Decided to put a nail on the coffin on this one and start a new call. I am still using the storebought turkey bones, from a few months ago. I am glad I decided to do a few practice ones before using the bones from my actual tom. I learned a lot in this process and anticipate the next wing bone to go much smoother. I did not want to keep taking time trying to fix the mistakes on this call.
I had applied too much epoxy to the call and that made it tough to get the smooth joints of the call. This later brought out more issues when I attempted to wrap the call. Because of not having smooth joints, the thread kept messing up and causing more grief. I decided to finish this one up and MOVE ON
I decide to practice my artistic ability and have the scene of when I killed my tom on this call. I had to wait for him to come out behind a tree. I knew that the opening would be between two small trees. I was sitting in front of a huge diameter pine with another in front of me. The tom was following a hen, who crossed the opening and continued to peck around a bit.
Here is the call and scene.
I chose to put the birds stats on the middle section, and decorate the mouth piece with some tracks.
I went with a blue thread wrap on this call because my toms head had so much blue in it. I decorated the other side mid section with a tail feather, and will be finding a nice turkey hunting quote to write on the other side.
This process was fun and wish I did not have such a crazy schedule to devote more time to it. I will wait until I have a break from school and fly tying to even start the call from my own bird.
Things I took from this are:
1) pay close attention to the cuts you make to the bones. THis will effect how they are reassembled.
2) Less is more, when it comes to epoxy. It is better to have to fill in the gaps with another compound then try to sand epoxy.
3) smooth joints are necessary to have a "Pleasurable" wrapping experience.
4) DONT HURRY ANYTHING! Don't try and squeeze in a few minutes to finish something on the call. wait until you have as much time as you need.
Things to work on:
epoxy/filling gaps
finishing thread
Need to say thanks to everyone who helped me with my first go around. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out given my hectic schedule. I took notes on what to do and what not to do and look forward to starting fresh with my next practice call.
I will upload pictures of the other side once I find the right turkey hunting quote.
Anyone know any good quotes about turkey hunting?
