Photograph by Joe Mac Hudspeth, Jr. · www.southernfocus.com
Magazine
The Call of the Wild
From constructing his original turkey call to building one of the most successful outdoor sporting companies in North America, Will Primos remains true to himself and his Delta connection.
Will Primos
As founder and president of Primos Hunting Calls, Will Primos has open access to premier hunting across the globe, but touts the Mississippi Delta as the pinnacle of all locations. “It’s where I learned to hunt and appreciate nature,” he reflects. “The Delta brings me home.”
The Primos story begins with a small boy raised in a close-knit, supporting family who instilled Christian values of love, family, integrity and an immense work ethic. Those values, plus a passion for hunting, segued into a flourishing corporation that has become a household name throughout North America.
After Will’s grandfather, Angelo “Pop” Primos, an immigrant from Greece arrived in America, he began the legacy of the popular Primos restaurant, which remains a Jackson institution eighty years later. When his four sons and daughter reached adulthood, Pop built each of them homes on a fifty-plus acre lot in a then-rural area of Jackson. Will’s father, Kenneth, and his uncles worked diligently in the restaurant with their father; but when the opportunity arose, his uncles often headed to the Delta woods to spend their leisure time.
“My great love of hunting developed in the Delta. I would tag along with my uncles, who were all avid outdoorsmen and had a tremendous influence on me. Uncle Aleck was a social hunter who also pioneered wade fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Uncle Billy was a hardcore deer and waterfowl hunter but would hunt anything anytime. My Uncle Gus was a quail and waterfowl hunter and an expert duck caller. I remember my first true green timber experience in the Delta at Fighting Bayou. I heard Uncle Gus calling ducks; he could make that Jake Gardner single reed duck call sing. I was mesmerized by the sound and fascinated by the approaching ducks. There must have been two hundred plus!” It was that incident that inspired Will to craft his first duck call at age eleven.
Even as an adolescent, Will’s hunting and riflery expertise didn’t go unnoticed, when in 1964 he brought home the Mississippi Junior Skeet Shooting Championship trophy. He laughs, “But I admit it, I won by default as I was the only junior competitor!” However, upon high school graduation, he joined the United States Air Force and served as a marksmanship instructor. After graduating from college in 1974, Will returned to the family business as manager of the banquet and catering department within their largest restaurant, Primos Northgate.
Throughout his youth, he continued hunting and developing game calls. Will maintained his Delta connection while in college when he met friends from Clarksdale. “I have great memories of Clarksdale with Leighton Miller, the former sheriff and tax collector in Coahoma County, who loved to crappie fish. We’d load up in his El Camino and head for Moon Lake and come home with an ice chest full of crappie!” Will recalls. “Whether hunting or fishing, the Delta has always been a tremendous draw for me.”
It was while turkey hunting that he met a lady, Eleanor Roessler, who had a dramatic influence on his life. “I was impressed with the turkey calls she was making. Her calls, however, didn’t fit my mouth well, and I thought I could improve them,” he explains. He then began to make his own calls and was encouraged by Buck Dearman, a friend of Uncle Gus at Greasy Bayou. “Buck told me my turkey calls were okay but said they could be better!” Will took his advice and began to make improvements, using better materials. He soon realized his market was expanding rapidly, not just locally but as far as Pennsylvania. As demand for his game calls grew, by 1979 Will extended his line of quality products, which required hiring several people to meet the needs of his growing business. In a clever marketing move, he added instructional audio tapes in 1983. “As the makings of a real company emerged, my cousin, Jimmy Primos, came on board as Chief Operating Officer. He has always been my hero--gave me my first pellet gun,” he recalls. In 1986, Will complemented his line of products by adding a series of turkey hunting videos, for which he hired Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland to oversee the videoing in 1987. “When I asked Cuz what we should call the tapes, he replied, ‘It’s just real hunting—nothing fake about it; plain and simple--it’s the truth’,” says Will. Thus, one of the first reality video series was born entitled, The TRUTH. These popular videos remain best sellers for the company and were the precursor to the popular TV series The Truth about Hunting and The Truth About Whitetails, which air three times each week on The Outdoor Channel.
All the while, Will reinvested every dime of profit back into the company while he continued to work in the restaurant business. Presently, Primos Hunting Calls employs 150 people and markets over 620 products—from game calls and videos to clothing and hunting accessories. The company appropriately adopted a slogan, “Speak the Language”--three simple words that attest to the company’s mission on every level. Borrowing from his experience in the restaurant industry, Will infused the basic policies that serve as cornerstones of his successful business today. Foremost, Team Primos consists of positive, knowledgeable people who have a heart for the company. They know the products and believe in them. They have been empowered to make decisions, and their value is recognized. Second, it’s not about Primos; it’s about the customer. According to Will, it is critical to be honest and thoughtful with the consumer. Add to the successful mix, his hands-on approach to product quality control. “I, along with a team, daily check the samples of mouth calls we manufacture to insure the quality is being maintained.” In retrospect, Will comments, “The rewards have been great and relationships are wonderful. I really have no regrets; and mistakes? Well, the only real mistake is not learning from your mistakes.”
“For success in life and in business, my advice is to work hard, have a humble attitude, put God first then family; I really believe that one of the greatest gifts I ever received was the security of my mother and father’s love for each other.” Will humbly expresses, “If there is success, it’s not just about me. You can bet that somebody, somewhere, sacrificed something and applied their God-given talent to get there. I’ve had the opportunity to do something I’m passionate about, and I’ll to do it to the best of my ability as long as I have the opportunity.”
In 2004 Will reaffirmed his bond with the Delta when he and his wife, Mary, invested in their own Delta property, a 3000-acre farm in Humphreys and Leflore Counties. With over twenty open and Green Timber duck holes, as well as a thriving habitat for deer, turkey and quail, the property is being meticulously transformed into a wildlife mecca. With the assistance of Delta Wildlife, Will is building upon a foundation of wise conservation and quality management practices. “My focus has always been conservation. We are concentrating on providing quality places for wildlife to live, just doing for the land what God intended,” he explains. “I’m not a tree hugger; I’m a protector of habitat. If you don’t love the land, you are not going to understand it, and you’re not going to want to protect it. You know, there’s a real education in nature. There are lessons to be learned, respect to be made and life to be lived.”