Questions about calls

[Midnight Express]

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So as previously stated, I'm a new turkey hunter. Gun? Check. Shells? Check. Vest? Check. 15 different types of calls? Whoops. I may have messed up and just threw money at it. I did some research, but I may not have done enough. One, does the type of wood a call is made from change the sound? I figure it does with a box, or a pot striker, but does the type of wood on a pot call make a diffrence? Second, if there is a difference, what would work best for northwest Florida?

[MK M GOBL]

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Any change in any material changes the way any call will sound... Can't tell you what call to use, but can say pick one and learn it it before trying to go from call to call.

I can pick up my slate, never look at the call and run any call/sound I want without ever needing to see the striker or surface.
Master the Call

MK M GOBL

[compton30]

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Different strikers definitely do sound different on different pots. However, what sounds good to "my" turkeys may not be what "your" turkeys in NW Florida are used to hearing. I heard somewhere that "If I'm in the store and my wife hollers my name, I'm gonna pick that out right away." I probably butchered that something awful, but the gist is that you want to sound as closely like the hens that gobblers your hunting is used to hearing, which you'll pick up on with time spent in the woods.

Now I'll let the other gents &/or ladies speak as they can probably opine much more succinctly than I just did.

[bornagain64]

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If you are just learning to call, I would go with a box call,  Easieast call to run for a bigginer. But with practice you can get better with any call.

It is not so much the type of call or sound of the call, but more what you are saying. You want to memic the hens in your area, and that can change day to day. For me soft calling works great, cluck and yelps.
If you are moving and trying to strike up a gobbler, then cutting and louder yelps. If the hens in your area are loud and aggresive, then you can be too.
I would say the top 3 calls you should practice 1st are, yelp, cluck and the cut. I use those calls 90% of the time.

More than once, I have heard the worst sounding hen in the world. Just a terrible sounding yelp and cuts. I thought to myself, that guy sounds terrible. Only to have the hen come walking by, still making that horrible sound.

[GobbleNut]

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In today's market, there are tons of turkey calls that, when used properly, will call in turkeys.  The choices are virtually endless.  While it is true that there are some duds out there, anybody that has taken the time to listen to an assortment of real turkeys and humans that know how to use turkey calls will be able to assess whether a particular call is worthy of using in the woods.

If I was to recommend one particular type of call, it would be a pot call with a slate surface, paired up with an assortment of compatible strikers.  Regardless of the type of wood or other material incorporated in the call, your decisions on what to use should be based on the sounds you can make with the call, rather than any other factor. 

It never hurts to have an assortment of calls and learn how to replicate turkey sounds as realistically as possible with each.  In any given situation in the woods, you never can tell what sound will trigger a gobbler.  Over the years, I have been amazed at how often a gobbler will respond to one specific sound over others he is hearing,...and those sounds have pretty often been something that I would never have guessed would trip their trigger.