Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips

Different threads along the way bring up comments from folks that hunt calls they made themselves.

OBVIOUSLY some of the world's most talented builders are members here.  And obviously they are hunting their own calls.  But what about the folks that aren't well-known builders or known at all ??

Well-known OR unknown in the call making world........are you hunting any calls of your own making ??

Let's see pics !!!

So that nobody is embarrassed..........  I'll go first and get that outta the way.   :toothy9:

I made this call about 45 years ago out of a 35mm film can, a rubber surgical glove and (at that time) black electrician's tape.  It called the first bird I ever killed.

I took it out 45 years later and this past fall, it killed the most recent bird I have killed.

Total cost.......... Zero

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52463797037_7ccd55073c_c.jpg)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52478545341_430e9aa7cb_c.jpg)

Yes I am, I've made calls that would kill birds but not any that made me say wow until this winter. I've came up with the combo that matches the hen in my head and I look forward to this spring with it. That's a 3" and a 3 1/2" version (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230316/9c76ecaa77540a7fdc292572742cedfa.jpg)


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THAT'S what we're talkin' about !!!    :you_rock:

Nicely done calls !!

I need to dig out my home-made slate call...........

I still have a few of my homemade calls, turtle shell slate, snuff can calls and a homemade pot call with just a piece of slate glued to the top of wood with an open bottom and a old homemade corncob cedar striker... I also have a thin cane striker with a small gourd glued on top of the striker...back in those early years we were making calls out of whatever .. LOL.. I would go into our local drug store and ask for a certain product that was behind the counter in those days and they would give me this strange look...but i need them for my latex for my snuff cans ...  :TooFunny:

Quote from: Yoder409 on March 16, 2023, 11:38:27 AM
THAT'S what we're talkin' about !!!    :you_rock:

Nicely done calls !!

I need to dig out my home-made slate call...........

I appreciate it!. I'm tickled with the calls and the sound I got from them myself. I've dialed it in and have been able to make about 8 or 10 with the same hen I've got in my head. I'm hoping to enter a few makers competitions this year and see how they stack up


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I always have at least one of my calls with me.  Here are a couple of my 2pc. cane call, and one of my 3pc cane.  I usually hunt the 3pc, but have just as much confidence in the 2pc.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51406600824_22f522544d_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51405836821_92ae424a35_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51406105338_849169f918_c.jpg)
Little back story on the cane I use.   As a kid hunting with my parents in Florida on a local WMA.   My dad would cut cane on the Kissimmee river when we got there and and make a couple throw away calls  to use for the weekend. One weekend in the late 60's we pulled up some cane and planted at our house. It did real well, and we used it for cane poles and throw away turkey calls, we called them Clucker's back then.   When they moved we pulled up some of that cane and put out at their new house.  Same result, the cane did real well, and to this day there is a stand of cane at that house.  Long story short, the cane I use in most of my calls come from that cane whose root stock go back to that day in the late 60's when we pulled some up.   I know it don't mean squat to most people, but for me it's pretty special carrying a piece of my turkey hunting childhood around my neck. 

There's a good chance that the bones I used to make the call around my neck came from this turkeys daddy or uncle. He fell less than 100 yards from the original owner of the wingbones I used.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230316/5ade733cad5dd10225e3a6ffe4534fbb.jpg)

I've hunted with and killed with some mouth calls I've made but they aren't special and i have to make about 100 to make one good one

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230316/112831bc955badae847492ff437c4070.jpg)
I used to make box calls when i had spare time


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Quote from: ScottTaulbee on March 16, 2023, 12:05:21 PM

Quote from: Yoder409 on March 16, 2023, 11:38:27 AM
THAT'S what we're talkin' about !!!    :you_rock:

Nicely done calls !!

I need to dig out my home-made slate call...........

I appreciate it!. I'm tickled with the calls and the sound I got from them myself. I've dialed it in and have been able to make about 8 or 10 with the same hen I've got in my head. I'm hoping to enter a few makers competitions this year and see how they stack up


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Scott, It doesn't matter what PEOPLE think about them, it only matters what Ole Three Toes thinks!!!
Nice Job, Now take them to the woods and get the Real Judge's OPINION!!!!!

Quote from: bbcoach on March 16, 2023, 02:27:28 PM

Quote from: ScottTaulbee on March 16, 2023, 12:05:21 PM

Quote from: Yoder409 on March 16, 2023, 11:38:27 AM
THAT'S what we're talkin' about !!!    :you_rock:

Nicely done calls !!

I need to dig out my home-made slate call...........

I appreciate it!. I'm tickled with the calls and the sound I got from them myself. I've dialed it in and have been able to make about 8 or 10 with the same hen I've got in my head. I'm hoping to enter a few makers competitions this year and see how they stack up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Scott, It doesn't matter what PEOPLE think about them, it only matters what Ole Three Toes thinks!!!
Nice Job, Now take them to the woods and get the Real Judge's OPINION!!!!!

That's all that matters to me anyhow. As of right now, including myself, I'll have 7 of these in the woods this spring, in 3 different states getting a real good test against the true judge. I want all the feedback I can get on them to improve, but as they are, I believe they won't have a problem with old 3 toes!.


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Always wanted to make my own calls but haven't gone down that rabbit hole yet.

This little purr pot and striker made by me finished this gobbler that I struck with a Watkins box. I always carry wingbones  and a trumpet I made.

Absolutely! Pots and diaphragms. Every gobbler killed in my presence over the last 4 years has heard a mouth yepper made by me.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230316/b87c16a9bdfc78a43acb822fdc55cf5a.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230316/b36ef15994df8ec8510a84a03e28ef39.jpg)

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I made the wingbone around my neck. the pot call was made out of a black walnut tree I grew from seed by Al Holbert but I carved the striker from the same wood.

Those were the only calls I had with me on this hunt.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230316/c53302a57760c11066568f49a65ce523.jpg)
I carry A box call I made every year. It's killed some birds.


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Quote from: Happy on March 16, 2023, 01:15:42 PM
There's a good chance that the bones I used to make the call around my neck came from this turkeys daddy or uncle. He fell less than 100 yards from the original owner of the wingbones I used.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230316/5ade733cad5dd10225e3a6ffe4534fbb.jpg)

Just so people don't get the idea GOATS aren't having fun out there, this picture was taken during the year of the Great Toilet Paper shortage.
High dollar fashion models like Happy don't do well with corncobs

Quote from: guesswho on March 16, 2023, 12:19:04 PM
I always have at least one of my calls with me.  Here are a couple of my 2pc. cane call, and one of my 3pc cane.  I usually hunt the 3pc, but have just as much confidence in the 2pc.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51406600824_22f522544d_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51405836821_92ae424a35_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51406105338_849169f918_c.jpg)
Little back story on the cane I use.   As a kid hunting with my parents in Florida on a local WMA.   My dad would cut cane on the Kissimmee river when we got there and and make a couple throw away calls  to use for the weekend. One weekend in the late 60's we pulled up some cane and planted at their house.   It did real well, and we used it for cane poles and throw away turkey calls, we called them Clucker's back then.   When they moved we pulled up some of that cane and put out at their new house.  Same result, the cane did real well, and to this day there is a stand of cane at that house.  Long story short, the cane I use in most of my calls come from that cane whose root stock go back to theat day in the late 60's when we pulled some up.   I know it don't mean squat to most people, but for me it's pretty special carrying a piece of my turkey hunting childhood around my neck.

Had the privilege of hunting with one of Guesswho's 3 piece calls last spring and fall. Lots of turkeys in these calls

If you want to include kit calls then I can say yes.
(https://i.imgur.com/kyngNJlm.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/8iS21eUm.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/JYts3BTm.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/IM7y6W4m.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/6A621xVm.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/uzV3gcGm.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/XLrRyzIm.jpg)

Will be trying these this spring. BBD I hope.  Basic but deadly.  (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230317/5e0034a0b70b5e1e9fa089e65bbe3648.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/t456/oldgobbler3/IMG_20220307_082023321.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/t456/oldgobbler3/.highres/20160925_174641.jpg)

Just so people don't get the idea GOATS aren't having fun out there, this picture was taken during the year of the Great Toilet Paper shortage.
High dollar fashion models like Happy don't do well with corncobs.

The majority of the turkeys I kill don't get posted anywhere. And this is the only social media I partake in. As I have gotten older, I have started making it a point to get an on the spot photo for my album to be viewed when I get older. Unfortunately, I never took a picture of just the gobbler and the call. Thanks for acknowledging the modeling deal, though. I have really worked hard in the off-season and am leaner and better looking than ever.

Quote from: crow on March 16, 2023, 07:07:15 PM

Quote from: Happy on March 16, 2023, 01:15:42 PM
There's a good chance that the bones I used to make the call around my neck came from this turkeys daddy or uncle. He fell less than 100 yards from the original owner of the wingbones I used.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230316/5ade733cad5dd10225e3a6ffe4534fbb.jpg)

Just so people don't get the idea GOATS aren't having fun out there, this picture was taken during the year of the Great Toilet Paper shortage.
High dollar fashion models like Happy don't do well with corncobs

;D
I was thinking, he doesn't look very "Happy"

My call that I'm hunting this year. Osage glass over rutland dymondwood (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230317/340c6c7ee7d07e6f6d1b7d985b8b797b.jpg)

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Quote from: Happy on March 16, 2023, 09:16:47 PM
Just so people don't get the idea GOATS aren't having fun out there, this picture was taken during the year of the Great Toilet Paper shortage.
High dollar fashion models like Happy don't do well with corncobs.

The majority of the turkeys I kill don't get posted anywhere. And this is the only social media I partake in. As I have gotten older, I have started making it a point to get an on the spot photo for my album to be viewed when I get older. Unfortunately, I never took a picture of just the gobbler and the call. Thanks for acknowledging the modeling deal, though. I have really worked hard in the off-season and am leaner and better looking than ever.

:TooFunny:, just don't forget the little people when you hit the big time and specialize only in oscillated gobblers,
PS.   either don't drink the water or take plenty of corncobs

Quote from: guesswho on March 16, 2023, 12:19:04 PM
I always have at least one of my calls with me.  Here are a couple of my 2pc. cane call, and one of my 3pc cane.  I usually hunt the 3pc, but have just as much confidence in the 2pc.

Little back story on the cane I use.   As a kid hunting with my parents in Florida on a local WMA.   My dad would cut cane on the Kissimmee river when we got there and and make a couple throw away calls  to use for the weekend. One weekend in the late 60's we pulled up some cane and planted at our house. It did real well, and we used it for cane poles and throw away turkey calls, we called them Clucker's back then.   When they moved we pulled up some of that cane and put out at their new house.  Same result, the cane did real well, and to this day there is a stand of cane at that house.  Long story short, the cane I use in most of my calls come from that cane whose root stock go back to that day in the late 60's when we pulled some up.   I know it don't mean squat to most people, but for me it's pretty special carrying a piece of my turkey hunting childhood around my neck.

Great story guesswho! Love the history of your call.

Yes. Every hunt. I carry a few friend made calls as well when something else is desired by Tom.18 states reported Ferocious Tom harvests last spring. I love it!!

Same call, 4 different guns, 4 different years. Bloodwood and black limba. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230317/18dce933d878e00f89cd1f5690cfe4eb.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230317/df4f55d75dec0075443f055ee4603c7b.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230317/1c48a7cf2ced4af3a242de64efca0cc4.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230317/5305947dba6a600553d5f31ba3251cd6.jpg)

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Some new box calls i made. I will be hunting 3 of them JeffC will carrying one into the woods for me to test out. The wingbone i made from a previous years gobbler was able to call in this bird.  He supplied the bones for the other two in the third picture. Hope to use them this spring as well.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230317/3d34aaffd8f2ca6e97c09a8907eb5059.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230317/57b1871d3e14498f422a9d800e058039.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230317/9e02391a1c93621cc16ae354f4ab6694.jpg)

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Most of the time

Quote from: Gooserbat on March 17, 2023, 02:33:07 PM
Most of the time

Ive  always wondered when call makers make a batch like this. How many do you personally test in the batch before you are satisfied that its a good batch or do you get the recipe and call it good?

Quote from: Gooserbat on March 17, 2023, 02:33:07 PM
Most of the time

Yumpin Yiminey are these going to Mn. where all the squareheads live


let me add, I am one,
but at least not the MN ones, they're much worse

Here is my first attempt at a wing bone call that I made from a gobbler I killed last year using a wing bone call for the first time.
Not much to look at, but sounds ok. Going to give it a try in the morning.

I make a few calls...but sweet talk em in with one of these. They can't resist a crazy top telecaster!

Mines not near as pretty as some of these...

      But they getter done

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230318/7a0f11dd7397eae9a99012a87b9173e3.jpg)

I was in the machining trade for 45+ years. (Retired 2019) Around 20yrs ago I got into turning pot calls and strikers.
I mainly use what I've turned but enjoy using box calls, wingbones, and just picked up an EZ cane yelper.
Pic of my go to call. slate/glass w/ bloodwood striker.
(https://i.imgur.com/lukzmtQm.jpg)

Quote from: Yoder409 on March 16, 2023, 11:34:17 AM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52478545341_430e9aa7cb_c.jpg)

Great picture!

Dead Bird Walking calls I make is all I hunt with!  And yes I make each one, one at a time!   

Quote from: Zobo on March 20, 2023, 08:21:54 PM

Quote from: Yoder409 on March 16, 2023, 11:34:17 AM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52478545341_430e9aa7cb_c.jpg)

Great picture!

Thank you !!

That was just one of those "picture perfect" mornings.

Quote from: Yoder409 on March 21, 2023, 05:15:19 PM

Quote from: Zobo on March 20, 2023, 08:21:54 PM

Quote from: Yoder409 on March 16, 2023, 11:34:17 AM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52478545341_430e9aa7cb_c.jpg)

Great picture!

Thank you !!

That was just one of those "picture perfect" mornings.

Would that bird be considered a mossy head?

They don't have to look pretty as long as they get the job done!
Good for all of you who make their own calls.
Thank you for sharing with us!

Quote from: Paulmyr on March 22, 2023, 12:21:00 AM

Quote from: Yoder409 on March 21, 2023, 05:15:19 PM

Quote from: Zobo on March 20, 2023, 08:21:54 PM

Quote from: Yoder409 on March 16, 2023, 11:34:17 AM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52478545341_430e9aa7cb_c.jpg)

Great picture!

Thank you !!

That was just one of those "picture perfect" mornings.

Would that bird be considered a mossy head?

I guess I didn't even know that was a thing.......

Don't know if that bird is one or not.  All along, I just thought it was a hen turkey.   ;D

Hunted this one or another one just like it (a little less figure) for over 2 decades.

Made em in my basement with a drill press.  I did buy dowels and striker heads and figure out which went best with what.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52769028998_7ef92e57c6_c.jpg)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52768002042_1c13a57d6c_c.jpg)

10-1/2" beard, 1-1/8" spurs and ~ 20-lb Eastern