Calls of the wild

You can call up turkeys with box calls, slate calls or mouth calls to suit any budget. Used properly, they all work well.
You can call up turkeys with box calls, slate calls or mouth calls to suit any budget. Used properly, they all work well.

Using and collecting turkey calls is a fun part of turkey hunting that provides a lifetime of enjoyment in and out of the woods. Learning to use each type will diversify your sound and improve your chances of success.

BOX CALLS

A box call contains a wooden box and an attached wooden lid. Scrape the lid across the box edges to make yelps, purrs, clucks and cutts. One side usually has a higher pitch than the other side, so you can make one call sound like two or more turkeys.

Box calls come in a variety of styles and sizes. They are made of all kinds of wood, and you can spend as much or as little as you want depending on quality and materials. I have box calls made of ebony, mahogany, American chestnut, chinquapin, maple, walnut, cedar, river birch, chinaberry, mulberry, and zebra wood. Some are shrill and sharp. Others are deep and raspy, and some are in between.

One of my favorites is a high-dollar laminate composite with an ebony lid, but my best sounding call is a $5 H.S. Strut "Original."

A box call's biggest asset is versatility. The disadvantage is that it requires both hands to operate. You also have to keep chalk on the bottom of the lid and on sides.

SLATE/POT CALLS

A slate call has a shallow "pot" covered with a plate of glass, slate, aluminum or copper. The pot is vented to improve resonance.

Scrape a separate plastic or wooden striker across the plate to create the full range of turkey vocalizations.Every slate call has a "sweet spot," an area that makes the clearest, most resonant tones. Striking close to the edge makes tones that are too shrill, but striking too close to the center makes dull, dead-sounding tones.

Slate calls also can be artistic. My favorite has a cocobolo chamber with a wavy sheet of slate across the bottom covered with a glass plate. A buff-tipped fan feather from a Rio Grande gobbler is attached to the slate under the glass. Striking the glass produces one range of tones, but a disc of exposed slate in the bottom of the pot makes entirely different tones.

A slate call is versatile but requires two hands. You also have to rough up the striker surface periodically.

MOUTH CALLS

This is the hardest call to master, but it's also the most useful and most versatile.

It contains one to three layers of latex film in a nylon skirt. Press the call against the roof of your mouth and work air over the latex, or diaphragm to mimic the full range of turkey vocalizations. You can control volume, pitch and timbre to whatever the situation demands.

A mouth call's tactical advantages far outweigh those of other types of calls. It has no disadvantages, but you might have to trim the skirt to properly fit your palate.

OTHER CALLS

A traditional call is made from sections of turkey wingbones connected with epoxy. A wingbone call is hard to master, but it makes phenomenal tones when operated competently.

A push-button call is a box with a spring-loaded striker on an axle that rubs against a pointed surface. Just push the end of the axle, or button, to make a plaintive, strident yelp that projects very well. You can also make purrs, cutts and clucks.

It's a one-handed call that requires little movement. Some hunters strap them to their shotgun barrel and attach a string to the axle so that they can call to turkeys that are in view.

Sports on 04/05/2015

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