Cheap calls vs expensive calls

[Bowguy]

Great aluminum you can get quickly
Schafer atomic 13
Schafer Sapele alumium over aluminum
Mac walnut or redheart aluminum
Lonzo aluminums
Dawkins aluminum in the plastic pot. M

Other worthy aluminums are Platz or Dawkins walnut pot but the wait time is long

For great stikers well worth the $15-$20 fowler strikers. Get a tulipwood, Snakewood n Dymondwood

[Brantley]

i had a nice Warbird copper pot. I think he sells strikers too. David Halloran also makes good calls. As far as strikers, I'd be a little nervous buying one without hearing it on the call I was buying it for. Or look on here for call makers. There are some phenomenal call makers on here. All that said, you can pile up dead turkeys with any priced call. Cheap or expensive. It's just a matter of what you're willing to pay for. There is a lot of attention and craftsmanship that goes into building a custom call. That's really what you're paying for. I think it's usually better quality than something a CNC milled out in ten minutes. Again, just my opinion.

[rodl]

This is my experience with custom vs cheap calls.  I have never purchased a custom call in my life, I would love to have one but I just don't have the $$$ to purchase one.  Other than this year, the cheap calls that I own have never had a problem calling in mature birds, some of them don't sound like the custom calls but I have heard some pretty bad sounding hens in the woods that I would have thought were hunters but turned out to be real hens. With some time and patience those cheap calls and be made to sound pretty decent.  I would suggest that you buy what you can afford, if its a custom call good for you, but cheap calls have killed many turkeys.  As far as durability goes, I have many cheaper production friction calls that I have used for many years and haven't had any issues with them.

[Happy]

I have killed them with production calls and I have killed them with custom calls. On the right day a turkey will come running to a squeezing barbed wire fence and you will have to peel him off your leg if you don't shoot him quick enough. However if I am to buy a call I would rather my money go to a guy that takes pride in his work and stands behind his product. You can meet many great call makers and most will let you hear their product before you buy. That's worth a few extra bucks to me.

[supremepredator]

I might just splurge this once and buy a custom pot. I actually had a couple of marked down pots from wally world i was going to buy, but they wouldn't take my dad's card and he got p-oed, cause we also had a cart full of groceries, so we left. Looking back, im kinda glad i didn't buy them, but in our small town walmart is the only store that even sells hunting stuff.

[Life of Riley]

This was my first year turkey hunting and I got 7 days hunting in Wisconsin and Minnesota. All I had was one glass pot made by Cody. I'm buying some custom calls right now but am not going hog wild. I'm looking at two maybe three custom calls, OK 4 actually. One ss field box and ss scratcher which are very reasonably priced in my opinion. One slate and maybe a metal pot. I look at it as I will be getting good quality calls that have received great reviews from members on this site. I plan on using these calls for the rest of my life. Why buy some shoddy mass produced calls when I can get hand made calls from proven call makers who you can talk to on the phone to get the call you want versus guessing on something off the store shelf. Not very expensive in the long run.

[howl]

In the main, you pay more for a call from a fella who knows what a turkey sounds like and can reliably time a call. If you know what a turkey sounds like and have experience to know what kind of sound you need, you can go through stacks of mass produced calls to find one that happened to go together right. Otherwise you pay the $$$ to be sure the call works.

[HFultzjr]

This was my first year turkey hunting and I got 7 days hunting in Wisconsin and Minnesota. All I had was one glass pot made by Cody. I'm buying some custom calls right now but am not going hog wild. I'm looking at two maybe three custom calls, OK 4 actually. One ss field box and ss scratcher which are very reasonably priced in my opinion. One slate and maybe a metal pot. I look at it as I will be getting good quality calls that have received great reviews from members on this site. I plan on using these calls for the rest of my life. Why buy some shoddy mass produced calls when I can get hand made calls from proven call makers who you can talk to on the phone to get the call you want versus guessing on something off the store shelf. Not very expensive in the long run.

Very good plan to start with. Call makers on here can supply you with all you need. However, you stated "Not very expensive in the long run".
 
Please let us know how that works out for you "in the long run". We all know where that one will go....LOL. Just saying that once you start, it's VERY HARD, not to try another, then another, then another type, then this one. It's an addiction man, but a good one.

Have fun on your journey!

[davisd9]

Tullahoma is not far from you. One of the sporting goods store there should probably carry calls around spring, I imagine one of them would probably offer a small selection of custom calls. May try All Seasons Outdoors.


Sent from the Strut Zone

[Farmboy27]

I think a lot of people get to caught up on how a sounds to them and not how it sounds to a turkey. A cheap "bad sounding" call used correctly and used at the right time will beat an expensive "good sounding" call every time. Practice and concentrate on cadence and making the right call at the right time. Remember, if you can make a turkey gobble with a cheap call then he deffinatly thinks you're a hen. After that it's up to you to make the right moves and calls. A custom call ain't gonna do that for ya any better than a Wally World special.

[mudhen]

Yes...


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[TauntoHawk]

I good custom call taken care of isn't going to go bad so really its an affordable investment.. don't get me wrong I still waste lots of money buying way more calls than I could carry or use in a season but you dont have to if you just wanted a few quality one. for $50-60 you can have a hand made box call that will run for years and I can honestly say is going to be better than any production I've ever touched. I just prefer to carry the best I can rather than "it'll do or i can make it work" gear but thats how I an with everything. Camo, back pack, arrows, ammo, sights I want the best I can afford. Its part of the sport/hobby to me but might not be to you




Honestly mouth calls can be had for same prices and better consistency and quality, $5 for Hooks $8 for houndstooth and Halloran those are just some of my favorite customs but they are cheaper than woodhaven and about what you'd pay at cabelas for anything else.

[jims]

Although pot or box calls may be a bit easier to learn how to call my preference is diaphragm calls.  My hands are free and I'm able to do a lot more with diaphragm calls.  When a cheap diaphram call is $6 and and a super expensive one is $15 there is really no need to worry about price.  I usually have a couple in my pocket.  One that is raspy and loud...and a second one that I can call softly.  For the most part, my expensive custom pot calls sit in my truck.  Another plus is the diaphragm calls are a lighter and less bulky to carry around.  I pretty much gagged when I first used diaphragm calls but once I got used to them I sound a lot more realistic and that's all I use.

[Dr Juice]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Im go ahead and post all the calls i currently use.

Mouth calls: primos true double.
Will primos signature series. (or something like that)

Box calls: primos hook up.
Primos box cutter.

Pot calls: primos power crystal.
Lohmann turkey tracer.

As you can see i reckon im a primos fan, also got some HS diaphragms and flextone locator calls.  My go to call for hunting is the pot call, so im looking to buy a new one. I want a good alluminum call and some quality strikers. Any suggestions?

I'm a Primos fan myself. I've killed numerous of birds with his calls. That being said, I have a $5 aluminum call made by MAD calls that got several thunder chickens to meet their demise. However, I added a Derby, Sinclair, and Hooks pot call (1-each) to my arsenal this year. Did I need them? No. Do I regret buying them? Absolutely not. Just more tools added to my vest. BTW, I used a damaged thunder dome slate (which I believe is discontinued) to call in a stubborn bird for my cuz that has been not cooperating with us for the past two years. Lesson learned - he liked the sound of that call at that moment and paid the price for it. Good luck and treat yourself to a custom call or two!


All The Way!

[dirt road ninja]

Custom callers day in and day out will out perform mass produced calls.