First Good Calls

[Beards and Hooks]

First of the packages have started to come in! Just got my strikers from JLH, but I'll let his photos speak for the beauty of them - a gorgeous Black and White Ebony and one of the best Katalox strikers to ever come off his bench (JLH's words, not mine) complete with worm-holing and sapwood! Can't wait to put them to slate soon!

Those are some beautiful strikers

X2 those are really nice!

[Sir-diealot]

I was given two more names for you.

Death Head Game Calls, Wayne Howard.

[Tom007]

This is what is so amazing about this forum. This is why I am happy to be part of this group. All the expertise above is priceless, it's fantastic to see the passion in passing on all the info to our brotherhood. Thanks much......

[Jimmyj]

Those strikers are amazing

[rakkin6]

Just purchased a Lonnie Sneed green glass call and it sounds great cost was $73.00 which included shipping. I also have a Halloran Metal Mouth which I think I paid $60.00 and a Halloran box call that I paid $65.00 for but both Hallorans at the NWTF convention and both are great. Also I have a Lonzo aluminium in black acrylic that I really like. I think all of these are in your price range and quality calls.

[Loyalist84]

Got over to the post office yesterday and picked up a trove.

First was a Maple/Brazilian Cherry crow call from Daryal Gosey, can't say enough good things about it. It's loud, crisp and I reckon it would start flapping if it wasn't tied to my chest pack, but I can't say much more about it since this is the first crow call I've ever owned!



Along with the crow call was a stellar pot from Nathan Taylor. I talked with him extensively regarding the sound I wanted, and his recommendation of cedar with a black slate surface couldn't have been more accurate. Aside from it being a gorgeous piece of wood, this thing is a masterpiece of a call. With JLH's Katalox striker it's an old boss hen with more rasp than a pack-a-day smoker, and his Black and White ebony turns it into a purring jenny. I can't overstate how easy this call is to run - you hardly need to press wood to slate to get a cluck, and you can open up to a screaming yelp with less than half the pressure I need on any other call I've owned. It's definitely the low, full tone that I was looking for in a call with a full second note on the yelp with a great rollover. To top it off, Mr. Taylor's customer service was excellent and you can tell he is deeply passionate about his work, but I'll let the photos say the rest even though they don't do it justice.

[Sir-diealot]

Really am happy that you got calls that you clearly enjoy. I hope they bring you many, many birds in your future.

[Happy hooker]

Loyalist
I live in Minnesota which of course is a northern climate,, being in Canada I'm guessing you deal with anything in the spring has we do here, snow,cold,rain, sleet, strong northwest winds. Has far has friction calls go a Darin Dawkins aluminium in plastic pot will beat most weather I will say the best all weather friction call I've ever used is a loftus Crystal Screamer. There will be quite a few days you will leave the box call and wood pot home and you can always use a mouth call when it's wet or a production call but considering how few days a year you get to hunt you might want to eventually add a quality all weather friction call.

[Loyalist84]

It's definitely in the corner of my mind Hooker! We only have 5 weeks of turkey season though, May and the last week of April, so we have plenty of wind and frosty mornings in the first week, but thankfully when the Toms are moving the snow has left almost entirely and we just need to deal with rain by the time turkey season rolls around. I have a Walnut/Aluminum on order from Mark Cornelius for my bad weather pot for that reason, but depending on how this spring goes I may end up picking up a plastic pot to supplement my frankly terrible mouth calling.

That said we are polluted with the birds up here, so I can actually afford to be a fair weather hunter to get my 2 birds of the year up here for the first couple weeks! Might be a desperation order in the future!

[Weathered-Branch]

I'm a new call maker but learned/learning from one of the best who is semi retired now, Darrell Gibson. I don't know anything about box calls but I've only been asking 40 for my pots, another 20 for a good striker plus shipping. I just made a post introducing myself with some pics of my calls, and I'd be happy to send you pictures of more. I currently have pots made from crotch figure walnut, curly, Birdseye, ambrosia and burl maple and one from curly purpleheart. If you're interested I also make yelpers that are pretty easy to play in that price range, and crow and owl calls for locators.
My email is weatheredbranch@gmail.com

Ncbowjunkie can vouch for sound quality of what I'm making, he learned from uncle Darrel too and has played some of my calls. He also makes some very nice calls himself that he posts for sale regularly on here