Hunt Call - Mike Battey Signature "Champion" Crow Call

Watch the hunt here: https://youtu.be/EOlEhi5HJLI
 
The Wild Talker "Champion" crow call is capable of producing the most realistic crow vocalizations ever recorded. If you rely on crow locator calls, this premium call is a must-have addition to your turkey vest.
 
Mike Battey, a pioneering innovator in game calls and a lifelong student of sound, passed away on January 11, 2026. Born April 1, 1953, and raised in North Carolina by his parents, Bob and Mary, Mike devoted his life to understanding sound, not merely to build products, but to help hunters communicate more effectively with the wild turkey, a species he deeply respected. One of his most enduring pieces of advice summed up his philosophy: “Move his feet, not his beak.”
 
Mike grew up hunting and fishing, developing an early passion for the outdoors and a natural aptitude for mechanical problem-solving. His professional path began in a family hardware and gun business, where he worked as a gunsmith. Introduced to turkey hunting and call making by mentor Ray Sutphin, Mike developed a lifelong obsession with wild turkeys, calling techniques, and sound reproduction.
 
By the mid-1980s, Mike entered the competitive turkey-calling world, eventually winning the North Carolina state title and gaining national recognition. During this period, he formed lasting friendships with many of the sport’s emerging innovators, whom he affectionately referred to as “The Young Guns.” Rather than chasing trophies, Mike began designing calls with a singular goal: creating effective, affordable tools that everyday hunters could use with confidence. As he often said, “I’m in the sound business, not the game-call business.”
 
Known throughout the outdoor industry as “The Call Dr.”, Mike combined relentless curiosity, mechanical intuition, musical ability, and fearless experimentation to become one of the most influential designers in the history of modern turkey calls. His breakthroughs in acoustical plastics, graphite-reinforced pot designs, and soundboard engineering transformed mass-produced friction calls, making them more reliable, consistent, and musically accurate.
 
His designs formed the backbone of best-selling calls for major manufacturers, including PRIMOS®, Knight & Hale, M.A.D. Calls, and M.L. Lynch. Among the most iconic were the PRIMOS® Battey World Class, PRIMOS® Power Crystal, and the Knight & Hale Ol’ Yeller—three of the best-selling production pot calls of all time.
 
Mike’s influence extended far beyond call design. In 1995, he released Spittin’ Feathers, one of the first high-quality stereo recordings of real wild turkeys. The project sold hundreds of thousands of copies and became a foundational learning tool for hunters and competitive callers seeking authentic turkey vocalizations. Mike often said this recording was among the most meaningful contributions of his career.
 
Never content to stop learning, Mike later launched his own brand, Hunter Game Calls, which eventually evolved into WildTalker. There, he continued pushing boundaries with innovative trumpet calls, crow calls, and specialty designs that quickly became highly sought after by collectors and serious hunters alike. Even in his later years, Mike remained deeply engaged, refining new ideas, sharing knowledge, and inspiring a growing online audience. His passion never waned.
 
Mike was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his daughter, Suzanne Novosad; his brother, Ed Battey; and his friend and WildTalker successor, Robby Smith.
Those who knew Mike remember a man defined by boundless curiosity, infectious enthusiasm, and genuine generosity. He believed deeply in persistence, in honoring hunting traditions, and in advancing innovation without losing respect for the past. His goal was always simple: to put affordable, high-quality calls into the hands of everyday hunters.
 
That legacy lives on, in the sound of a well-run call echoing through spring woods, in the countless hunters he helped along the way, and in the traditions he worked so tirelessly to preserve and advance.