old school sound vs the sound of today

[scoot12]

Just wanted opinions of what sound you like better,  it seems the pots I have from some of the older callmakers have that mid to lower tone kee-yawk in the yelps and the newer callmakers have the little higher pitcher tone with a huge break in the yelp.  Actually I have had better response from the birds for the mid tone calls.  Scoot

[savduck]

 I like the new sound. It sound more realistic to my ears. I've killed plenty of turkeys with the old sound to though. guess it really only matters what a bird wants to hear.

[CallDr]

There is a trend to high pitched ever since MAD started his "high frequency" ads and promotion. The problem is high frequency does not go farther then low or "cut through the wind better" as claimed. There is a misconception for the facts being wrong.

If you want the "sound" to go father than crank UP the Volume...... that has nothing to do with "frequency". Drumming travels 10 times farther then the loudest high pitched hen for example. Think of sound like lighting and Thunder.

Any call that is 'Voiced" to a turkey will work, be it high or low range. It's all what you want to communicate based on the age and sex a turkey and it's emotional state.

Turkey ( gobblers ) are "frequency ( and volume) sensitive" which results in what we call shock gobbling. So some high pitched calls are more "locators" because they lack the "turkey". I want to locate gobblers too........ but I want to move his FEET and not just his Beak.....lol. 

[VanHelden Game Calls]

Agree with the Doc.  Its marketing that has worked very well.  And all callmakers are forced to follow to make hunters happy. 

[pappy]

I have to say that the high pitch marketing has hurt the hunter more then ity has the call maker. As Doc said, they shock great, but you want that bird to come strolling, I really think it happens with all types of calls over time. I know it has with duck calls, I remember when I made them in the early 90's the fad was changing, from wooden calls to acrylic calls, why? Because contests required loud high pitched hail calls and super fast feed calls and the wooden call was made to call ducks not win ribbons. This in turn has hurt what the hunter thinks he or she is wanting in a call, they believe that the need that "young hen" high pitch, when the tom is looking for maturity, and this is even evident in the contests, just depending on the judge, and the area, and after you listen to 100 calls trying to pick out the best, your ears are eventually going to lean to that "different" sound.....me, I like the old calls and their mellowed sounds. I have several that are made to hunt with, beaten and banged and still producing, but I make what ever the hunter is wanting, that's progress...isn't it?

[savduck]

I use all high pitch calls...the new sound. It's doesn't hurt me a lick killing gobblers. I hunt on highly pressured public land. Turkeys gobble just fine when working them. I've been using the sound for well over 12 to 15 years. Now call makers are better at achieving it. It is proven that the low frequency sounds travel further, whales and elephants use it to communicate. I've also observed gobblers drumming instead of gobbling to call hens. I still however prefer the new sharper, crisper, snappier " new sound"

I also had the MAD aluminator and MAD Crystal....those are probably my two deadliest pots ever. I don't have any others with as many kills on them.

I spend a lot of time in the woods. I hear a lot of real hens. I have yet to hear a hen with the " old sound". Most every real hen I hear has a high pitch clear front note and then drops sharply into rasp on the back note of a yelp. The back rasp varies from young to old, but they all still have a clear high front note.

[Gobblerstopper]

I like the old sound. Problem is that most people that buy calls want a higher pitch. I noticed 10 or so years ago that the calls winning competitions were all high pitch?

[M Sharpe]

Del, I some what agree. All hens do have a high front end. The old style calling I've heard with no front on the yelps has been on the stage. The turkeys haven't changed their calling. That lower, more mature sound commands respect from not only gobblers but hens as well. I watched last year a gobbler with two hens. He would gobble every time at that young hen sound but would not come any closer. I started calling on a box with a more mature sound. Those hens started heading my way with ol' Tom in tow. So, it's the mid to lower tones for me. Back 25 yrs ago, I hunted with two box calls. One was a Quaker Boy Grand Ol' Master and the other was a Lynch deluxe grade World Class. The QB was great for getting them to sound off, but the deal was sealed using the WC.

[Byhalia]

I have to say that the high pitch marketing has hurt the hunter more then ity has the call maker. As Doc said, they shock great, but you want that bird to come strolling, I really think it happens with all types of calls over time. I know it has with duck calls, I remember when I made them in the early 90's the fad was changing, from wooden calls to acrylic calls, why? Because contests required loud high pitched hail calls and super fast feed calls and the wooden call was made to call ducks not win ribbons. This in turn has hurt what the hunter thinks he or she is wanting in a call, they believe that the need that "young hen" high pitch, when the tom is looking for maturity, and this is even evident in the contests, just depending on the judge, and the area, and after you listen to 100 calls trying to pick out the best, your ears are eventually going to lean to that "different" sound.....me, I like the old calls and their mellowed sounds. I have several that are made to hunt with, beaten and banged and still producing, but I make what ever the hunter is wanting, that's progress...isn't it?

Contest calling never ='s  Hunting calling !!!!!!     

[savduck]

Mark, I had an old Lynch box tha would get it done too.

I guess I'm talking more about the " crispness" or "pop" that you get with the new sound calls. The older sound can not duplicate that. A real hen cutting is sharp, you cant get that sound out of an old school pot call like you can with one with "new" sound.

Again, 10 percent of killing a turkey is calling anyway. If your set up right and he hears something remotely like a hen he is coming. It's all personal preference

[M Sharpe]

I have a Lynch Jet Slate that I played for a guy this weekend. I tried to play it the way I heard a recording from Call Dr. of M.L. Lynch playing it. I asked this guy to tell me what he thought it was. His reply was: tube call! When I told him what it was, he said he couldn't believe it. I believe the ol' jet slate will be in the pocket this year. Sometimes I think we are getting too raspy with our calls. Listening to Mike's recording of Spitting Feathers, the first hen you hear is clear as a bell.

[savduck]

Man, that's funny you posted that because I was thinking about hunting with my Dad, the old school way. He used to carry a Lynch box, a DD Adams slate by Quaker boy, and an old pocket slate not much bigger than a book of matches. That little pocket slate would fire them up. It was high pitched and squeaky but we finished and killed a lot of birds with that call.

I have it. I'll post a picture of it......AJ something out of Virginia.


I often wonder if its more how the sound carries than the pitch or tone. I think tha only after using the trumpets so much last year. I'd have birds gobbling but not doing much. Switch to a trumpet and they start going nuts and coming. That's with soft calling. I was working a bird and had a buddy 300 yards away. I was using trumpet and mouth call. He said he could hear the trumpet but not the mouth call.

Here's video of one of my filmed hens on public land.

[paboxcall]

....I often wonder if its more how the sound carries than the pitch or tone. I think tha only after using the trumpets so much last year. I'd have birds gobbling but not doing much. Switch to a trumpet and they start going nuts and coming. That's with soft calling. I was working a bird and had a buddy 300 yards away. I was using trumpet and mouth call. He said he could hear the trumpet but not the mouth call......

Del -- I found the same as you, I struck a lot of birds with the Hegler trumpet last year, my first year using his trumpet.  Because of its design, a trumpet sound can carry a long, long, long way compared to a mouth call, and may explain why you try a mouth call and no gobble, try a wing bone or trumpet and  POW -- bird fires off.

I just got a Billy Bush call, and per the strong recommendation of a turkey killer that is here and a few other forums, I had Billy tune it to a raspier, older hen.  That thing is awesome.   

John

[Swamp]

Me personally I like a lower pitched call, I've got a mike yingling copper call that is high pitched that will get them fired up but once I get a gobble out of it I switch to a slate call I made with a lower pitch it was a deadly combo on the birds here in Tn last year.