Name/Title
Earl and Cindy Ritzman, Mountain Side Game CallsEntry/Object ID
CTC001B00022Description
Earl W. Ritzman, called “Pap” in his younger years, is 88 years old as of May 2026. He is retired from being self-employed, and hunting has been his favorite hobby. Cynthia “Cindy” A. Ritzman is 82, and she was the Postmaster at Oakland Mills, PA, as well as the bookkeeper for the family businesses. She has hunted alongside Earl for 67 years. They are both callmakers.
In 1991, the couple purchased Graham's Mountainside Turley Calls. Earl’s call-making company is Mountain Side Game Calls. He began making calls in 1991 and continues to do so from his home and shop in Thompsontown, PA. His callmaking inspiration was D.D. Adams, who was his uncle. He first made calls in the early to mid-1990s in the basement at Thompsontown, PA. Although many different calls were made throughout his callmaking journey, the primary calls of note include:
PRO LINE Combination - 4” Black-Glass/Slate Call with teardrop access for slate on reverse.
SPITFIRE - 4” Black - Glass/Slate Call with 1/1/4” Round Hole for accessing Slate on reverse, and using Different (“Tuscarora Legend”) pot.
DOUBLE SLATE -4” Black - Slate/Slate Call with no reverse access.
“BLAZIN” SLATE - 4” Black - Slate/Glass Call with no reverse access
JAKE TAKER - 3 1/2” Dark Brown - Slate/Glass Call with no reverse access.
Cindy’s callmaking inspiration and influencers were DD Adams, Ernie Fetters, and Ralph Snodgrass. She began making calls in the mid-1990s in the basement of the couple’s home at Thompsontown, PA. She has made box calls of various woods, but is most known for her Chestnut Box calls.
The Ritzmans also owned 50% of Tuscarora Legend Turkey Calls, which was founded in 1989 following the death of the legendary DD Adams in November 1988. It consisted of Harold Shields and the Ritzman couple. After DD’s death, Shields approached the Ritzmans about starting a company to keep DD’s call-making business going. They agreed and supplied the capital for the startup; Harold was to handle the call-making and selling, and Cindy was to keep the books and procure all the supplies needed. The Ritzmans had the latitude to sell as well. They decided to name the Company after DD but not to use his name to avoid confusion. Given that DD was already legendary for his call-making at that time, they went with Tuscarora Legend Turkey Calls. The name "Tuscarora" was closely tied to the geography and early history of the area around Thompsontown and DD lived near the foot of Tuscarora Mountain as do the Ritzmans. They honored DD's work by having his name put on the backs of the molded calls. This bridged the callmaking that DD had done to the continuation of that style of calls made by Shields and the Ritzmans.Create Date
May 15, 2026Update Date
May 22, 2026
