Friends of Tom Kelly

Tenth Legion (Limited Signed Edition)

Limited quantity of copies signed by Tom Kelly are available for the holidays! 51 years in print—Tom Kelly self-published Tenth Legion in 1973. He created this masterpiece of Wild Turkey literature by recording into a portable dictation machine while working in the woods. His wife Helen transcribed his words into a book that has become the “Bible of Wild Turkey hunting.” The book has not changed in the past 51 years, even if the dust covers have had many different looks. Copyright Tom Kelly 1973Copyright Tom Kelly Inc 2012

Better on a Rising Tide

Better on a Rising Tide is Tom’s 3rd book that contains 22 chapters that previously appeared in several outdoor magazines in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Colonel Kelly writes about Wild Turkey hunting and Southern States including social life and customs. He also writes about the southern timber industry that he was an integral part of for more than 50 years. 22 chapters of pure Tom Kelly prose. “Nobody ever really knows how much of his makeup is environment and how much is heredity — no matter what stories you grandmother use to tell about the gallantry of your ancestors. But there were certain specific things that happened in your formative years that marked you, and sometimes you have the capacity to remember them exactly as they happened.” Tom notes, ”Chapter 20, the Tuning, is the only wedding Field & Stream ever covered.” Copyright Tom Kelly Inc. 1995

Dealer’s Choice

Considered the most humorous book Tom ever wrote. 142 pages Copyright Tom Kelly 1979

No Place to Hide

Tom Kelly gives us more 9 more chapters, continuing the themes of his previous 21 books. In this collection Tom explores the future of the Wild Turkey, the Hunt and the Habitat, which means the timber industry to Tom. Here is what Tom has to say, ” The mechanics of the turkey’s demise, the tactics used to bring him to bag, the actions of the turkey and the hunter while in the process of the hunt, all come from a single source, the hunter.” Copyright Tom Kelly Inc. 2015

The Best of Tom Kelly Volume II

The success of The Best of Tom Kelly Volume I led us to create a second volume. Tom continued to write of course, and we found an additional 29 chapters of wild turkey essays. This Volume II was published in 2017 and is available in hardcover and e-book.  All of the stories in both Best of Tom Kelly volumes are about turkeys, turkey hunting and turkey hunters. Copyright Tom Kelly Inc. 2017

Faces in the Crowd

Back in the days when there were only three states in the entire US with spring turkey seasons (Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama), and two of those states, Mississippi and Arkansas had seasons that were only two weeks long, it is highly probable that there were no more than 1500 spring turkey hunters in the entire world. The author’s experience dates from that time. He is a veteran of that very group. The opinions offered in this book, therefore, are truly steeped in antiquity. Copyright Tom Kelly Inc. 2002, 2020

A Year Outside

A Year Outside, is Tom Kelly’s sixth book, originally published in 2000 by Wingfeather Press. Here is what Tom had to say on the original dust cover: “There is an area, within the continental limits of the United States, that does not exhibit the conditions that appear to be prevalent in much of the rest of the country. It has more timber than it had in 1950 and more of its land is forested. With two exceptions, all of its game birds and animals are more numerous, the open seasons that permit the taking of these are longer than they were fifty years ago, and, except in one instance, bag limits are more generous. Leaving out the pursuit of fish altogether, and taking the decidedly minority position that deer are superfluous, there is an open season of one kind or another from the first day of September in one year, until the first day of the following May, except for one three week period at the beginning of March. If a person chooses to fish, and has some source of outside income, he need never go home at all. The location of this Shangri La is neither the American frontier at the time of the French and Indian Wars, nor the Land of Oz, above the chimney pots and over the rainbow. It is the Southeast Coast of the United States today, at the opening of the third millennium. The purpose of this book is to serve you a slice of one of those years.” Copyright Tom Kelly 2000

The Boat

Hardcover Sold Out Almost every man feels the burning urge once in his life to build his own wooden boat.  In this 1998 book, Tom Kelly strays –though not too far–from wild turkeys to narrate the story behind his handmade boat, whose primary purpose was, “that of moving a hunter across bodies of water of one size or another to reduce the distance between the gun and the game.” Since the construction of this boat coincides with Kelly’s career in the timber industry, his humorous narrative embraces both. Copyright Tom Kelly 1998

The T. H. Kelly Handbook

Tom wrote this book in the 1980’s to give his 600-man Scott Paper woodlands staff a sense of commonality. The book is written for young first-line supervisors—those people who have just entered the corporate world. It is a common-sense guide to being a productive member of any organization. Buy it for your company and see the results immediately. Copyright Tom Kelly 1985

The Season

This is Tom Kelly’s classic 1995 season, first published in 1996, reprinted in 2019. The Season is the only book Tom Kelly ever wrote that must be read from beginning to end. This 1995 spring season is typical of the frustration all turkey hunter feel when things start out well and end dull. Copyright Tom Kelly 1996 Copyright Tom Kelly Inc. 2019