Mouth calls

[dejake]

every year

[fallhnt]

When the reeds split

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[longspur]

OK, you folk that buy the same one year after year, do you mind saying which ones?  I just bought the 4pack from hooks. Good choice???

[chcltlabz]

I don't replace them until they wear out.  I buy new ones every year to either try or as backup, but my go-to calls stay in the rotation until they're shot.  Usually because the latex stretches out and they lose their sound or they split.  I spray mine with diaphresh every day I use them and they don't tend to stick as bad.  I let them air dry in my mouth call pouch and they don't get moldy.  Stored in the fridge between seasons.

[fmf]

I used to buy new ones every year about a month before the season, until the prices went so high.  Now when I find one I like I get at least 2 and maybe 3 years out of them.  I take care to never leave them out of the fridge overnight unless I'm camping, and then they will go in a cooler.  I don't leave them in my truck in the hot sun.  I soak them in straight mouthwash (no 50/50 solution) before they go in the fridge, and when they come out I will put them in either straight water or diluted mouth wash while I'm getting dressed to unstick the reeds.

I generally try a couple different ones each year though, but mostly stick with what I know works for me.

[GobbleNut]

It's all about sound quality for me.  Over the years, I have more or less identified the sounds that I want a call to produce,...those sounds that will consistently pull gobbles out of birds.   If a call starts to lose that sound,...and more importantly, if it starts to fail to get responses from gobblers,...I replace it.  Of course, that's easy for me to say because I make my own calls (which I advise anybody that really wants to be the very best they can be with a mouth call to do)

In addition, it's all about having confidence in a call in a specific situation.  The mouth call I will use for early morning tree-call type talk is entirely different than a call I will use after the birds have been on the ground a while.  I want different tonal and volume qualities in those situations,...and for me, I cannot achieve those differences in the same call.