The never-ending quest for the perfect turkey call has seen hunters use leaves, bone, wood, slate, tortoise shells, glass, aluminum, and who knows what else to fool gobblers over the years.
All of these calls work some of the time, none of them work all of the time, and no one knows which one will fire up a certain gobbler on a particular day. For that reason, successful hunters learn to use as many different types of calls as possible.
Recently I asked two Realtree pro-staffers, Matt Morrett and Brad Harris, for their insights on the strengths and weaknesses of several popular types of turkey calls.
Mouth Calls
The original diaphragm calls, made from jasmine leaves, were used both by the Indians and early settlers. Today, diaphragms made from stretched latex are tremendously popular--the diaphragm being to turkey calling what the plastic worm is to bass fishing. Beginning hunters soon learn, however, that the mouth call is difficult to master.
"If you're learning the diaphragm, don't rush," advises Morrett, "Too many people try to make turkey sounds right away and develop bad habits they never unlearn. At first, just concentrate on getting comfortable with the call in your mouth. Then, work on making a single clear note. When you can do that, you've got it made."
With practice, you can make every vocalization of the wild turkey with a diaphragm. More important, you can do it while remaining motionless.
"Also," says Harris, "if you hold your cupped hand by your mouth and turn your head, you can throw your sound effectively. I've had turkeys walk right by me towards the spot I've thrown my calls."
Morrett agrees: "I never call right at a turkey. If he hears the sound coming from one spot, it's easy for him to pinpoint your position and see you. I'll move the sound around and keep the bird guessing where the call is coming from."
While thick reeded, extra-raspy, old hen-type calls are popular with many hunters, both Morrett and Harris prefer high-pitched calls.
"I think turkeys hear high pitches better and respond to them more readily," says Morrett. "I used to keep wild turkeys in a pen. We lived near a firehouse, and that high-pitched whistle would really get the toms going in the spring."
Harris says he often uses single-reed calls in the woods: "They're easy to blow and they produce high-pitched calls that make birds respond. I always carry two or three others, though, because I want to be able to give the turkey the sound he wants to hear."
Box Calls
Although Harris is skillful enough with a diaphragm to have won state calling titles, he uses a box call 85 percent of the time.
"I started calling in 1970 with a box my grandpa made for me and I've used them ever since," he says, "Now, in the video age, I can watch turkeys on tape and really study the way birds react to calling. From what I've seen, it's easier to fire a bird up to a high level of intensity with a box call."
The box is a versatile instrument that can be played several ways. "I don't turn it upside down like so many callers do; that creates too much movement," says Harris, "I use my thumb of the hand I hold the call in as a bumper on the lid when I cutt. I also take the rubberbands off. They restrict you too much."
"Don't squeeze the box, cradle it lightly. That gives you the high-pitched, ringing sound birds respond to."
Morrett, on the other hand, feels he has better control when he turns his box upside down, and he likes to slide his thumb along the sides to dampen the sound as birds get closer.
"I like to tone down the box because calling too loud makes a lot of turkeys hang up," he says, "and boxes can be very loud."
The volume of the box call does make it a great locator, and there's another advantage to it as well "You lose too much of your hearing when use a mouth call," Morrett explains, "while you can hold a friction call away from your ears and hear gobbles better."
The biggest weakness of a box call is that it simply won't work when it's wet. Morrett's solution is to store the box inside a Ziploc bag. "On rainy days, you can use the call right inside the bag."
Slate Calls
Morrett switched to a slate call in the crowded woods of his home state of Pennsylvania because he thought turkeys were getting educated to the sound of mouth calls. Today, with five World Friction Calling Championships to his credit (as well as being the first ever to win the Grand Nationals with a friction call) he's the acknowledged master of the slate.
"I like the slate call for everything; you can call loud and tone it down, it's a very versatile call and it will make any sound of the wild turkey but the gobble. The tone and quality is built into a friction call, so all you need to learn is the rhythm," he says.
"Most people don't know you can throw your sound with a slate call. The sound comes out the bottom, so you hold the call up and aim it in different directions. Trouble is, you can't do it when the turkey's in close."
Like many hunters, Harris reserves the slate call for soft, close-in calling. "I like the slate call for quiet clucks, purrs, and soft yelps. Late in the season, when visibility is low because of the foliage and the turkeys have been hammered with calling, I'll get in close and call sparingly, one or two quiet yelps and clucks. It's a very boring way to hunt, but it's extremely effective, and the slate is the best for soft calling."
Slate calls don't work well in wet weather unless you take precautions. "To use a slate when it's wet," says Morrett, "really rough the call up before you head to the woods and be sure to carry a Plexiglas striker."
Morrett ordinarily carries three strikers with him into the woods so he can vary his sound as needed.
"I like to try to mimic the sound of the hens in a particular area. Sometimes I'll even try to imitate one specific hen I've heard while scouting. I think a tom recognizes the voice of a hen he's been meeting and if you can imitate her tone and rhythm you can call that tom."
Pushbutton Boxes
The pushbutton call is the easiest of all turkey calls to use. A raw beginner can make turkey sounds on one with a few minutes practice.
"We (at Lohman Manufacturing) sell a gun mount pushbutton that works great for close-in calling," says Harris, "it fits under the gun barrel and you work it with a string. You can have your gun shouldered and call the bird all the way in with very little motion.
"We were all taught to shut up and make the bird look for us when he gets close," continues Harris, "but there are so many turkeys in the woods today that I believe you have to keep calling or you'll lose the bird to another hen.
"Pushbuttons are good confidence builders for beginning callers," says Morrett, "but I think people worry too much about sounding perfect. Real hens don't always sound very good."
"I don't carry a pushbutton call in the woods because it's too difficult to control the volume; you only have two choices: go loud or muffle the call against your leg."
Tube and Wingbone Calls
The tube call is a mouth call utilizing a latex reed, but it doesn't go inside the hunter's mouth like a diaphragm. Tubes are good calls for people who want to use a mouth call but have gag reflexes that prevent them from using a diaphragm, says Morrett. "It's also a good call to gobble with, but gobbling is not a safe practice in many parts of the country."
Both the tube call and another little-seen mouth caller, the wingbone, can locate birds at remarkable distances. Wingbones were known to turkey hunters in America long before the arrival of Columbus, and they're traditionally made from three bones of a hen's wing. The wingbone is difficult to master, but Morrett says he's seen wingbones make turkeys gobble when no other call would.
Both Morrett and Harris carry a box, a slate with multiple strikers, several mouth calls, and two or three locators with them hunting. Although an arsenal of calls increases the hunter's odds, both men have spent enough time in the woods to know that some days none of them work. Says Morrett: "If there were such a thing as a foolproof turkey call, most callmakers would be out of business and turkey hunting wouldn't be any fun."
To which Harris adds philosophically: "There are some turkeys I just can't call if the time isn't right no matter what I do. The real secret of game calling is to call them when they're ready to be called."
Locator Calls
Locating a turkey by making him gobble increases your chances and boosts your confidence. Turkeys gobble at provocative sounds, and most successful hunters carry a number of locator calls.
"I've found the crow call to be my best all-around locator," says Harris. "Coyote howlers are great for western birds and good for eastern turkeys, too.
"Don't categorize your calls by time of day," says Harris, noting that some hunters hoot only in the morning and evening and crow call only at midday. "Use what works no matter what time of day, and be ready to try all three."
"Stick with a short, distinct series. Call too much and you'll drown out the answer."
Morrett also uses crow calls and owl hooters. "I use crow calls at midday after I've made a bird gobble with a cutt; crow calls work best when a bird's already fired up. I'll crow call as I'm moving in on the bird so I know where he is. I don't like to use hen calls when I'm on my way to a tom; I like to get in as close as I'm going to get, then call like a hen."
Copyright (c) 1997 Philip Bourjaily. All rights reserved.
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