slate calls "the good and the bad"

[dzsmith]

So......please don't take offense to any of this. This is simply for informative purposes. Ive been turkey hunting for a long time. Killed a bunch birds with a lot of different calls because I own like many of you a whole whole lot of calls. More box calls than anything....as I collect vintage ones and one of my best friends is a call maker so ive always had my pick of the litter with quality box calls. I own some pots, and a ton of strikers and I typically use glass pots exclusively when using a pot. Why though....? I have bought a plethora of slate calls over the years. Trough style and pot style. Double faced surface pots and just standard one sided slate pots. I just cannot find a slate call that sounds good enough for me to take to the woods. Now....I know whether or not it sounds exactly like a turkey is somewhat irrelevant. Ive killed turkeys that could have been called up by hitting sticks together...but to me every slate ive played sounded about the same as any other one ive owned....dull.....other than some very quiet barely 2 toned yelps and soft clucks and purring I cannot find a reason to use a slate call. Whether running the calls inside or in the woods...they do not sound real to me, or should I say real enough. My glass pots are absolute fire....they sound real, they are sharp and crisp. They really pop when running them inside or outside and I have massacred some turkeys with them. Im certain if I just ran my slate pots that I would get birds to respond and kill them because ive worked some with my slates with results but I cant help but notice man that don't sound good. I guess when Im used to running boxes, glass, trumpets, scratch boxes, and diaphragms that sound great its hard for me to stick a dull sounding, quiet only style calling pot in my vest. So.....my question is? is the consensus with slate calls, or have I just bought a bunch of not so good ones over the years. Id love to think its me....but I don't see how it could be ive tried 20 strikers on my slates with the same results....they sound dull if you get to loud with em. Do those of you who carry slates only call softly with them, or do you think I just haven't found the right slate over the years. I recently bought a new slate, very premium call from a very reputable custom call maker and while it is slightly better than sounding than anyone I own....the end result is the same. It sounds like a slate call.

[Beards and Hooks]

  All preference and opinion, to me slate sounds realistic and it is my favorite surface for Pot calls.

[Sir-diealot]

Some guys like brunettes, like chestnut hair, some like blondes which to me I have never understood to me I like a redhead, and just like some have preference to certain hair colors some like preferences to certain tones, I really like my green slate, it's my favorite call sound wise, but I like all my slates. I also like crystal and black anodize aluminum, titanium, glass and brass quite a bit. It is all what my ear is in the mood to hear at any given time of day or week or whatever. Enjoy what you enjoy, have fun, get a bird, then send me all these slates you are talking about!

[1iagobblergetter]

  All preference and opinion, to me slate sounds realistic and it is my favorite surface for Pot calls.

I have way more potcalls than needed of about every surface.
Probably 2 surfaces that get played the most are my glass calls and my slates. To me slates have always just been easy to run, and sound good. Conditioning them doesn't get any easier either.
It's all personal preference.

[dzsmith]

I appreciate the responses. I just wanted to know if it was me, the calls, or just simply an opinion. Ive heard slate calls that sounded good before videos mostly....but audio of call and hearing it in person is far from the same. And I agree if you just want to tree yelp or call softly they are great. The cluck great and are a consistent call to run.....but running one wide open is a different story. I think they all have this dull sound , and I put a lot of feeling into my calling and I cant seem to get the feeling that my calls have feeling when im using a slate. But there is no doubt many many turkey have died to a slate call.

[bdirks]

The "brightest" slate call that I own and use is a slate over aluminum tone board in feather grained walnut. The call was made by Wendell Rye. Wendell hadn't tried one in that combo of calling surface and tone board. He couldn't guarantee how it would sound in the end but I kind of threw caution to the wind and tried it. I'm glad I did. Wendell said he even liked how it sounded, and he is really particular. It might be something to try if you don't want to totally give up on slate calls.

[dzsmith]

my newest one is actually slate over aluminum . and it is the better one of the ones ive purchased. My final attempt will be a ted peters slate I have available to me. If I don't like that one , im done with em. Ive always had them just rarely used because I never like them too much compared to other things I had available in my vest.

[Sir-diealot]

I appreciate the responses. I just wanted to know if it was me, the calls, or just simply an opinion. Ive heard slate calls that sounded good before videos mostly....but audio of call and hearing it in person is far from the same. And I agree if you just want to tree yelp or call softly they are great. The cluck great and are a consistent call to run.....but running one wide open is a different story. I think they all have this dull sound , and I put a lot of feeling into my calling and I cant seem to get the feeling that my calls have feeling when im using a slate. But there is no doubt many many turkey have died to a slate call.

It sounds like what you are looking for is what I would call a screamer. I do not think slate is ever going to be that, I have a Sinclair Titanium in Mexican Bocote wood pot and it screams louder than any glass or crystal I have ever heard, it makes my head feel like I have pressure squeezing my head when I am using it and it gives me a headache in the blind it is so loud. I have learned to hold it out the window when in the blind. Maybe that is something you may want to look into.

[Greg Massey]

The old school slate call is something i very seldom carry anymore , reason why most people are already carrying one , my main pot's are ceramic, glass and red slate , i look for pot calls with more volume, tone and sound , because i don't usually hunt in the big timber or woods , most of all my hunting is field edges, i learned long time ago , running and chasing thru the woods was causing me to bump way to many turkeys. I'm more of call the bird to me, and over the years , it has really worked well. I also look for the same in my box calls and hen box , i like higher pitch front with good break with rasp. I look for calls that will also cut the wind , because most of the early season we are still dealing with cool, fog, windy and rainy conditions. Opening weekends, I've worn my coveralls many times. Look at getting calls that work for you and your type of hunting and for the birds your hunting in your area.

[dzsmith]

that's exactly what im talking about. I look for a calls with a distinct roll over. Hek I can even make my trumpet pop....but no slate ive owned does this distinctly, by the way the slate I was talking about is a red slate "my newest one" I don't hunt many fields or openings but I with you on calling birds to me...im the same way. So many people think dang I cant call too loud. There is a time and place for quiet calling but as Lovett Williams has said more than once...turkeys talk as loud as they have to for other turkeys to hear them, and quiet often that's LOUD and OFTEN. So I just cant justify slate hardly at all. Some days the woods are dead still....usually not good when they are, and you obviously may start out initially with some toned down calling....but I can tone down the volume on 90% of the calls I use already with no need to use a slate specifically for that

[EZ]

I love any well made pot with just about any surface, but I always give the edge to my slates. Just hard to imitate that nasally sound with anything else. While I agree that glass and particularly crystal really have that "pop", most of my slates aren't too far below in decibels. I can't even guess how many birds I've started from way, way off with my first good slate (Cody World Class). I've retired that call now, but I run Corder, Strawser, Cornelius, Wyatt, Slaton, and Sneed slates and they are all killers that can call pretty darn loud and brite....you just got to put the coal to 'em...run 'em hard, they'll respond.

[Harty]

Beauty of sound is in the ear of the beholder. Being that everyone's ear varies it will come down to personal preference. I like running various pot call surfaces and let the Turkeys decide what they like as their hearing is so much better then ours. That said I always take a few slates afield with me. I have a few green slates that can get loud and reach out a long ways. They remain a versatile call in my arsenal based on how the Turkeys have responded.

[MK M GOBL]

Been hunting with the same Slate call for the past 25 years and it has killed more turkeys than all the other calls I have owned put together by a long shot, reason is it consistently calls birds in.  With that being said there are times when I don't use it because of "humidity" and the call just doesn't sound right, I'll switch over a $10 glass call I bought on sale, yup it kills birds too. There are a bunch of quality sounding calls out there and I know most of us will pick a call by how it "sounds" but those sounds change over time and weather conditions, sound different from at a show, in a store, from the house and in the timber.

All I can say is I have a CODY World Class Slate and haven't a need to look for another.

as stated "We only build so many of these calls a year...WE DON'T WANT ALL THE TURKEYS KILLED AT ONE TIME!"


MK M GOBL

[bbcoach]

I'm a pot call guy.  Love them.  Slate is my GO TO.  Confidence, YEP!  Probably killed more birds than any other call I have.  Birds respond well to them and I have one that has a Grand Slam to it's credit.  To my ears, slates make the most realistic turkey sounds and the birds seem to tell me that.  Don't get me wrong, the slate isn't the Holy Grail of calls.  I carry a slate, a crystal, a ceramic and this year a copper along with a box and several diaphragms.  They will ALL get used.  Some will ask why so many?  All have different sounds.  As others have said, Brunettes, Redheads and/or Blondes.  You never know what the birds will respond to.  What I do know is Slate sounds realistic.  Realism gets them coming to the gun and that leads to Confidence and Kills.

One more point.  It sounds the best with several laminated strikers but the birch laminate striker seems to be the ticket. 

[shatcher]

It just seems like the older gray slate calls are better.  Gray slate on newer calls seems softer, resulting in that lower tone.  Green and red slate seems like the way to go now.