As the title says, if you're using a pot call and the turkey approaches, where do you put the call and striker without making too much movement or noise?
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If using a pack, I usually slip the call into an open compartment of the pack. I place the pack between my legs as soon as I sit. If using a vest, generally on the ground. I've lost calls that were in opened pockets of my vest while running to a shot gobbler.
My bigger challenge seems to be reaching for and blindly retrieving the call after I've placed it down, but want to hit few more soft notes on a close bird. A blind or low screen of vegetation usually helps to obscure my movement where possible.
If I have done everything right and the bird is cooperating then it usually goes by my left leg on the ground with the striker on top.
I'm left handed so it allows me to shield my movement, and still have good access.
Esse quam videri
I do not use a pot call, but I do use a scratch box and/or box call quite frequently... The box call is a lot easier to run without alerting birds. The scratch box requires both hands, and is far more problematic than the box call.
Best scenario for me is to set up in front of a rock or fallen log... I call behind the rock/log acts as a gun rest, and the obstruction of the rock/log hides any movement from calling.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to find a spot with a good rock or log... I use a large camouflage scarf draped over my knees with the call between my legs. Balancing the gun on my leg while calling remains problematic for me though.
No matter the situation, calling at a close bird with a friction call (without alerting the bird) is tricky business. I have yet to figure out the perfect solution. I often end up finishing (or attempting to finish) birds with my mouth call...
I set it on the ground, to my right. I place it face up and have used it blindly on the ground if I think the bird is not responding to the mouth call. Most of the time though, by the time I set it down, I don't need it again.
Pot calls are my favorite calls to use. When a turkey is close enough, I just set the call on my left leg. The striker stays in my right hand. When I shoot, the call ends up laying where I was sitting. The striker is still in my hand. I have misplaced a striker or 5 over the years with this method, but its not worth getting busted by a gobbler to secure my striker.
Kids bought me a shirt for turkey hunting last year that has a vertical zippered pocket behind the left front breast pocket. I can slip pot call right in there quick with much movement. Had an OL TOM shirt years back that had the same type of pocket. When not wearing that I lay it in my lap or set it to my right side and switch to a mouth call for the finish.
I sit with my left leg up usually with the call on my right thigh and I keep the striker in my right hand while I shoot If one surprises me or in my lap by the pot call If I have time
I am right handed.
I usually put the pot call and striker just to the right of my right leg on the ground. I've had to pick the call back up and place it on my thigh and call one or two more times a time or two.
I always lay a small dark green, black, or dark brown small towel beside me to place my stuff on.
Helps keep them quiet too.
Quote from: HFultzjr on April 25, 2017, 11:07:52 AM
I always lay a small dark green, black, or dark brown small towel beside me to place my stuff on.
Helps keep them quiet too.
^^^ THIS is a
GREAT idea! I've often thought about grabbing a swatch of camo fleece and cutting into 12"x12" squares just for this (but I forget about it until the next time I'm putting my stuff on the ground, amongst the leaves, dirt, and twigs! lol).
I have learned (and forced myself) to always, always put my calls on my right side. I'm right handed and I often angle 45 degrees with left knee towards bird. As such, I also always spit left side.
One shot of tobacco onto a slate, and ohhh boy! Don't ask me how I know this. Just trust me... ;D
But like others have said - when I'm putting it down, I'm 99% done with it. Mouthcall can handle the rest.
I'm right-handed. Once I see the bird is coming in, I usually slip my striker into my watch band/left sleeve and set the pot on the ground close to my right hip where I can easily find it without looking. From there, the mouth call comes into play, if necessary.
Very seldom do I have a slate when a bird comes in. When I know he is close the striker goes in my boot top and the slate goes in my lap. A diaghram call has been my bread and butter since I started killing birds. I would give up every call in my arsenal for a good diaphram.
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Everything gets thrown on the ground usually! I hunt with my calls, so they get dinged up but that's okay with me!
I left a crow call and a striker in the woods the other week. Went back to the same tree yesterday and they were still there :TooFunny: So it can be kinda risky if you have a brain like mine.
I use to lay the striker and pot on my lap until I lost a few strikers luckily never a pot, I think I get a little too excited after the bird starts flopping and I completely forget about it laying on my lap when I get up and take off sprinting to the bird to put my foot on him. Now I just lay it on the ground beside me and pick it up when I go back and get my empty shell.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170507/9b29da84fd90b9e1b7db0bf25ab6d7f5.jpg)
I use this for my strikers...
Cpt Hook from OG makes em....
When I sit down , I open a button on my shirt, just above my belt...my pot call goes in that opening, when I'm finished with it..
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Just set it down beside me somewhere, I am using a mouth call when I think he is close enough to see movement.
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Where ever it falls for me.
Ol Tom shirt pocket
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I generally know which tree I'll be sitting against as part of my set up. If there's vegetation surrounding me, I'm not that concerned with slowly moving to and from pot and/or box calls. If I'm not sure where I'll be setting up, I carry a 3'x10' camo netting which I hang vertically from three stakes. This allows me to set up behind it in the wide open against a tree directly on the field's edge and still have the flexibility to move slowly behind it without fear of being spotted. I used this scenario to bag my third season gobbler in Southern Illinois this spring using my LC Smith 12 gauge Damascus hammer double barrel shooting black powder and #6 shot from only 20 yards. I'll probably be taking that camo netting more next year since it hides a multiple of movements that would get you pegged without it.
I generally use a combination of mouth calls and a pot call when calling to a bird. Once I determine which of the two a gobbler favors, I will generally focus on using that call. However, I always want to have the pot in a position that I can use it one-handed if a bird is getting close, so (like others have said) I set in on the ground on my right side with the striker right next to the call, and with the call positioned so that I can "feel" for the sweet spot by reaching down without looking.
I also always set-up where I am at an angle to the right (I'm right handed) to where the bird is approaching. In doing so, with my left knee raised to hold the gun in position, I can reach down with my right hand without the bird being able to detect the movement, feel for the call and position the striker, and make any final quiet little "sweet talk" I might need to finalize the deal.
I use a lounger chair when I hunt and my a pot stays in my lap when I'm sitting. I also use an H.S. padded gun rest on my left knee, so I slip the striker under the elastic band to keep it in sight & easy reach. The pot call generally gets mid-range work, with the long box for distance calling and a mouth call for the close in finish calling. I shoot left handed, so the box call is beside my right hip.
Jim
On the ground.
Down! Usually on the ground between my legs.
Depends... If I'm running my hip boots, which I frequently do not only for crossing creeks, but it keeps the tall wet grass off you, as well as ticks for some reason hate the rubber. (A minimal amount a permethrin and lacrosse hip boots, you'll never get a tick all spring long) But I tuck the pot call in the top of my hip boot with striker next to it in there on my down leg, this makes for concealable easy use of f I need to grab it back and play right there on my thigh. It also either, keeps the call tight to my thigh or falls a couple inches into my boot where I'll obviously be able to locate it. Atleast that's my way of doing it. Along with mimicking many of the more detailed techniques already listed, and using a mouth call mainly as a finisher.
I'm with the fellas saying "put it on the ground" lol At this point in the hunt its go time and you need to get it out of your way. I'm not knockin anybody putting it in their lap or on their leg or wherever on your body. But you dang sure don't want it to slide and make a movement or if you have to turn or reposition and it clank or make noise. put it on the ground. lol
By my butt.
I've got a messenger bag instead of a vest that carries all my calls. When its flopped open, it gives me a clean spot to lay a few calls out.
If I'm using a pot call or box call, I've usually got the call put away long before the gobbler shows. By then, I have a mouth call in and I keep a push-pin call by right side. If the bird hangs up, I can throw that last cluck or two to convince him to change his mind.
One trick I've used a few times is when hens run in ahead of a gobbler and try to pick a fight. That's when that push-pin call works great. I can start throwing angry purrs at her, and make her think she's walked in on a hen. Once, I did that and set off a chain reaction. The hen got scared off all right, but then a fight broke out just on the other side of bush. Over the space of a half-hour, I had turkey Armegeddon going on, and then a wild orgy of mating with all sorts of action, but no gobbler ever stuck his head out beyond the bush. It was a crazy thing, and all about 20 feet away from me, but nothing but memories to show for it.
Next to my right hip where I can pick it up without looking.
Just a quick tip for those that are having an issue close-range birds and pot calls: take time to learn to use a pot call one-handed in the position you shoot from (most, I believe, sit down). When a gobbler is close enough that he will see your movement, you don't need to be making any loud and complex calls to convince him to come closer. In fact, it is often best to just to make little, quiet "turkey noises",...very soft clucks, purrs, and quiet little yelps,...and generally very few of them. (Note: this is assuming that the gobbler is either hung-up or possibly changing his line of approach,....if a bird is coming in steadily and toward you, you don't need to be calling at all)
The sounds needed in those situations can easily be made with the pot on the ground with one hand working the striker,...if you practice it and learn how to control the pot and striker with the one hand. A little practice with the one-hand method and you will eliminate the movement problem,....if you are set-up properly in the first place.
Proper set-up: Anybody that is right handed can naturally swing their gun farther to the left comfortably that to the right,....and vice-versa for left-handed shooters. Right handed shooters should always set up at a slight angle to the right from the direction the bird is approaching (left handers to the left). This gives you the "optimum" amount of comfortable swing-range for a bird that moves right or left when approaching you.
If you sit with your knees raised a bit (which most of us do, I think), and you are at the proper angle described above, you can easily move your "shooting hand" to the pot, if needed, where it is out-of-sight behind your raised knee. ....Problem solved.
On the ground
My pot calls sit in my truck! Once I learned to use mouth calls I don't use pots any more. My hands are free and there is no motion that will spook turkeys.
Quote from: GobbleNut on January 10, 2018, 08:51:53 AM
Just a quick tip for those that are having an issue close-range birds and pot calls: take time to learn to use a pot call one-handed in the position you shoot from (most, I believe, sit down). When a gobbler is close enough that he will see your movement, you don't need to be making any loud and complex calls to convince him to come closer. In fact, it is often best to just to make little, quiet "turkey noises",...very soft clucks, purrs, and quiet little yelps,...and generally very few of them. (Note: this is assuming that the gobbler is either hung-up or possibly changing his line of approach,....if a bird is coming in steadily and toward you, you don't need to be calling at all)
The sounds needed in those situations can easily be made with the pot on the ground with one hand working the striker,...if you practice it and learn how to control the pot and striker with the one hand. A little practice with the one-hand method and you will eliminate the movement problem,....if you are set-up properly in the first place.
Proper set-up: Anybody that is right handed can naturally swing their gun farther to the left comfortably that to the right,....and vice-versa for left-handed shooters. Right handed shooters should always set up at a slight angle to the right from the direction the bird is approaching (left handers to the left). This gives you the "optimum" amount of comfortable swing-range for a bird that moves right or left when approaching you.
If you sit with your knees raised a bit (which most of us do, I think), and you are at the proper angle described above, you can easily move your "shooting hand" to the pot, if needed, where it is out-of-sight behind your raised knee. ....Problem solved.
Exactly what I do.
Quote from: jims on January 15, 2018, 01:59:12 PM
My pot calls sit in my truck! Once I learned to use mouth calls I don't use pots any more. My hands are free and there is no motion that will spook turkeys.
While I agree that skilled mouth call users probably don't need to worry about this problem, I think it would safe to say that a great many turkey hunters are not proficient enough with a mouth call to make the subtle sounds needed for a close-in gobbler on a mouth call. I used to recommend to the newbies that they learn to use mouth calls for those close encounters, and I still think it is a good idea,....IF they are going to practice enough to perfect those close-range calls.
From what I have seen, however, most hunters are not dedicated enough to it to get good enough on a mouth call to make those soft clucks, purrs, and soft yelps needed at close range. Add to that the "dry mouth syndrome" that occurs with close-up gobblers, even pretty good mouth call users can have fits trying to get the sounds that they want with a mouth call.
Bottom line is that, for most turkey hunters, learning to make those accurate sounds on a pot call,...and learning how to do it without detectable movement,...is generally a lot easier than with a mouth call.
In my lap, on the ground, but it will be facing up so no to mess up the conditioning of the surface.
generally for me...im no longer at the point of making any calls when the time comes to shoot a gobbler. if I feel the gobbler is coming or he has came dramatically closer...I put the call down then. when I say down...on the ground face up like others have said already. as far as running one, with one hand. I don't feel the need to do that......but then again im not horrible on a mouth call. when I sit down calling , I keep my left leg up and my dominant leg being my right leg on the ground. I run the call behind my left leg even though im not really concerned with being spotted at that point.
Pot goes in left pocket striker in right. If not wearing a coat striker under my belly and pot goes in blind wall pocket.
Next to me on the ground before he's too close and finish him with a mouth call.
On the ground next to my leg.
I love running pot calls. When I know a bird is coming I will place the call and Striker on a brown towel to my right and switch over to a mouth call for the close work, but there are always the surprises...oops there he is...now what do I do!? It's what makes the hunt challenging and fun!
I do like Eddie Salter says...... Once I know the bird is coming I sling it 10 feet to the side..... That way I will not keep calling......
Quote from: thunderbirder on April 23, 2017, 10:43:07 AM
As the title says, if you're using a pot call and the turkey approaches, where do you put the call and striker without making too much movement or noise?
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I have an ol Tom shirt that has a pocket in the front that has a duck call sorta lanyard thing? It's attached in the pocket (pocket will also hold the call) That has a spring loop that I hook to the top of striker so I can just drop it. The call goes slowly to ground or in lap
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Quote from: SteelerFan on April 25, 2017, 05:31:35 PM
Quote from: HFultzjr on April 25, 2017, 11:07:52 AM
I always lay a small dark green, black, or dark brown small towel beside me to place my stuff on.
Helps keep them quiet too.
^^^ THIS is a GREAT idea! I've often thought about grabbing a swatch of camo fleece and cutting into 12"x12" squares just for this (but I forget about it until the next time I'm putting my stuff on the ground, amongst the leaves, dirt, and twigs! lol).
I have learned (and forced myself) to always, always put my calls on my right side. I'm right handed and I often angle 45 degrees with left knee towards bird. As such, I also always spit left side.
One shot of tobacco onto a slate, and ohhh boy! Don't ask me how I know this. Just trust me... ;D
But like others have said - when I'm putting it down, I'm 99% done with it. Mouthcall can handle the rest.
I usually set my decoy bag under me with enough hanging out right side to set stuff on
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Quote from: kjnengr on April 25, 2017, 12:12:27 AM
I am right handed.
I usually put the pot call and striker just to the right of my right leg on the ground. I've had to pick the call back up and place it on my thigh and call one or two more times a time or two.
+2
On the ground or in a shirt pocket. First time you shift and it goes falling off your lap and makes a noise you won't be happy about it.
I wear snake boots here in Texas. The top of the boot is where I keep 2 or three strikers near at hand when sitting.
Mines usually on the ground if I can tell he,s getting closer hes looking for that hen. :firefighter:
Quote from: Brighthd on March 03, 2019, 03:35:18 PM
I wear snake boots here in Texas. The top of the boot is where I keep 2 or three strikers near at hand when sitting.
Yup. Snake boots. So my striker slides in the top of them. Call lays in my lap or off to my right. Usually get it just out of reach to keep from calling to much.
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On the ground next to me. Some say that some of those calls are still next to an old oak to this day....