The Wild Life
Primos celebrates 50 years of helping sportsmen enjoy the outdoors.
By Christopher Cogley
The electrifying sound of a crackling gobble an instant after the striker hits the slate. The sight of the morning’s first rays hitting cupped feathers as a flock of greenheads make their final approach. The feel of every hair on your body standing at attention all at once when a bull bugles 25 yards in front of you. The smell of dried leaves and freshly cut alfalfa as you sit in a tree stand and watch the world spin rapidly on.
If you’re familiar with these sights, sounds, smells, and feelings, then you know what it is to be in the field. And if you know that, then chances are good that, at one time or another, Primos has been out there with you. That’s not just nostalgia, that’s legacy. And that’s exactly what Primos is highlighting this year as the company celebrates its 50th anniversary.
“There’s nothing more humbling than to see the passion that people have for this brand,” says Steve McGrath, marketing director at Primos. “It’s truly inspiring.”
Inspiring is an apt word for Primos, because for 50 years that’s exactly what they’ve been doing—inspiring people to get into the great outdoors, learn to hunt some of the most magnificent wildlife in the country, and develop a deep appreciation for the animals and the wild lands where they live.
“Our motto is that we don’t just make calls, we make hunters,” McGrath says. “And the last 50 years have proven that to be true.”
Humble Beginnings
Like many iconic companies, Primos started from very humble beginnings. A passionate hunter and outdoorsman, young Will Primos carved his first duck call when he was 11 years old. When he started turkey hunting some years later, Will set out to create a diaphragm call that could replicate the sounds of the turkeys he was chasing. He studied other calls on the market to see what worked well and what could be improved upon, and he incorporated all that knowledge into the mouth calls he made.
In the small Mississippi community he lived in, it didn’t take long for word to spread, and when it did demand for Primos’ calls started to skyrocket.
But for Will, his cousin Jimmy, and the buddies they took to the field with, it wasn’t enough to just sell people calls.
“Primos’ mission has always been to help take a beginner all the way to a professor,” McGrath says. “We believe that the $10 call you use to start hunting should carry you through your entire journey as a hunter.”
To do that, people not only had to buy the calls, they had to know how to use them correctly. But the Primos team didn’t want to simply show people how to use their calls; they wanted to help teach people how to hunt. And to do that, they had to show them the truth about hunting. So, when it came time for Primos to launch an instructional video series, that’s exactly what people got—The Truth.
The Truth
“The videos show the good and the bad of hunting. They highlight the successful hunts and those where plenty of mistakes were made,” McGrath says. “It was always important to show both sides of hunting because it made it so much more relatable to the people who were watching. It was real and genuine. That’s been a part of Primos for 50 years, and we want to continue that legacy.”
Like Will’s early calls, the first Truth videos were raw and unpolished, but they also worked incredibly well. It didn’t take long for the videos to take off and gain a solid reputation for the realism, the genuineness, and the fun that the videos showcased.
“There’s a couple of generations now that have been raised on those tapes and DVDs,” McGrath says. “It wasn’t just the entertainment value that pulled people in; it was the educational piece.”
Even expert hunters could learn something new from watching The Truth videos, but for those people who didn’t grow up in a hunting family, The Truth videos provided something more than knowledge, something more than inspiration: they provided access to hunting and the outdoors in a way that had never been accomplished before.
“Primos started something that I don’t think people understood the significance of at the time,” McGrath says. “But those calls and videos were giving people access to hunting in a way that they’d never had before.”
The more people Primos helped introduce to hunting and the outdoors through their calls and videos, the more that Primos began to expand the ways it helped bring people closer to the animals they wanted to chase. From a single diaphragm call and a simple Truth video, Primos began making box, slate, and shock calls. But Primos also diversified the kinds of calls it made as a way to reach hunters and outdoor enthusiasts who wanted to chase animals other than turkeys. From award-winning waterfowl calls and the iconic Easy Estrus Bleat Can to predator calls and the infamous Hoochie Mama Elk Call, Primos developed new and innovative calls designed to reproduce, not imitate.
“Whether you’re hunting the hardwoods or chasing along mountain lion ridges, Primos wanted to make hunting more accessible to more people, and that’s what we did,” McGrath says.
With the new calls came new Truth videos that showed people what to do, and what not to do, when they were hunting waterfowl, deer, or elk. As the calls and videos became more readily accessible, so did the outdoors for thousands of people.
“When you step back and think about how many people that Primos has brought into hunting and the outdoors, it really is astonishing,” McGrath says.
What’s even more astonishing is that, somewhere along the way, Primos became more than just a premium call maker, and more than just a producer of genuine and honest hunting videos. Primos became a brand. A trusted brand that hunters looked to, and looked up to.
“It’s so incredibly rewarding to hear from people how Primos has been part of their hunting heritage,” McGrath says. “To see the passion that people have for this brand even after 50 years is really something special.”
By making the outdoors so much more accessible for so many people, Primos taught people more than how to hunt; they taught people an appreciation for the outdoors and demonstrated the importance of conserving our natural resources in a way that had never been shown before.
Deep Connection
“Conservation has always been a key part of Primos’ story and mission,” McGrath says. “The brand has been part of national conservation organizations from early on, and continues to play a role with them today.”
As a way to help hunters and outdoor enthusiasts understand the importance of protecting wildlife and their habitat, Will Primos established The Truth About Conservation Campaign.
“At the heart of the campaign is a historic fundraising effort highlighting the deep connection between hunters and the preservation of wild places,” McGrath says.
As part of the campaign, Will Primos partnered with five of the nation’s leading conservation groups—Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, and Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation—to highlight and support their efforts to protect the natural habitat that wildlife needs to survive and flourish.
“Primos is proud to be part of conserving the legacy of the hunter through preservation of the game we chase and the habitat that is so vital to their success,” McGrath says.
Like the organizations they support, Primos’ conservation efforts are designed to help protect the hunting heritage for generations to come. And Primos plans to be there every step of the way, helping develop a love and admiration for hunting and the great outdoors in a whole new generation of people. Just like they have been for the last 50 years.
