The Myth about High Frequency

[CallDr]

MAD Calls started the "high frequency" marketing to the public. This turned into a Myth that High Frequency travels Farther than Low. It's a Myth because those of us who have studied Sound know that Low Frequency travels farther.

When choosing a Turkey caller you want to be able to pick out the correct Pitch or tone it makes. Be very attentive not to make a mistake to judge High Pitched Rasp.... as actual Turkey. This is one of the reasons for my recordings. Not just for me but to hunters and call makers.

So what is it about some calls that "seem" to reach out there? One is how Loud or decibels. A very Loud call will of course reach out there.

What I have found is a lot of callers will peak out at around 110+ decibels. This is both low and high.

The sounds or calls turkeys make ( and other birds and animals.... even our own human voice ) is Bioacoustical. These are Very complex sounds to reproduce.

So these are the facts about the "sound" which is  really important and pay attention to the "Voice" of the callers you use and be sure that the tone and Pitch..... is really Turkey.

Remember........ a Gobbler will Shock gobble to certain sounds. In this respect "frequency" and "volume" play a very important role. So to be "safe" be sure you have "voiced" your Turkey call to be Turkey....... and not "pitched" to make it a locater call.

[North of 8]

 

Your sharing of these great suggestions and facts are always appreciated Mike,

[drenalinld]

This is easily proven in the woods. The farther you get away from a call, the more you hear the lower raspy back end of a yelp and the less you hear the higher pitched front end of a yelp. I thought initially the selling point for higher pitched calls was the higher notes cut through the wind better. Is there any merit to higher frequencies cutting through wind better than lower frequencies?

[West Augusta]

Very good information.  Great post Mike.

[Turkey Trot]

The call of a duck does not echo in the woods.  That creates an issue in call selection, because one wants to sound like a duck, not an echoing duck call.

What about the natural call of a turkey and echoes?  And the echo of a turkey call? 

[BOB_HARWELL]

 African elephants make a low gruntal sound that can be heard by other elephants 30 miles away. This is used to attract a mate.

Why can you hear a gobbler drumming in a tree or on a hill top further than you can hear him on the ground.

             BOB

[CallDr]

African elephants make a low gruntal sound that can be heard by other elephants 30 miles away. This is used to attract a mate.

Why can you hear a gobbler drumming in a tree or on a hill top further than you can hear him on the ground.

             BOB

Hi Bob....... Actually  the reason the Elephant makes that "Call" is to let other Elephants know where water is during those long dry seasons. It was Cornell University that aired that research on PBS years ago. They also are the one who have the Bioacoustics Lab and the software I use to Voice the sounds I record.

There are 2 types of Low Frequency. Subsonic and Infrasonic. With the latter that travels the farthest. An earth quake ( infrasonic) was recorded to circle the Globe 8 times!

We as humans loose direction of sound at around 80hz. Drumming is not only hard for some of us to hear but.......  from where? it's coming from. One track I have on the new CD is a great example of the Spit. The Spit is at a higher frequency and the only way we can sometimes locate the sound. It's a good idea to focus on the Spit sound when it's quiet ( keep that sound in your memory and listen for it). You will here it long before ( or at all ) the drumming.

Now as to the acoustic enviroment of dark 30 or early morning as when the gobbler ( or other ) are on the limb. ( or that Echo affect ). The Air affect includes the moisture or water in it, and the Ambient Natural Noise level is about twice as Low. This allows you to hear it or other sounds better..... or farther. This is easy to test. Just stand in an open field at 12 noon and play your caller. The Ambient noise level is very high for many factors. Then play that same caller at daylight in the woods in early morning. It's easy how much more you can hear what all the sounds or "frequencies".

This leads to one last observation. When I am tuning or Voicing callers, I always have some one else play several callers from at least 50 yards away in the woods. It's amazing how easy it is to hear the caller that has the better Voice. I have Never been able to voice a caller inside.

[CallDr]

This is easily proven in the woods. The farther you get away from a call, the more you hear the lower raspy back end of a yelp and the less you hear the higher pitched front end of a yelp. I thought initially the selling point for higher pitched calls was the higher notes cut through the wind better. Is there any merit to higher frequencies cutting through wind better than lower frequencies?

No.... higher frequency does not cut through wind better. So to explain this another way, is a lot of High Pitched callers have a sound like the Turkey has an attitude or a higher level of "emotion". That is a Voice.... of real turkeys and it's a Killer sound. Volume is where the facts got messed up. When you can "crank up" the volume on a caller it will go farther....... it's a matter of Speed ( not frequency ) ...... or how hard and fast can you throw a baseball.

The Long Box is a great example of how some can really make a turkey gobble. Lets face it..... we do want to know were one is. On the other hand we do want to call the bird up.......  not just make him gobble to let us know his location. It's like fishing. We want the bird to take the Bait and "Set the Hook!" so we can reel him in. This is where you and I don't want to "set the hook" again and jerk the Bait out of his mouth...lol.

The Turkeys Voice is related to the sex, age and emotional state........ plus in the "context" in which we communicate that message. The High Pitched / High Frequency is nothing but a trend on how callers are Voiced and used. It's not better...... just different.

I have callers that Scream Turkey........ but I don't scream at them every day. When I want to locate or try and find a gobbler...... I just "crank up the volume and emotion " on different callers...... not just high pitched callers. I hope I said all this right . 

[NCBigShot]

..Thanks for starting this thread Mike. It's very informative and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge here.

[superx2]

..Thanks for starting this thread Mike. It's very informative and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge here.

x2             

[CallDr]

I need to explain this........

I did a test using a decible meter. I tried both high and low pitched callers of various types. What I found is that some high pitched calls were not the loudest.

To my surprise I found that the Trumpet call pegged out as high as any caller I had. Which seems to follow the fact of how many hunters have been able to get a turkey to gobble to it.

Here is what and why I was able to make an educated guess about a Trumpet or Wing Bone air type callers. The sounds or "complex frequencies" made by your lips is more Bioaccoustical in nature. Such is the reputation of these callers has proven to be the death of  turkeys for centuries.