Pot calls and high wind

[Coop1082]

I've felt that way myself. Heck I even feel that way down here in South AL sometimes. I probably run a slate surface call the least of any other. Mainly it's due to moisture issues down here on muggy mornings. Until the sun comes up a slate can sometimes be unusable for me it feels like, but even then I always feel like I'm not loud enough. I know in Washington last year with mountains mixed into high wind, you were up sh%t creek without a paddle if you carried a mellow slate. This year I found myself carrying a Glass or Crystal and a Ceramic or Aluminum and if I was tight on a bird, felt like I needed to soft talk him, and wanted to work him with a pot style call, I used Marlin's little coaxer call. It's strange because I love to play a slate indoors. My favorite surface to sit around and run and I adore the sound, but I rarely find myself with one in hand in the woods.

[Greg Massey]

I've felt that way myself. Heck I even feel that way down here in South AL sometimes. I probably run a slate surface call the least of any other. Mainly it's due to moisture issues down here on muggy mornings until the sun comes up a slate can sometimes be unusable for me it feels like, but even then I always feel like I'm not loud enough. I know in Washington last year with mountains mixed into high wind, you were up sh%t creek without a paddle if you carried a mellow slate. This year I found myself carrying a Glass or Crystal and a Ceramic or Aluminum and if I was tight on a bird, felt like I needed to soft talk him, and wanted to work him with a pot style call, I used Marlin's little coaxer call. It's strange because I love to play a slate indoors. My favorite surface to sit around and run and I adore the sound, but I rarely find myself with one in hand in the woods.

I agree with you a slate in my area is almost useless... but i real like playing one inside... but for the most part it just want play in the conditions i hunt in the spring , you just have to pick your days with slate ... Hand warmers are a mans best friend with pot calls..in my opinion .. don't hunt without them...

[Spitten and drummen]

Slate is my favorite and even with the humidity as bad as it is down here , I still have killed more birds with gray slate than any other surface. I know that slate in general has been the down fall of many a birds since someone figured out scratching a stick on a rock sounded like a turkey.

[Greg Massey]

Slate is my favorite and even with the humidity as bad as it is down here , I still have killed more birds with gray slate than any other surface. I know that slate in general has been the down fall of many a birds since someone figured out scratching a stick on a rock sounded like a turkey.

snuff can with a piece of condom has killed many turkeys also... i know that for a fact it was some of my first turkey calls ...

[Spitten and drummen]

Slate is my favorite and even with the humidity as bad as it is down here , I still have killed more birds with gray slate than any other surface. I know that slate in general has been the down fall of many a birds since someone figured out scratching a stick on a rock sounded like a turkey.

snuff can with a piece of condom has killed many turkeys also... i know that for a fact it was some of my first turkey calls ...

Lol! I made them with a med bottle and condom. Also used a piece of switch cane. No doubt about it.

[LaLongbeard]

Purple Heart striker will make a ceramic scream. Mass produced pots are all different I've heard other K&H ceramics that sounded like cardboard, I guess I got a good one. I clean mine with denatured alcohol and the tip of the striker, keeping ceramic clean stops the squeals and keeps the high pitched but still two note Yelp.

[runngun]

Lohman Slate Thunderdome!!! An old original one with the aluminum bottom. For some reason, I can get Turkeys to gobble to that when nothing else works.

Have a good one
Ray

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Spitten and drummen]

Lohman Slate Thunderdome!!! An old original one with the aluminum bottom. For some reason, I can get Turkeys to gobble to that when nothing else works.

Have a good one
Ray

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I actually have one of them somewhere. It has a dent in the bottom. One of my all time favorite production calls.

[Spitten and drummen]

Purple Heart striker will make a ceramic scream. Mass produced pots are all different I've heard other K&H ceramics that sounded like cardboard, I guess I got a good one. I clean mine with denatured alcohol and the tip of the striker, keeping ceramic clean stops the squeals and keeps the high pitched but still two note Yelp.

I have one of those and mines like the one you mentioned sounding like cardboard lol.

[jed clampett]

I live in central illinois..flatlands and wind..go hand in hand..I am always looking at the weather for the wind especially..it will dictate what calls I may choose for the day...low winds I may use a slate the 1st thing...i love a good glass pot also...now when the wind is blowing and it usually is...aluminum and crystal pots is what i take..along with a good box...and always a longbox..it also depends on how close i may get to some roosted birds and if i am hunting fields or inside the timber

[Spitten and drummen]

I live in central illinois..flatlands and wind..go hand in hand..I am always looking at the weather for the wind especially..it will dictate what calls I may choose for the day...low winds I may use a slate the 1st thing...i love a good glass pot also...now when the wind is blowing and it usually is...aluminum and crystal pots is what i take..along with a good box...and always a longbox..it also depends on how close i may get to some roosted birds and if i am hunting fields or inside the timber

Exactly the info im looking for. Thanks Jed

[Gog1015]

I have been running a Clay Townsend snakewood striker on a daybreak Gary Anderson  Ceramic this spring and the birds really like it. I have also used a Brad Roberts Hackberry Green Slate with the same snakewood striker. In fact I find myself running the snakewood on all of my pots now, works well on red and green slate.

[JMalin]

What's wrong with a box?  No pot I've ever run could match a good box call as far as sheer volume goes and on a windy day (or calm day for that matter), you're just trying to get a gobble or two to locate him, not work him the entire way with the box.  But yeah, louder is better when attempting to locate a bird.

Nothings wrong with a box. I use one quiet often however my question was for guys who use pot calls in windy midwest states , not about what type of calls to use. As far as working one all the way to the gun with a box , i have experience with that also. I have been doing this for a very long time. As stated in my post , I have hunted turkeys 40 years down here and just ventured to the midwest this year.  Therefore I want people who have hunted there for several years to give their opinion on pot call surfaces and volume there.

If a turkey can't hear you calling, it's a problem regardless of where you hunt.  What good does it do to keep calling to a turkey using one type of call that he won't acknowledge it with a gobble?  In your case, you switched surfaces and presumably got better results.  A change of conditions requires a change of tactics.  I've found that getting a gobble out of a distant bird or getting a bird fired up on a windy day isn't so much trying to sound like a real hen as much as it is getting something to that bird's ear that he can actually hear. 

[Marc]

I do not use a pot call, and have not hunted in the mid-west...

But I do hunt in the west, and have hunted under windy conditions (successfully)...

It is my impression that in windy conditions, if you can hear birds gobbling, they are upwind, and likely cannot hear you calling back (unless they are really close).  It is also my impression that birds downwind can hear you just fine but you cannot hear them gobble.

I have had multiple experiences of visually watching birds gobble downwind that I could not hear...  Or seeing them go into strut when I call.  I have been astonished at how close some of the gobbling birds were that I could not hear (although admittedly my hearing is not great).

I try to get upwind of birds and call...  As I cannot hear gobbles, I tend to hang out in prime areas for longer periods of time, and remain well hidden.  Nice thing about the wind, is that you can get away with a bit of movement (as everything is blowing and moving in the wind).

And, although the wind creates extraneous noise pollution (likely interfering with the ability of your call to be heard) the wind also does carry that sound.  Having been able to observe a number of birds in the wind which I could see but not hear gobbling, they responded to quiet and subtle calling if they were close enough...

If I spot a huntable bird, I will attempt to get downwind of him in a favorably location and call...  And hope.

I have probably busted more birds in range in the wind than any other condition...  Get up to move, and there is a bird in range that I did not see (or hear).  I now take a good look around, and actually turn about before getting up to leave.  I also do some aggressive calling, hoping to spot the fan of a strutting bird or that bright head.

Admittedly, I do not care for hunting in the wind (as I really enjoy hearing the birds gobble), but if I have a day off, I am hunting.

If I were using a potcall, I would opt for as loud as possible...  Probably high-pitch as well.  I typically rely more on my favorite loud boxcalls in the wind.