationally recognized hunting icon.
David Hale
David Hale grew up on a farm in western Kentucky that bordered the restricted property of Fort Campbell. At the time, this isolated location was loaded with wildlife and one of the few places in the state that encompassed good numbers of white-tailed deer. Hale and his younger brother practically lived in the woods during the fall, hunting squirrels, rabbit and deer.
“I would have to say that squirrel hunting with a .22 rifle was actually what started my addiction to the outdoors. It was the foundation that enabled me to become a better deer and turkey hunter later on in life,” Hale said. “Little did I know at the time that my love and passion for hunting would eventually lead to my livelihood.”
Hale became interested in hunting spring turkeys when special seasons opened inside of the Land Between the Lakes borders.
“About my sophomore year in college I decided to try turkey hunting. Fortunately, I tagged a longbeard, but I really didn’t know anything about calling or working a bird. Over the next four seasons, the woodsmanship skills I had developed as a squirrel hunter enabled me to take two more gobblers. During those years, there were only 13 or 14 birds being tagged out of about 300 hunters. An ability to ease through the woods, match the surroundings and setup without being noticed were probably my best weapons,” said Hale. “I can even remember painting white freezer tape in camo colors and wrapping it around my old shotgun. Other hunters laughed at my gun back then, but I knew how important it was for me to blend in with my surroundings. It didn’t take me long to realize that using hen vocalizations could take my turkey hunting skills to a whole new level.
However, the sport of turkey hunting had not reached national popularity yet, and it was extremely difficult to get a hold of a good sounding turkey call. All of that would change when I met a young local barber named Harold Knight.”
A partnership is formed
As fate would have it, Hale bumped into outdoor writer David Harbour during a spring turkey hunt deep inside the Land Between the Lakes area. The writer showed him a homemade tube turkey call that had been made by a barber in the area named Harold Knight. Hale immediately contacted Knight about making and possibly selling the call. Harbour later published a turkey hunting article about Knight’s turkey call that generated interest, which led to the two friends starting a small part-time call making business in 1971. The initial goal was to make enough extra money to buy out-of-state turkey hunting licenses in Missouri.
Over the next 12 years, Knight & Hale Game Calls eventually became a full-time business that manufactured hunting calls for all species of wild game. By 1984, Knight & Hale was a nationally recognized company with about 40 employees.
Knight and Hale decided to start filming their own hunts to promote their innovative calls and products. This idea led to their show, “Ultimate Hunting,” which has been on the air for more than two decades. Almost instantly, Knight & Hale became a household name in the outdoor community. During this time, they introduced an amazing selection of realistic sounding calls such as the EZ-Grunter deer call, Fight-n-Purr turkey call, a variety of mouth diaphragms and a number of friction calls such as the Ol-Yeller and Lonesome Hen. Knight and Hale continue to bring cutting-edge products to the table like the Pretty Boy and Peeping Tom decoy system that has changed the way outdoor enthusiasts hunt today.
NWTF’s impact
Harold Knight and David Hale both strongly feel that turkey hunting has undergone some major changes throughout the years. They can remember a time when turkeys were scarce, and a hunter was lucky to hear a single gobble.
“We used to go after a single gobbler, and if you messed up on him the game was basically over,” said Hale. “Now there are turkeys on just about every corner, thanks to the re-introduction stocking programs and habitat improvement projects pioneered by the National Wild Turkey Federation. Without the work of the NWTF and our state wildlife agencies, we simply wouldn’t have the healthy populations of turkeys that are flourishing across our nation. Their efforts and promotion of our sport are exactly why Harold and I are both lifelong members of the Federation.”
Hale was actually one of the first NWTF chapter presidents in Kentucky. The first chapter meeting that was held at the Lake Barkley Convention Center had an unbelievable turnout of more than 500 participants. In fact, the fire marshal had to turn people away for public safety. Knight and Hale feel the NWTF was directly responsible for generating public awareness, educating and promoting the sport of turkey hunting during those early years and continue to do so today.
After years of hard work, Knight and Hale decided to sell their company in 1996. However, both men still presently represent and promote Knight & Hale Game Calls through their “Ultimate Hunting” television show and DVD series. They spend most of their time working trade shows, filming a variety of hunts, and hunting with friends and family. Knight and Hale especially enjoy sharing time in the field and on the water with their grandchildren. Both of these legendary hunters have always been and still remain focused on God, family and the outdoors. — Travis Faulkner