Trumpets???

[bbcoach]

I recently purchased my first trumpet and have become somewhat proficient with it.  I love the sound and the drive I have to become more proficient with it.  The question I have is for those that use the trumpet.  What is the allure of this sound on turkeys, compared to other calls?  And do you have any more success with the trumpet compared to others in your arsenal?  Curious, as this will be my first spring adding it to my pots, box and mouth calls.

[ScottTaulbee]

I use a trumpet and mouth calls exclusively and every year I fall more in love with the trumpet. It's got a sound that a gobbler can hear from a long way. I was on a mountain yelping with a trumpet a couple years ago, at what I consider normal volume and had a gobbler across a lake on another mountain, 0.62 miles away eating it up and responding. Where it really shines is public land. Yes a lot of people are using trumpets now, more than there were 6 years ago when I got my first one, but 90% of them don't take the time to really learn the call and understand how to run one. They use it more as a fashion statement. But a quality trumpet, in the hands of a skilled turkey hunter who takes the time to become proficient with one, will kill a pile of turkeys with it. They're not as versatile as other calls but they make up for it in realism and carrying distance. I wish you the best of luck and welcome to your new addiction. Merry Christmas to y'all.


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[Will]

I would agree with the above statement. I like their versatility and find myself using one more so now than ever the past 5 years. I can produce that soft talk you hear from those birds when you're really close to them. I'm an avid bow hunter and when birds feed under me I can hear that small whine and yelp. I find the trumpet easier to get that small talk better than a diaphragm.         

[Greg Massey]

In other words it's how it resonates sounds better and carries for a longer distance.

[BullTom]

They are fun and challenging to learn. I also really enjoy all the cool woods and other materials that they can be made from.

As far as how turkeys respond to them... I personally havent found that its any better or worse than any other call type. Sometimes they wanna hear the trumpet and nothing else. Other times they dont want anything to do with the trumpet, but crawl all over the box call... etc. It's just a other tool in the bag for me. That said, if you get proficient with the trumpet and don't use anything else, I bet you'll kill a pile of birds.

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[paboxcall]

It was twenty plus years ago when I first connected using a Kehl Hilbert ABW trumpet. Only sound I could confidently replicate was a cluck.

Since, ONLY with mentoring of a long time member here on OG, I've owned and traded good trumpets...live and learn...based on the internet hype that pumped up prices for those yelpers today. I was on a buying frenzy like most are when they start learning, when my mentor gave me the most important advice:

Pick one. Master one.

Once you can fully control air the of a quality caller, you'll realize its an amplifier of the sound you produce with your air draw, your lips and mouth. Amplification needs to be accurate, a yelper casting always in a particular direction, vs. a box that projects 360 degrees.

As commented above, once you have a bird 1/4 mile or more away, you hear him, and give him the softest yelp in response you can possibly reproduce...and he gobbles back...you learn less is more. Over the last two decades a yelper has pulled a gobble when nothing else does, because IMHO, a hen projects a sound somewhat similarly.

[ScottTaulbee]

I agree with pick one and master one. All are different internally regardless of how similar they look. I went through a buying frenzy as well and had some good ones from Permar, Battey, etc but nothing I truly loved 100%. I got a shoebuck trumpet and absolutely loved it and wound up buying 4 or 5 of them and they all played the same. With that said, I got one from Daryl Slaton this year and had him make it with wood I picked out from the blank, the mouth piece material I wanted and had him do something a little different with the mouthpiece and I can say that I truly love it. I don't see myself ever carrying one other than that unless something unfortunate happens to it. And with that being said, since I've made the decision to stick with it 100%, I can do things on it and sound better than I have any of the other ones I've had.


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[Greg Massey]

I like a variety of trumpets myself, I feel if your just playing one type or builder your missing out on some awesome trumpets and what other builders bring to the woods with sound / craftsmanship etc.. IMO


Now it's nothing wrong if you just like playing one type...

I just see the difference in gobbler sounds and hen sounds with tones / pitch on these trumpets .. IMO

[Yoder409]

I've accumulated some pretty cool trumpets.

I sit down and I play each and every one of them..... I am not great, or even good, with ANY of them.

I feel that the "Pick one.  Master one" advice is the best advice you will get for free.

[appalachianassassin]

I received my first trumpet as a gift for my 18th B-Day, some 23 odd years ago. Practiced w/it for a few years but never carried it. Finally, winter of 06/07 I made my mind up to really learn the thing. Carried it opening day and the rest is history. Trumpet and cane are the go to calls for me and rarely use anything else. As far as how they work compared to other types of callers. If you know how to move on a turkey w/out spooking it, get in tight and have a good understanding of how turkeys move... you should have an upside down turkey nearly every time regardless of the call. Biggest POS call made is extremely deadly in the RIGHT hands.

[bbcoach]

Gentlemen, thanks so much for your responses.  I have killed my share of turkeys with different calls.  I love the challenge of this sport, the interaction with the birds and learning different calls and woodsmanship technics that enhances this GREAT sport we all love.  The trumpet to me has a very different sound then other calls that we use, so I'm intrigued.  I plan on putting in the time and being patient so I can learn the nuisances of this call.  I am definitely looking forward to another weapon in the arsenal and seeing how the turkeys respond this spring.  Any advice or video instruction is Greatly appreciated.   

[Turkeyman]

As others, I don't necessarily know what it is but when I run a trumpet as quiet as I can it gets responses. Last spring I positioned on a bird gobbling well...I couldn't get closer than ~100 yards. I called so softly I could barely hear it myself...he immediately responded. My last six birds have been with a trumpet/wingbone combination. 

I don't consider myself good, but apparently good enough. Also, when I hear guys like Prudhomme and Farmer I really like that rasp...I can't do it no matter how hard I try. But the turkeys don't seem to care that my calling is clear. Now...I have a good box call, slate and glass but I'll stick to the trumpet/wingbone for another reason. I can call one-handed and, when I want, just hold it between my teeth while sitting there as a tom approaches. Barely any movement when I take my hand off the stock and back to the trumpet, if needed.