Where should I invest my practice time and energy

[Brillo]

I have a bunch of different calls.  Copper, slate and glass pots, a couple of trumpets and a wingbone, a nice box, and some diaphragms.  I also have a push pin that my wife spent $60.00 on that doesn't sound like a turkey to me.  More like a kids toy than a serious call to my ear.   Sentimental since she gave it to me.
I am generally lousy with the mouth calls after three years of effort but can purr and whit pretty good. 
The box call is a turkey waiting to get set free and I can run it OK.
I love the trumpets and wingbone and can cluck and cut with them fair.  Very cool, very fun.
Not a fan of the pot calls but the copper and the glass sound pretty good. I practice them because I feel like I should.  Not because I love them.
So... what do I do with this to get ready for April?  I feel like I need to be excellent at a couple of them but right now I am unfocused and far from excellent on any.   Please help me get on track. 

[Zobo]

It really doesn't matter, your overwhelming yourself with too many options. You can call turkeys in with any one of your calls. If you don't like pot calls I'd skip pot calls because you're turkey hunting for fun so why use something you're not fond of?  Put the pots away, put the mouth calls away too if they are not working for you. You like your trumpets so practice with them. And if your box call sounds good I'd hone up on that. I've shot at least 3 dozen gobblers using just a box call when I was younger. Have fun practicing with a couple of the calls you most like, then after you become proficient with them you can add on. And remember you don't have to sound good, only good enough.

[Gobbler428]

It really doesn't matter, your overwhelming yourself with too many options. You can call turkeys in with any one of your calls. If you don't like pot calls I'd skip pot calls because you're turkey hunting for fun so why use something you're not fond of?  Put the pots away, put the mouth calls away too if they are not working for you. You like your trumpets so practice with them. And if your box call sounds good I'd hone up on that. I've shot at least 3 dozen gobblers using just a box call when I was younger. Have fun practicing with a couple of the calls you most like, then after you become proficient with them you can add on. And remember you don't have to sound good, only good enough.

X2

[Brillo]

Thank you for the insight.  I was thinking of staying with the mouth calls because the sounds I make with them are soft and hands free.  I have no plans for further attempts to expand mouth calling beyond what I can do now.
I will ditch the pots for now and focus on the box and trumpets and mouth calls.  Just that idea is helping me relax a bit.   

[GobbleNut]

It really doesn't matter, your overwhelming yourself with too many options. You can call turkeys in with any one of your calls.

I agree,...that is assuming that you can make whatever calls you like to use sound reasonably like a turkey.   

Brillo, based on your comments, I would encourage you to rethink a couple of things.  The first would be to not give up on pot calls. In my opinion, a good pot matched with the appropriate striker is one of the most versatile and easy-to-use calls that you can find.  I would advise you to explore the pot call possibilities a bit more rather than give up on them.

I would also advise you to keep working on becoming proficient with mouth calls.  The advantages in being able to produce realistic turkey talk while remaining motionless, and with gun at the ready, will pay dividends in the long run.  Granted, becoming proficient with mouth calls is no easy task for most folks, but it can be done with perseverance and by exploring the various call designs to determine what works best for you. 

Having made those suggestions, I also agree that it all comes down to using what you like and enjoy, whatever that might be in terms of the various types of calls.  With all the resources available today that demonstrate turkey calls, either real or man-made, it is not difficult to take any decent turkey call (of which there are many choices), and quite quickly learn how to sound like the real thing. 

After that, it is just a matter of learning to say the right thing to a gobbler (and/or his hens) at the right time and place. More often than not, I think, that is where most folks screw up in failing to call in turkeys.   

[Hook hanger]

My advice would be " get very proficient with one type call first" then only after mastering that type move on to the next. There is no reason to carry a call into the woods/vest if you are not proficient with it. Its better to be great at one than mediocre with numerous!

[Brillo]

Appreciate it gentlemen.  I was thinking that my copper pot call might be one to keep on hand for wet conditions.  In Michigan in April that is often wet snow.  Stuff sticks to everything. 
I could conceivably carry only a mouth call, copper pot and trumpet  or sub out the pot for the box when it is dry.  Makes sense to me to set some aside and and be proficient and efficient. 

[Zobo]

After that, it is just a matter of learning to say the right thing to a gobbler (and/or his hens) at the right time and place.

      This is really the harder part. Any type of call will work, but experience teaches you the "what to say, how much to say and when." But even that's not rocket science. Luckily now you can learn quite a bit from internet videos I would think.
      I suggest you practice your box call for the next 2-3 weeks, nothing else.  Immerse yourself into listening to hens online, and just try to mimic them. Box calls are pretty easy and very effective and you said you have a good degree of confidence in the quality of your box and it's potential. You can listen to other hunters too, but concentrate on the sounds of live turkeys.
      Then after 3 weeks move onto another call, maybe work on your mouth call if hands free is important to you.  You get good with one box call and one mouth call and you've really got all you need.

[Sir-diealot]

Practice my trumpets, wingbones and yelpers year round, I need a lot of work with them. I tend to play my scratchboxes quite often as well. I like pot calls but other than learning a new ones idiosyncrasies when I get it I do not practice them much because they are the easiest for me to play. I try to play my box calls starting in December but the GF and dog do not share my love of them. I have gotten better with mouth calls since I started buying from members here instead of the ones in the stores, also learning that not all mouth calls are for all mouth types was a big help and now I only uses ones that are for my mouth type or calling style. I use ones with center cuts or that blow to the right and avoid cuts that are designed for blowing to the left.

[Brillo]

The mouth call is my hardest call by far.  I am beginning to think that an old issue I had with a tooth that grew up into my palate vs. down like normal is a handicap.  A surgeon removed it a long time ago but a bump remains. That may be making it hard to seal a call?  Funny how a person takes stuff like that for granted.  Just hadn't thought much about it until lately.  That is my excuse for now but I am working around it.

[Paulmyr]

The mouth call is my hardest call by far.  I am beginning to think that an old issue I had with a tooth that grew up into my palate vs. down like normal is a handicap.  A surgeon removed it a long time ago but a bump remains. That may be making it hard to seal a call?  Funny how a person takes stuff like that for granted.  Just hadn't thought much about it until lately.  That is my excuse for now but I am working around it.

Figuring out where your air flow, left, right or center is a major part of learning to call with a diagram.
If that bump on your pallet is on the right side try using calls with an airflow set up on the  left side or vice versa if your not already.

When I 1st started using diaphrams I found after much trial and error my air came through the right side of my mouth. I didn't actually realized it at the time because back than there was no talk of matching cutts to airflow patterns. I just knew a call cutt to the right worked much better than the rest.  I  actually got pretty good at them until about 10 years ago when a had to get some major dental work.

After that it was pretty discouraging. I was  forced to keep a denture in my mouth in order to keep the the call from slipping around. The call still slipped on the denture but it was some what manageable.

Because of the denture everything about my airflow changed. Before my air flow was right side. That side of my pallet that is higher than the left. After the denture the my pallet is matched on both sides and my air flow has switched to center but I did not realize it at the time. Needless to say I was demoralized. My calling went from thinking about calling contest too crap basically over night.

I struggled for a couple years trying to get a decent sound consistently. The worst thing is turkey hunting began to lose its appeal as the major reason I went hunting was taken away from me. Sure I could use friction calls but seeing as I spent most of my 20 some years hunting up until that time learning to perfect diaphragm calling my friction calling skills were lacking to say the least. I couldn't and still can't produce the quality and consistency of sound I could with diaphragm before the dental work.

After struggling for a long time I started trying different cutts although I was still leaning towards right cutt calls because that's what I knew. When I tried a split v 3 there was some improvement. I started to feel a little better about my calling.

At that point the main problem was keeping the call in place my mouth. I tried everything, even those goofy diaphrams with the sound chamber. They helped a little bit not much.

The light finally came on while I was standing in the turkey call isle at Cabela's trying to pick out the diaphragm that was going to make things right again when I seen it. A youth frame split V3. I snatched it up and things have been on the rebound ever since. It fits deeper into the pallet on my denture and movement is minimal. I'm not back to where I was but it's way better than it used to be. I still have some trouble keeping the call in place, especially when I get aggressive but the movement is minimal now and i can get the call back in place right quick with little effort from my tongue.

I guess what I'm trying to say after all that is fit and airflow are paramount before you can begin to excel at diaphragm calling. Don't be afraid to trim the tape on your calls. Find a comfortable anchor point in your in your mouth and keep it there. Don't be moving the call around to get the sounds you want. Find an good anchor point practice from there. Adjust your tone and pitch with air pressure, tongue placement, and jaw movement. If I can do it with a mouthful of rubber and plastic you can do it as well.

Good luck

[Brillo]

Nuts Paul, I thought I had a good excuse to give up.  I have been trimming and moving calls around.  I actually tried angling a cut down call across my mouth at one time.  Exasperating!  At least I did not have to go from good to bad and rebound like you.  That would be discouraging.  I have read that someone has a kit to help determine air flow but at the time I discovered that, I had already spend a lot of nickels chasing the same lousy results. So I have not tried that.  I do think I will work on what I already have going though and reboot after this year with the diaphragms. Thanks for the boost.

[Sir-diealot]

I forgot to mention above that the biggest thing that helped me figure out what call works best for me was the mouth call mechanics kit and video. It showed me how to determine how the air moved in my mouth and around the calls and which ones would work for me. The kit came with a few different mouth calls and showed you how to determine which would work for you. This is the kit. https://www.shanesimpsonhunting.com/product-page/the-award-winning-mouth-call-mechanics-kit

[Tom007]

The above advice is dead on. Try and get proficient with one call. Once you do, like all of us you will evolve and move into different types of calls. Don't get overwhelmed and take on too much. You will have time to add to your "arsenal" as time goes on. "Practice, practice, practice", and you will nail it! Good luck...

[Greg Massey]

I agree with other practices, practice, practice and don't rely on just one type of call. Versatility in your call selection is a good thing in helping you kill your gobbler. By no means do you have to be perfect in playing these calls. But having a general understanding of them with playing a somewhat good cadence on them is what your trying to do in becoming proficient in using your calls. Being somewhat versatile with having multiple hens in your vest or satchel is to your advantage. If i couldn't play my calls i would have a sickness of withdrawals like a person who quit smoking. I really enjoy finding the hens in these different type calls.