Custom Callls?

[Neill_Prater]

I don't want to ruffle any feathers, so to speak, with this post, but would appreciate some honest input. I've never sprung for what most would consider a true custom made call, although I have had a couple given to me in the past. I've run the gamut from friction calls, to diaphragm calls almost exclusively, to friction calls, to using both through the years, but most have been mass produced. Some I never liked after I bought them, either because of being difficult to run, or they just never sounded "right" to me, although I've no doubt someone, somewhere has killed birds with them. I also have my favorites, which seem to always ride in my turkey vest, and will be the first call I generally reach for. I had a nice little box call, a cedar Purrfect Yelper made by the Rohm brothers a dozen or so years ago. I loved that thing, and could purr with it so softly. I managed to sit on it one day, cracking the side of the box, but glued it back together and it sounded fine. Then, one day while hunting with a buddy of mine here in MO, I dropped a bird, and when I stood up to go after him, I stepped square dab in the middle of that little box call, smashing it to smithereens. I was sick, and sure I could never call turkeys as well with anything else. I even ordered another by the same maker, but it did not sound like my old favorite. But, you know, I just used another call, and it wasn't long before it was my favorite.

My question after all this rambling is, for you guys that are primarily hunters, rather than collectors, are you convinced that any custom or handmade call you have, or have had, is, in the real world, actually better than something you can pick up at Walmart at fooling turkeys? Is it really worth it, from purely a practical standpoint, to pay the better part of a hundred dollars for a custom call, other than simply to be able to say you have one? In other words, if you packed up this spring and drove 500 miles for an early season, out of state hunt, and discovered you left your calls at home, forcing you to drive to the nearest Supercenter an hour before flydown and pick up a $15 generic pot call off the rack, would you be any less confident in your ability to call in a longbeard that morning, given the opportunity? Neill

[TauntoHawk]

YES and no..

I am not going to buy a $100+ hand carved box call and carry it in my vest. But are there affordable custom calls that are better than production calls.. YES, Hooks mouth calls, actually cheaper than many production calls are at least 10x better than any box story brand and ive used at least 50 different mouth calls.

[a-j calls]

The turkey makes the rules, as to what he wants to do...

[sugarray]

I have calls from TRKYHTR as well as Hooks.  They are far better than any Primos call I have tried.  These are mouth calls.  The were $5-6 each.  I have bought 2 slate calls from TRKYHTR as well and they sound much better than my Ole Betsy Primos.  They were $30-40.  So, I haven't paid $100 for a call yet but am seriously thinking of getting an aluminum and a box call from makers here.
So, well worth the money, better (more realistic) sounding, and supporting guys that you "know".  Made in the USA!!


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[guesswho]

I'm cheap.  Most of the birds I kill hear a 10 year old Primos Old Glory, a K&H mouth call that may be three or four years old, I also use mouth calls that people have given me, unused I hope, and last year I used a Trumpet MKW sent me.   I will say the MKW trumpet call is well worth the going rate.  Excluding the trumpet, all my calls at any given time have an estimated value of about $5    And they have a pretty good track record.

[chatterbox]

I'm cheap.  Most of the birds I kill hear a 10 year old Primos Old Glory, a K&H mouth call that may be three or four years old, I also use mouth calls that people have given me, unused I hope, and last year I used a Trumpet MKW sent me.   I will say the MKW trumpet call is well worth the going rate.  Excluding the trumpet, all my calls at any given time have an estimated value of about $5    And they have a pretty good track record.

Maybe a little better than pretty good.......

[drenalinld]

I believe it is the caller not the call  The $10 HS Strut calls sound great and I would be very confident if that's all I had. Here is the difference to me. Store bought calls are inconsistent. I have one ole yeller that is pure turkey and one that is horrible. I have Lynch World Champion boxes that sound great and a couple that are pitiful. The custom call makers on here will not send out a call that is sub par and most guarantee satisfaction. A truly great custom call is hard to make bad sounds on. They just bleed turkey.

I can kill turkeys with my single shot H and R, but I do like my Benelli and my tricked out 870! That makes it a great sport to me. I have seen the guy with a vest full of expensive custom calls and the best shotgun, choke, and shells eat tag soup while the guy with army fatigues and a couple home made calls consistently filling tags.

The best weapon will always be good woodsman ship and experience with gobblers.

[chatterbox]

The best weapon will always be good woodsman ship and experience with gobblers.

This.

[WildTigerTrout]

The only custom call I own is a pot call built by Al Holbert of Enticer Calls right here in Pa. It sounds GREAT and bleeds Turkey. I also have one each( slate and glass) of the "The Woodsman" series by Bill Zearing of Cody Calls again built here in Pa. They are production calls but also bleed turkey. IMO you cannot beat Will Primos stacked frame mouth calls. I like the entire series. The last thing the Old Gobbler in my avatar heard was the  sounds of Will Primo's "True Double" mouth call.

[Old Gobbler]

The turkey makes the rules, as to what he wants to do...

Well said !! Ain't it the truth

[dirt road ninja]

The best weapon will always be good woodsman ship and experience with gobblers.

This.
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I agree with the above. IMO there is a big difference between a call that is mass produced and a call built by craftsman. The custom call builder wants you to be completely happy with your call and builds it to last a lifetime. The couple of builders I've dealt with wont sell you a call thats not top of the line. When you consider the time and high quality materials most custom calls are a bargin.

[The Cohutta Strutter]

The turkey makes the rules, as to what he wants to do...

Well said !! Ain't it the truth

X3.... seen days where the cheap production call was what the gobbler was dying to hear and other days it was the custom call. I think the best approach might be to take a variety of different sounding calls with you in hopes that one of them might match up to what a particular gobbler is wanting to hear.

[scoot12]

Yes,  They are worth it most of the time,  there are a few days where birds just want to die and it doesn't matter what call you are using,  but day in and day out I feel they will produce better.   The woodsmanship post was spot on because to me that is the most important aspect of turkey hunting.  Be set up where that bird wants to go and killing him will be a lot easier.  Scoot

[gob09]

i love my custom callers,
for one they aren't that much more money than mass produced callers. and two most of them are one of a kind no one else has one exactly like it. three they are made in America by craftsman. and four they usually sound much better than production calls . and have sentimental value to me because i have formed some good relationships with people that made my calls that other wise would not have happened.
it is woodsmanship and experience in calling that will get the long beard to come in when i first started i had a 20 dollar combo pack from H.S. strut with a small glass pot and killed three birds with it

[Neill_Prater]

Guys, thanks for the replies. I understand that the hunter is, and always has been, more important than the call, but I don't think anyone has actually answered the question I am trying to ask, so I'll try to rephrase it another way.

We all have a certain level of confidence when we set up on a gobbler, based on our own experience, or lack of, and our individual personality traits. Is there anyone that would find that confidence level decreased IF they did not carry a custom call, or calls? If so, why? I suppose I'm fishing for something that perhaps isn't there, but I guess what I'm looking for is someone to reply with something like, "I bought a so and so call, and immediately began experiencing more success".

I want everyone to understand I'm not knocking custom calls, or the guys that make them, or the guys that have a suitcase full of them. I enjoy hunting with my semi-autos with red dot sights a lot better than I did with the single H&R I started with 35 years ago, just as I enjoy driving my automatic transmission, power steering, air conditioned vehicles more than the old car I owned as a teenager, but they both were capable of getting me to the same destination. I'm just curious if there is anyone that is convinced they arrive at that destination on a more regular basis with a custom call, or calls. Thanks. Neill