just curious how many locate, soft talk and work a bird start to finish with one call? i did MANY times when i was younger and didn't have a lot of money in calls like i do now. i used a Lohman model 870 for years and it was my ONLY call, start to finish. i am still very found of using longboxes but do use pot calls if i am striking out and almost always finish them he last few years with mouth call if need be. i really think i can still use just one call but now that i have a rather decent supply of custom calls i enjoy using them. i really think i still only need to carry a good longbox as they are so versatile and you can get so many different turkey sounds out of it, especially a Watkins or a Snodgrass!
Me. My buddy owns Spoon River Turkey Calls.
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First four years hunting turkeys, All one boxcall.
I enjoy hunting and calling with multiple calls,but call turkeys often just using one call. I think it boils down to how familiar a person is with the call they are using and also knowing what to say and when to say it.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If what I am using breaks down, then and only then will I try another caller.
I do. Usually use mouth calls 95% of the time.
I'm typically start to finish with one mouth call. I rarely even get a pot call out. They've never been top of my list, although I killed my first tom quietly yelping on a cheap HS slate call to a tom before flydown. I pull a box call out a lot more often than a pot call to try and strike one. Even then I'd finish with the mouth call.
Usually just a mouth call, box or pot if I am calling for a friend
Most of the time the call that strikes them is the call that kills them.
Quote from: Gobble! on March 17, 2018, 03:40:41 PM
Most of the time the call that strikes them is the call that kills them.
This is how I do it. If I strike him and he likes it I'm not switching.
Funny story, A buddy of mine was trolling mid-morning several years ago trying to strike a bird. He was walking a two track stopping every so often and cutting on a glass pot call. He got a bird to answer him he got set up and said he got the old bird pretty fired up with his glass call and could tell the bird was headed his way. He always keeps a mouth call in his mouth for hands free coaxing or to stop a bird for the shot if need be. The timber was pretty open and he could see the bird strutting about 100 yards away. looking back he says I am not sure what made me do it but he cut and yelped at the bird on that mouth call. He said the old bird came out of strut popped his head up as if to say HS Strut 2.5 and turned around and sprinted away. Apparently someone may have played him that tune before.
Almost always unless I'm running two at a time like box and mouth call I'll just start and finish with the same.
Scratch box alot of birds over the last few years in the north woods.
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Sometimes it depends if I'm calling for some one else or solo hunt... by myself I am running my slate and a mouth call, run them together so Tom hears the pair the whole time I'm working him, when it's getting close to shooting time the slate is down and I turn to soft clucks, purrs and yelps on the mouth call. Gun is in my hands and running camera keeps me busy. When I'm calling for someone else no issue and run all three right to the end.
MK M GOBL
I hunted a few years with diaphragm only, just to see if I could do it, then slate only a few years, then long box only to improve my skill set on each type as I went. It is impressive how well you can get a call to work if it's the only thing you've got with you. I'm still not a great caller, but with turkey hunting you only have one judge to fool. I hunted with a single shot for 10 years for the exact same reason, call him in close, make the first shot count, and you don't need another. Now I carry 3 diaphragms, a slate, a glass pot, a long box, and a SBE II every time I go. I've had times where one of those calls worked when the others wouldn't. There's no sense in risking drawing a blank unnecessarily.
Jim
Quote from: Gobble! on March 17, 2018, 03:40:41 PM
Most of the time the call that strikes them is the call that kills them.
This.
I figured if it's what gets them going it's what's going to kill them.
I rarely use anything but a mouth call. I do and have worked birds with a slate but still using a mouth call as well. I have no idea what the percentage is but I would guess 90% of my birds are called in with a single mouth call. I used to keep two calls in my mouth at once and switch back and forth but that was years ago and I had to spit my Copenhagen out to do that.
I take several. Whichever they respond to I run the rest of the time on that bird.
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Quote from: southern_leo on March 18, 2018, 01:00:07 AM
I take several. Whichever they respond to I run the rest of the time on that bird.
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This is exactly how I go about it to. Pot call 99% of the time. I don't like Mouth calls and only use one if I have to.
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The real question to me is whether or not changing calls while working a bird is good, bad, or irrelevant. From my own experiences, I believe you should stick with the call that the bird is responding to until he does something to indicate that he is not going to come all the way in to that call.
In my opinion, switching from a call that a gobbler is responding to and approaching to a different call doesn't really make a lot of sense,...and I doubt that there are many hunters that do that.
However, there are definitely times when a gobbler will respond enthusiastically to a certain call until he reaches a certain point in his approach, and then, all of a sudden, will balk at coming closer. In those instances, changing to a different call might be the trigger that convinces him to come the rest of the way. It's hard to say with gobblers that do that. The fact is that you never can say for sure what is going to break a bird that has hung up.
Personally, totally switching calls on a bird that hangs up is a ways down my list of options. The tactics that come before that for me are a combination of relocating my position (if feasible), more subtle calling (or in some cases, more aggressive calling), leaf raking, wing beating, and visual stimulus. If all of that fails, I'll switch calls, but if it gets to that point, I rarely am confident that switching calls is going to be the trigger that brings him on in.
Mouth call 99% of the time. I keep a pot call to use now then. Always finish with a mouth call.
Quote from: Gobble! on March 17, 2018, 03:40:41 PM
Most of the time the call that strikes them is the call that kills them.
I agree with this sentiment...
However, I always have a mouth call in... That last hundred yards or so (depending on how open the country is), the birds have a far better chance of seeing movement on a friction call, and if I feel I need to call, I will use my mouth call instead. Were I concealed in a blind, or behind an obstruction, I would prefer to stick with the call that started the process...
I usually stick with whatever the gobbler first answers I feel that changing location is a better tactic than changing calls. I don't use a mouth diaphragm anymore but I can cluck and purr well enough without one if I need to. After I get one coming my way I stop calling and get the gun up anyway.