the art of calling

CALLS Part 2

Diaphragm (aka mouth calls) :

Mouth calls are a small piece of latex with any number of cuts in it or they could have no cuts at all. The material is stretched on a frame and covered in tape.  These calls are slightly more difficult to use compared to the friction calls. However, I definitely suggest you take the time to learn.  Mouth calls can be very effective when that sharp eyed gobbler is close and using a call that forces you to move or use your hands are out of the question.  The mouth call can also be extremely effective when used in corporation with a friction call making you sound like a harem of willing hens.  Once one has command of the mouth call he can change his cadence and pitch easily and make himself sound like the whole flock.

Technique:

 Place the call in your mouth, using your mouth place the call on your tongue and seal it to the roof of your mouth.   Use your tongue to place pressure on the latex, the more pressure you put on the latex reed the higher the pitch of the call will be.  Next, put your tongue on the reed and just force air between your tongue and the reeds to make a whistle sound.  Once you can make the whistle then say the word “puck” or “chuck this will cause the call to make a cluck ”. Once you have mastered this call blow on the reeds with a lot of pressure and then let off the pressure while continuing to blow air with your diaphragm this will make a whine . These are the first two calls I would suggest you master. these two calls can also be used when the gobblers head is down and you want him to look up to get that clean shot

Locator calls:

 Locator calls do exactly what the name suggests.  These calls can be anything from a wing bone call, gobbler shaker, crow calls, coyote calls, owl calls etc….   Let’s start with the most popular of these calls the crow and owl call.  These call are used to get birds to “shock gobble”, this is when an excited tom gobbles to any sound resembling the call of a hen.  The owl call can also be used the night before the hunt or if you get into the woods an hour or so before it gets light. By getting a bird to shock gobble from his bed room roost.  This can give you a great start to the hunt by allowing you to know just where to set up. 

Once you have located your bird and he is still in the tree this trick can also be effective.  While calling to the bird beat your hat on your leg this will sound like other turkeys taking flight out there roosting trees. This will encourage the smart tom to come down and join the other birds that he thinks are on the ground. You can also buy a real turkey wing with feathers on it for this task, sold by Primos.  However, I find using some rebel ingenuity works fine. You can also to use a rubber band around a bunch of turkey feathers that you’ve found to make one of the wing calls.

Two of the other Locator calls are the wing bone and the gobbler shaker; these two calls are very loud and useful to any turkey hunter. The wing bone is a Native American call that was once made from the hollow wing bone of a turkey.   Don’t worry if you’re not much of a call maker Primos also sells these calls.  These type of calls are loud enough to get that stubborn tom to gobble all the way across the property

Technique:

 Cup your hands around the large end of the call and place the tips of your lips on the smaller end. Next, suck in air while opening your cupped hands.  This will make the sound while use your hands to make the sound echo.

The gobbler shaker is a call meant to imitate the call of a male turkey.   This can be dangerous as I stated in the beginning of part one of this post turkey hunting is dangerous. The main reason is that other hunters may be in the woods this means you have to pay close attention when making the sound of the animal that others are hunting.  This call can be used as a locator call or to fire up that tom and make him ready to fight and when this call is paired with a hen call this can be a potent combination. I have had this trick work when all else fails.

Technique:

 Grab this call by the plastic end and shake. This one is pretty simple.  I suggest listening to a tom gobble to get some idea of how they sound then try to imitate it with this call.

I hope this post gave you spring fever because I know I have it!

Good hunting and God bless,

Ryan Lilly