Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The art of the call
Turkey addiction starts with sight and sound
Paraphernalia are telltale signs of a turkey hunter’s addiction, and no matter how much gear you have, you always need more.
Callers are the biggest indulgences for many hunters. A rational person would conclude that one call is sufficient to call turkeys anytime, anywhere, but an addict doesn’t see it that way. More to the point, they don’t hear it that way. You need a call that sounds right in piney woods. You need a different call that sounds right in hardwoods. You need a different call to project over open space. You need a call for gobblers that are close, a different call for gobblers that are close, and all kinds of calls for gobblers you hope to hear. You need callers to give you hope when there is no hope.
Callers come in all kinds of styles and designs. They are beautiful and artful except for the diaphragm, the most useful caller of all. If you can have only one caller, the humble diaphragm call works in every environment and every situation. Since it resides in your mouth, it also has the advantage of leaving both of your hands free. This eliminates unnecessary movement that can spook a gobbler before you have a chance to shoot. It also allows you to work a hand call simultaneously, which allows you to sound like two or more turkeys.
DIAPHRAGM
A diaphragm call consists of one to three latex strips stretched across a frame that looks like a half circle. A nylon skirt encloses the frame and gives the device its shape.
Some diaphragms have clear tones. Others have raspy tones. Some are pitched high, and others are pitched low. You can drive yourself to distraction trying to decide which one to buy. Pick one and learn to use it. Don’t worry. You will buy more later.
With your tongue, press the diaphragm against the roof of your mouth. The latex faces your lips. Force air deep from your lungs to move air over the latex. The vibrations will make a sound that resembles that of a turkey.
Your first attempts will sound awful, and the device might even trigger a gag reflex. You’ll get used to it. You will quickly learn precisely where to position the device in your mouth and how to regulate air flow to make increasingly realistic sounds. You will probably need to trim the skirt to conform to the shape of your mouth roof. Trim only tiny amounts. When you finally get the right trim, you will know it.
You can make a lot of turkey sounds with a diaphragm, but only four are essential. Master the yelp, the cluck, the cackle and the purr.
I use the yelp as a locator call. When a gobbler responds, I interrupt him with cackles. It’s a rude, aggressive sound that provokes gobblers to approach. The cluck and the purr are quiet, content calls that I use when I know a silent gobbler is near.
BOX CALLS
Box calls are my favorites. They consist of a wood or laminate body and a wooden lid. The body is hollow, with thin sides that taper gently upward to a thin ridge at the top. The bottom of the lid is curved. When coated with chalk, it sounds like a turkey when you drag the lid across the box.
No turkey hunter has ever seen a box call they didn’t want to own. Some are made of walnut, cedar, chinaberry, maple and chinquapin. I even have one made of American chestnut. The lids are made of redheart, bloodwood, bois d’arc, cherry and all kinds of other woods. They are gorgeous, and they all sound unique.
Some boxes are perfect for purring. Some don’t purr well, but they yelp and cutt exceedingly well. Some do it all. A turkey hunter never parts with a do- everything box. Here’s he problem. You need a do-everything box for piney woods, another do-everything box for hardwoods, and another do-everything box for open country. Of course, you need two of each.
That’s the addiction part. The practical part is that a box call is very versatile, and also very traditional. It is easy to become proficient with a box call in a short amount of time.
A box with a long body makes deep, resonant tones that project over distance. A short box has a higher pitch. You can make it howl, but its best attribute is subtlety. It is easy to play softly when a gobbler is near.
My favorite box is semi-hollow. Instead of a wide, deep bay, it has two slots of uneven length. Frankly, it doesn’t excel for any particular call, and its tone is kind of obnoxious, but gobblers cannot resist it. Bill Rhodes of Sheridan makes it. He gripes about how hard it is to make, and he complains every time I write about it. I have two, by the way, because I might need two.
POT CALLS
Probably the least practical of all calls, the pot call has mystical powers over a turkey hunter’s pocketbook. They are really cool, and they might even be more artful than a box call.
A pot call usually contains a round wooden base of walnut, cocobolo or cedar. Atop the base is a disc made of slate, glass, aluminum or some other abrasive material. My favorite, which I take on every hunt, is one that I bought at a turkey hunting expo at Barton Coliseum in early 2005. The base is cocobolo. The top is glass, but inside is a chunk of slate that holds the breast feather of a Rio Grande gobbler. A hole in the bottom exposes the smooth side of the slate.
You get one end of the sonic palette by scraping the glass, and an entirely different sonic palette scraping the slate underneath. I don’t know who made it, but it’s a masterpiece.
I also use pots made by Premium Game Calls in Dierks, by David Taylor of Sheridan and by Grant Westmoreland of Sheridan.
The key to getting the right sound from a pot call is the striker. Some work better for a certain call than others, and you have to try a bunch to find one you like.
The main disadvantage to a pot call is that it requires two hands. Therefore, you do your distance calling with a pot and your close-in work with a diaphragm.
You’re hooked. I can tell by that glassy, distant look in your eyes. This new addiction is going to eat up a lot of time, money and domestic capital, but it will provide you a lifetime of memories.