What do I need?

[RustyBarrels]

Something about these longer days and warmer temps seems to get me every year around this time. Also seems like i always end up "needing" some new gizmo to lug around with me on opening day.  Going to the Dixie Deer Classic every March appears to be reinforcing this behavior. Its pretty hard to walk up and down those aisles and leave with the same amount of money you walked in with. Ill admit, I like buying hunting junk.
  Yesterday I was watching turkey videos on YouTube to bide the time as I was awaiting the daily mail delivery. Yes, there was a new call in transit ive been eagerly awaiting. But in the meantime this video began playing and I gotta say, it really resonated with me.


https://youtu.be/us0DX6KMIhA?si=70I_ThuEIePrKhVP

Just one man with one call, paired with an intimate understanding of his instrument.
Now before we default to the old "well I'm not Billy Yargus," its important to remember he is just a  man with a call.  I feel like the big difference is the amount of time he has spent with that call in his mouth.
  Next thing I know my favorite mouth call is out of the freezer, and in my mouth. It got me reminiscing on some of my favorite hunts where it was just me, a gun, owl call and a mouth call; and the hard earned memories of learning what to say or not to say to a gobbler.  Felt like it brought me back down to earth, and I didn't even care about my upcoming delivery anymore
  Not to say that you should abandon your vest full of calls, because i certainly won't be caught leaving the truck without a friction call.  Sometimes that extra volume from a dymonwood on glass is a blessing.
  I reckon im just spit-balling, hoping someone out there can relate. Or for the fella out there who's wife says "do you really need another call?," maybe it's a safe bet for you that she never sees this video. Lol

[Bowguy]

I hunted prob 30 years with nothing but a mouth call and not even a variety of em. 1 maybe a spare of same one. I def loaded up but I'm back to scaling way back. I don't think i
I'll ever not have a scratcher and longbox along with a mouth call but less is doable

[RustyBarrels]

30 yrs is one helluva testament. Amazing what all you can get the call to do for you

[Greg Massey]

Enjoying different calls is all part of it for me.. I still remember the days we didn't have a big choice in calls. I like my custom calls and the people I have got to meet, especially the call builders. If it hadn't been for calls,I probably wouldn't have found this forum..


So I will carry my satchel full of calls ...

[RustyBarrels]

Variety is the spice of life. Appreciate the commentary.
Im saying this now, but I may be carrying the whole kitchen sink with me by the last week of season

[tracker#1]

Nice video, great caller. Thanks for sharing. I started hunting birds in 1983. I'm in the fourth quarter, hoping for OT. Since I joined this forum, I've learned a lot more. I got hooked on the "call collecting disease" from call makers around the country, and have a good collection. I mastered all the calls except the famous "mouth call". I talked with Sadler McGraw and purchased his calls. I was determined to learn, and guess I'm doing well because that's what I've been killing birds with the past three years. Now the wife wants to know why I have so many other calls...lol

[RustyBarrels]

Im glad you mention Sadler. I dont think ill ever forget the first mouth call from him. There was nothing fancy about it, no pretty packaging, just another diaphragm in a mailer sleeve.  Once it made it in my mouth, and the reeds were humming, I let out my first cluck with his call.  I still can hear that sound in my mind, and the way it rang through the trees. It took my breath away.  The icing on the cake was drawing a nice 3 yr old into my sights on my first hunt using that call.
Ive been deliberately trying to buy other mouth calls that are as similar as possible to the ones ive got from him. So far I can say its not just in my head, that man makes a call that is almost like playing a musical instrument. I dont know what he does different, but I don't know that hes beyond reproach.  That fella can hear the nuances that make a hen sound like a hen, and somehow puts that quality in his calls.
Ill get off the soapbox now, lol.

[Davyalabama]

I have killed them with nothing but a flashlight, diaphragm, a gun and a few shells.  High 70's before daylight, you know it's going to be touching 90 before you're through, the lighter the better.  I've done this a bunch. 

Now, I prefer to have a variety of diaphragms, a double sided box for gobbling, and a one-sider with me. 

[GobbleNut]

Yesterday I was watching turkey videos on YouTube to bide the time as I was awaiting the daily mail delivery. Yes, there was a new call in transit ive been eagerly awaiting. But in the meantime this video began playing and I gotta say, it really resonated with me.

It appears that every dude with a camera is now videoing their turkey hunts and putting them up on YouTube. If you run though enough of them, you will realize one glaring fact. That is, the right gobbler in the right frame of mind will go to ANYTHING that sounds anywhere close to a hen turkey.

I agree entirely with the premise that the better caller a guy is...with various types of calls...and being well-versed in "turkey language" and when to use it...the more likely that guy is to sort out what a gobbler wants to hear and come to. However, there is a clear element of "luck of the draw" in this thing we do.

There was a fellow on these forums long ago who's byline was something to the effect of "I'll bet on the poor caller on the right gobbler over the great caller on the wrong gobbler every time".  Suffice it to say he was not wrong about that.

No matter how good a caller you are...and with whatever type of call you might be using...sometimes it all just comes down to the gobbler you chose to call to.