How To Choose A Turkey Call

There are countless turkey calls on the market today, and the majority of them will call turkeys. But you can experience great success and less frustration by matching the call to the situation you’re hunting in and your experience operation a turkey call. There are two types of turkey calls, friction (mechanical mechanism) and mouth (air) operated.

Friction Calls

The majority of turkey calls available on store shelves are friction calls. The reason for this is quite simple. Friction calls are much easer to operate than mouth calls, and they do a really good job of reproducing the sounds of a hen turkey. Examples of friction calls would be slate, box, and push-button calls.

Push-Button Calls: These calls are probably the best choice for beginning turkey hunter. There also a good call for close in calling, as these calls require less movement to operate versus a box type call and they are also a softer sounding call. The push-button call is a small box that produces realistic hen yelps by merely pushing the end of the rod (button) back and forth within the box. With just a few minutes of practice you’ll be yelping just like a real hen turkey. While this call is simple, it’s still a very effective and easy to operate call for beginners that will kill turkeys. An acrylic or polycarbonate call will be slightly louder and require less maintenance than wooden call, but there’s certainly nothing wrong or cheap about the wooden versions.

Slate Calls: This type of call can produce a much wider range of turkey vocalizations than the push-button type with a bit more volume also. Slate calls will require a bit more practice also to master, but are still a relatively simple call to operate. A draw back of these calls is that you will need both hands to operate this call unless purchasing an accessory for one-handed operation. The slate portion of these calls can be slate as named after, or fiberglass and aluminum. The second part of these calls is the striker, a pencil like rod. By moving the striker across the surface of the slate the sound of a turkey calling is made. Strikers are made of wood, plastic, ext. Using small, smooth, circular sweeping motions, the striker's friction upon the surface will create realistic yelps (common hen call), cuts (extremely excited yelps), purrs (sexy, soft yelps), kee kees, cackles, putts (alarm or alert call) or clucks (simple, feeding noise). The tone produced by the call is varied by changing the angle of the striker and by changing the position of the call in your hand. The volume produced by the call depends upon the amount of force used when striking the slate surface. Wooden strikers are the best choice for dry weather conditions while plastic, carbon, and aluminum are the best choices for damp weather. Remember, without friction these calls will not work.

Box Calls: Like the slate call, a box call also requires two hands to operate. The box takes place of the slate and the handle on top becomes the striker. The box call is the one of the oldest style of turkey calls. Because of its versatility and volume range the box call is still one of the favored calls used by seasoned turkey hunters.

Sound is produced from the call by moving the lid over the edge of the hollow box. Variations in force and speed of this movement will change the sound produced from a simple yelp to a cut, a purr to a putt or a cluck to a fly-down cackle. Like the slate call the box call is capable of producing the full vocabulary of a turkey while not taking a whole lot of practice. Not all box calls will work in damp conditions but some new calls will so make sure you ask before purchasing.

Mouth (Air-Activated) Calls

Diaphragm Calls: As the name implies, these calls use produce the sounds of a turkey when air forced over a reed. These types calls require a lot of practice, but the payoff is that you don’t have to use your hands as the call is kept in your mouth. This call is placed right in your mouth and shaped to fit to the roof of your mouth, and held in place in between your teeth with your tongue. The call looks like a horseshoe about the size of 50 cent piece and made from a piece of aluminum that has a latex coating with a reed stretched inside of the horseshoe.

Get The Most From Calling Turkeys

When purchasing a call do yourself a favor and purchase an instructional CD or DVD. You may even want to purchase a couple. I have always said if I only learn one tip the CD\DVD is worth $20 to me. You can always resell it on eBay after watch it several times. Keep in mind there is no substitute for practice. The best call in the world will be useless in the woods if you don’t practice with it.