Not many turkey hunters are fans of The Notorious B.I.G., but if they could see guide Karl Helmkamp’s Biggie Smalls strutting jake decoy in action, they might reconsider. Complimented by Helmkamp’s mastery of the diaphragm call, as seductive as his namesake rapper’s smooth lyrics, Biggie is as smug as plastic and feathers can be and has lured many an unsuspecting gobbler to an early death.
Helmkamp’s favorite turkey decoy is named after Christopher George Latore Wallace (1972–1997), better known by his stage names: The Notorious B.I.G, Biggie, or Biggie Smalls. Murdered in 1977, he was a rapper consistently ranked as one of the greatest and most influential of all time. When he released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994, he became a central figure in the East Coast hip-hop scene and later was heavily involved in the growing East Coast–West Coast hip-hop feud.
Helmkamp’s plastic and feathered Biggie Smalls works much of the same magic as the rapper. The decoy isn’t alive, but it draws reactions much like Wallace’s Life After Death album did when it was released shortly after his death, attracted the disdain and ire of quite a few mature toms.
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