Pot calls... tell me why I want one?

[Marc]

Outside of desperately wanting what the rest of you have, what are the functional reasons for owning and running a pot call?  You do not have the sound chamber or ease of use as a box call, and you do not have the versatility and direct control over a call that you do with a mouth call, nor the lack of motion to run it.

Is it the form or the function of the call that draws so many in?

What is the good, the bad, and the ugly about pot calls?7  What is the cult following behind a good pot call?

They intrigue me for sure, but it just does not feel like turnkey hunting without a diaphragm call in the mouth and a box call in the hand...   Good lord only knows I need more hunting stuff, but what is it about pot calls that makes them so great?

[howl]

You seem to have some misconceptions about pot calls. You'll probably have to try one out to see if it suits you or not.

The bad is they can be touchy to run in cold or high humidity. They can be used just as convincingly as any other call and sometimes more so. Most people cannot call quietly enough when required with any other call. In fact, I believe the loud calling with diaphragms and boxes is a factor in conditioning birds to ignore yelping and cutting.

The movement issue stopped mattering to me when I learned to stop calling when the bird gets close enough to see me, whether I had a mouth call in or not. In the later part of the season, I have to keep a cough drop in all the time anyway so I stop using mouth calls.

[pauld]

They are the most versitile. Change sound a touch, just change the striker, extremely easy to use and I can make EVERY sound a turkey makes on a good pot call.

[wibirdhunter]

They sound good from loud clucks/cutts for locating down to the softest purrs, clucks, and yelps.

I don't usually carry a pot unless I'm having trouble finding a gobbling bird. Loud cutting on a glass call can fire them up.

[ol bob]

You never know what a turkey wants to hear tomorrow it may be a slate, glass, box, trumpet, if you don't have that call with you your day is done before you start.

[goblr77]

They are the most versitile. Change sound a touch, just change the striker, extremely easy to use and I can make EVERY sound a turkey makes on a good pot call.

Well said. The only drawback is what someone mentioned earlier about humidity. In south GA where I live, a pot call is almost useless in the late season without a waterproof striker, especially glass calls. I keep several regular strikers and a couple good sounding waterproof ones in my vest at all times. You can make many different sounds with two different surfaced pots and five or six strikers.

[turkey john]

Pot calls can make that soft call that is hard to do with many boxes when the bird is close. It can also make great cuts/clucks..... I agree they can be temperamental and hard to make the same good call consistently. Matching a striker to the call is the thing. Takes practice as do most turkey calls... Lot's of good ones on the market but I carry Primos and Lonnie Sneed slates.

[stone road turkey calls]

 

[HillCritter]

For soft calling, I don't think it can be beat and even for cutting its a great type of call to use.

[pauld]

They are the most versitile. Change sound a touch, just change the striker, extremely easy to use and I can make EVERY sound a turkey makes on a good pot call.

Well said. The only drawback is what someone mentioned earlier about humidity. In south GA where I live, a pot call is almost useless in the late season without a waterproof striker, especially glass calls. I keep several regular strikers and a couple good sounding waterproof ones in my vest at all times. You can make many different sounds with two different surfaced pots and five or six strikers.

I am in SE Georgia too. I combat it with a little bit of chalk on the call and the right striker. Go to a Crystal or Ceramic and it'll help with this as well. Glass and slate don't like tons of moisture. Also, I carry a lighter to help which out moisture in my slates. 

[goblr77]

They are the most versitile. Change sound a touch, just change the striker, extremely easy to use and I can make EVERY sound a turkey makes on a good pot call.

Well said. The only drawback is what someone mentioned earlier about humidity. In south GA where I live, a pot call is almost useless in the late season without a waterproof striker, especially glass calls. I keep several regular strikers and a couple good sounding waterproof ones in my vest at all times. You can make many different sounds with two different surfaced pots and five or six strikers.

I am in SE Georgia too. Go to a Crystal or Ceramic and it'll help with this as well.

I run a Halloran ceramic with a Beardhunter waterproof striker a lot this time of season. Makes for a good combo that won't slip.

[Marc]

They are the most versitile. Change sound a touch, just change the striker, extremely easy to use and I can make EVERY sound a turkey makes on a good pot call.

While I will agree with the versatility...  The ease of use, I am not sure about...

Being a duck hunter, I found a mouth call to be very easy to use (which I know is not true for everyone)...  I can rub two pieces of wood together (as in a box call)...  But there are some intricacies involved in using a pot call well.  Where to rub the striker, which striker to use, the correct angle of the striker, the correct pressure...  etc...

Ol Bob, makes a great point in that sometimes an unresponsive bird will light up if the right call is used.  This alone might give me the incentive to learn a pot call...

As far as a quiet call, I am able to make very quiet sounds with a mouth call or box call...  Are you guys saying you get a more controlled or accurate quiet sound out of a pot call?

One thing I have never seen anyone do, except on a mouth call is putting...  Those toms coming giving that searching putting noise, and you answer back with one...  Pretty good stuff.  Not so great to hear that alarm putt though.

Thank you all for the replies, and there is certainly some food for thought...

[mudhen]

I believe in giving the turkey what he wants to hear, and they can be moody, cranky, ornery, salty, and just plain out difficult....

I doubt my opinion of my own calling is of much concern to a tom!

He might want to hear a slate, maybe even multiple slates, a box call the next, a diaphragm call the next, etc.

I would never go anywhere without at least 2 pot calls in the vest, even for purring alone.

And I have found not all pot calls sound the way I want them to.  I've had good success with Light's Out, Kaiser Calls, Yingling, and others.  I don't like hollow sounding pot calls....

And then you can deal with the surfaces & strikers....

If anyone wants concrete answers on turkey calling, they may have come to the wrong sport 

mudhen

[VAarrowslinger]

I've had more success when calling with a mouth call than all others but in the last couple of years I've really been bitten by 'the custom pot' call bug. If for nothing but looks and craftsmanship, I love a good pot call.

[shootalot523]

I think every hunter should have a variety of calls.Box calls have their place but I don't go in the woods without a pot. A custom pot call is like a musical instrument! Pot calls are addicting!