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Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: June 6th, 2018, 10:52 am
by jhogue
I primarily hunt with mouth calls and am very comfortable with them. Every bird I’ve killed was while using a mouth call. I’ve carried a slate, a glass, and a box call quite a bit and try them in the woods, but killed a bird with any of them. This year was the first year that I got a gobble returned from my box call. I’ve had a couple birds that wouldn’t answer a mouth call, but did answer a pot call.

I’ve noticed on this forum that a large amount of folks seem to use pot calls and there seems to be a growing contingent of trumpet and horn style call hunters. Is there a real reason why any type of call is advantageous or does is come down primarily to hunter comfort and confidence?

I really like the ability to use a mouth call with out moving something with my hands. I also feel I have more ability to change sounds than with friction calls. I’ve seen a lot of talk about copper and aluminum calls being great for cutting through heavy wind.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: June 6th, 2018, 11:21 am
by swampchicken
Imo it's all what you have confidence in they all will kill turkey's. I prefer pot calls and mouth calls.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: June 6th, 2018, 12:28 pm
by Hoobilly
Trumpets are versatile as you can kee kee with them. Get soft and loud. I think your seeing more trumpet talk on turkey forums etc, but vast majority have no idea what a trumpet is.

Trumpets cut wind easily and I have used them with great success on very windy days. I also agree that the majority of my gobblers killed are via mouth calls. This year I found that it wasn’t all with mouth calls. Trumpet and slates worked as good as the mouth calls.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: June 6th, 2018, 1:18 pm
by jhogue
Nothing seemed to work "good" in Arkansas. I had a rough season, but I know a lot of much more experienced hunters that also had rough seasons in Arkansas and Missouri. I lost my striker early in the Arkansas season and retired the slated for the rest of the time. I don't really like that call, so it didn't hurt my feelings much. I decided to try my cheap box call one day when nothing else was working and struck a bird almost immediately. I know a lot of people talk trash about box calls on private land, but this bird responded. He was quickly drug away by a hen, much like others this season, but responded to the box three times around noon, when no other birds responded to anything.

I am definitely comfortable with mouth calls, but wondering if I am missing out on something and if I should devote a little more time and money to using friction calls better. I don't want a bunch of expensive calls that I'm not going to use or take up a bunch of space in my vest, but I don't want to leave good options on the table that might net me a bird.

One specific use of a friction call that a good friend of mine told me about was fighting purrs. He told me to aggressively purr on my mouth call and respond quickly on my slate. He said it works on some stuck gobblers. I haven't learned this technique vet. I have used a friction and mouth call in concert to sound like two hens. Not sure it every closed the deal on a bird, but has gotten one or two fired back up after they shut up on me.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: June 6th, 2018, 9:45 pm
by dirtnap
Hard to beat a good pot call.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: June 7th, 2018, 10:12 am
by turkeyinstrut
I bout exclusively use a pot call for locating and working birds but I will switch to a diaphragm when they start closing the distance to seal the deal, I can't even imagine hunting without a couple pot calls in my vest.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: June 7th, 2018, 12:00 pm
by paboxcall
I always carry a box. Often times two, and on occasion three. I always carry a long box or a mini boat; there is nothing more successful in yanking a gobble than these style box calls for me. If its raining I carry a waterproof production short box, I am that committed to their effectiveness.

Run and gun I carry the long box holstered, and often will tote my mini boat in a side pocket, and / or take a short box along for the ride into the big woods. I will often finish a bird with the box I struck the bird with, and a mouth call, together. Sounding like multiple hens softly clucking and purring their way through the woods is deadly, and nothing makes the sounds of multiple birds better than a long box or mini boat. If I'm calling for another hunter its the box call all the way in for authenticity, or just me, I switch off to the mouth call for the last couple contented hands-free clucks.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: July 5th, 2018, 4:25 pm
by GobbleNut
I agree that having confidence in whatever call you use is very important. Confidence in a call often equates with skill in the use of that call. A guy that is a "top tier" caller with a particular call or type of call will call turkeys day in or day out just because they know how to make the sounds on that call that will call turkeys. They also know how to adjust the various sound qualities of a call to meet the conditions at hand.

A lot of hunters are not capable of taking a single call and matching the volume and quality of sound they need to be able to produce under a given set of conditions. For instance, there are a lot of mouth call users that can sound like a turkey within a certain range of volume, but don't have the ability to turn that volume down with realism to meet conditions that call for soft calling. The answer for them is to have another type of call available and ready when needed.

Hunters that fall into that category are well advised to carry the varying calls they need to be able to meet the calling conditions needed at any given time.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: July 5th, 2018, 9:56 pm
by Tail Feathers
I'm a died in the wool mouth caller who killed his last four turkeys with pot calls. It's good to have a different sound to offer the toms. I've killed a few using a box call, including my first bird. I have a trumpet or two but I'm not confident enough to take them to the woods.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: July 6th, 2018, 9:48 am
by poorcountrypreacher
GobbleNut wrote: July 5th, 2018, 4:25 pm I agree that having confidence in whatever call you use is very important. Confidence in a call often equates with skill in the use of that call. A guy that is a "top tier" caller with a particular call or type of call will call turkeys day in or day out just because they know how to make the sounds on that call that will call turkeys. They also know how to adjust the various sound qualities of a call to meet the conditions at hand.

A lot of hunters are not capable of taking a single call and matching the volume and quality of sound they need to be able to produce under a given set of conditions. For instance, there are a lot of mouth call users that can sound like a turkey within a certain range of volume, but don't have the ability to turn that volume down with realism to meet conditions that call for soft calling. The answer for them is to have another type of call available and ready when needed.

Hunters that fall into that category are well advised to carry the varying calls they need to be able to meet the calling conditions needed at any given time.
Great post. I think you explained very well why most hunters can benefit from carrying several different types of calls. I carry 4 different mouth calls in my "active" carrier and might use all 4 on a hunt and might use just one. They all make different sounds and I can pick the call that best fits the situation. I have another small carrier for backup calls; I tend to ruin them often.

But I also carry a Dixie Darling box call for windy afternoon hunting. Occasionally, I have found a turkey that would answer it and nothing else. I've also found it very effective in the Midwest. I may sometimes go for days without using it, but it's always there when I need it.

I can't make a consistently good purr with a mouth call, so I carry a pot call for this purpose. I can make a good purr on it every time, and I don't like to make mistakes when I'm on a gobbling turkey.

And I have worn a trumpet for decades to make a cluck. I think the cluck I can make on a trumpet is more realistic than any other call I have. A trumpet also makes a yelp that sounds different than any other call I have, and I've found a few gobblers that liked it better than anything else I have. And then Gil made me a Rivercane call last year that is essentially a mini trumpet. It makes a great cluck too, but it also makes a great yelp and I used it successfully on several birds the second half of the season last year. Because it requires a lot less air than my trumpet, I have found that I am more consistent with it in yelping. I'm thinking my trumpet has probably made retirement status and will be replaced by the Rivercane. There isn't much point in wearing both of them.

I think one of the reasons that different calls can be effective at different times is that every hen sounds different. I've heard hens yelp with a sound that could only be duplicated by a good box. Other hens have a sound that a raspy mouth call can make. And there are a lot of hens that yelp in a manner that sounds to me just like the Rivercane. A great mouth caller might sound exactly like a certain hen every call, but sometimes that is not the sound the gobbler wants to hear. I've found it smart to have some different sounds to offer him. And since I can't make every sound with any one call, I carry several calls to make every sound that I think I need.

One of the fun things about turkey hunting is learning to make turkey sounds with different types of calls. There are guys who can make every sound very well with one type of call and they use that type exclusively, but I enjoy using different types.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: July 6th, 2018, 11:57 am
by Stinky J Picklestein
When I started hunting, I used mouth calls only. A few years later, I played around with box and pot calls when birds weren't responding. Even later, I used them about 50/50. But in the last few years, I switched to mostly using pot calls. Of course, I carry four different pots and eleven strikers, so I have lots of options. I remember several hunts just this year when I had a mouth call in my mouth but never used it.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: July 6th, 2018, 12:26 pm
by guesswho
I carry a mouth call and a wingbone. Used to carry a pot call too, but here lately even it stays home. I'd bet less than 10 turkeys in my lifetime heard a box call from me prior to getting killed.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: July 6th, 2018, 5:42 pm
by GobbleNut
I think the common thread for those of us that have been doing this forever, it seems, is that we have had enough experience to know what a turkey sounds like in just about any situation,...and what that turkey is likely to do. Put us in a calling situation with a turkey and we can often anticipate how that turkey will respond to turkey calling,...and we tailor our calling and the calling tool we use,... to that expectation.

Not only that, but based on a turkeys responses, our experience guides us in how we continue to call,...and with what call or call type. We don't have to think about it much,...although admittedly, some of us get it wrong more often than we would like to admit. :D

The bottom line is that, with that experience, we often just pull up those subconscious thoughts on calls to use and how we call without any hesitation or second thoughts about it. That is a big luxury we carry with us that a whole lot of newer hunters do not have.

Having taken a lot of less-experienced hunters out, I don't know how many times I have had them ask afterwards,...""Why did you do this or that?" For me, the "this or that" was pretty obvious at the time,...but for them, they just have not had enough experience to know why we were doing a certain thing and not something else. Experience kills a lot of turkeys that otherwise would live another day.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: July 6th, 2018, 8:23 pm
by Hoobilly
GobbleNut wrote: July 6th, 2018, 5:42 pm I think the common thread for those of us that have been doing this forever, it seems, is that we have had enough experience to know what a turkey sounds like in just about any situation,...and what that turkey is likely to do. Put us in a calling situation with a turkey and we can often anticipate how that turkey will respond to turkey calling,...and we tailor our calling and the calling tool we use,... to that expectation.

Not only that, but based on a turkeys responses, our experience guides us in how we continue to call,...and with what call or call type. We don't have to think about it much,...although admittedly, some of us get it wrong more often than we would like to admit. :D

The bottom line is that, with that experience, we often just pull up those subconscious thoughts on calls to use and how we call without any hesitation or second thoughts about it. That is a big luxury we carry with us that a whole lot of newer hunters do not have.

Having taken a lot of less-experienced hunters out, I don't know how many times I have had them ask afterwards,...""Why did you do this or that?" For me, the "this or that" was pretty obvious at the time,...but for them, they just have not had enough experience to know why we were doing a certain thing and not something else. Experience kills a lot of turkeys that otherwise would live another day.
exactly and well said.. you gotta play to learn and sometimes gamble if you don't know what to do so they will each ya a lesson one way or the other

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: July 7th, 2018, 4:30 am
by GLS
Past few years my main calls are mouth and rivercane callers. It's been over a handful of years that I carried a box religiously although for old times sake, I drag out one of them a few times a year. I also carry a turtle shell slate, but rely on the mouth and rivercane callers mostly. I don't know if its the uniqueness of the sound in the public woods I mostly hunt, but the birds respond very well to the little rivercane yelper. Confidence in the call I'm using, luck and the suicide tendencies of some birds are the main tools in my kit.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: July 7th, 2018, 11:51 am
by GobbleNut
GLS wrote: July 7th, 2018, 4:30 am "the suicide tendencies of some birds are the main tools in my kit."
:lol: Sounds like you and I have the same strategy,....find one that wants to die,....works better than anything else I know of. :D

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: October 10th, 2018, 10:32 am
by Prospector
I think a mouth call ran right sounds as much like a hen as any call- you have so much flexibility changing up/vary calls and volume so fluidly... notice I wrote “ran right”, there are a lot more that think they sound good enough when in truth they merely tip off anything with ears that it’s not a turkey... I am NOT an expert so I call low and little usually, LOL, when I use one....

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: October 10th, 2018, 11:13 am
by Southern Sportsman
I am competent, and therefore confident, with a few different calls. Unless it’s raining, I usually carry 2 mouth calls, 2 pot calls, a box, and a wingbone. In the rain I just go with mouth/wingbone. Sometimes I carry a tube call regardless of weather. I love the sound, but I get annoyed cutting up unlubricated condoms and dealing with the exposed latex. I’ve killed turkeys with all of them, but the majority have been with mouth calls. I use the other ones at times (1) because it’s fun, and (2) because sometimes a turkey will respond better to one call versus another so I stick with what he likes.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: October 11th, 2018, 1:06 pm
by appalachianassassin
I mostly carry mouth calls and 1 trumpet. very light weight and not cumbersome like a box call, and you don't have to keep up with a striker as with a pot style call. I remember back in my early teens a time that I carried 2 boxes, 11 pot calls, 30plus strikers, and a couple dozen mouth calls. I carried almost as much crap as rob keck. now what I carry can easily fit into 1 hand.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: January 3rd, 2019, 7:17 pm
by HennedUp
I used a bunch of different calls when I was younger, but over the years I've settled on a couple different mouth calls and a wing bone. They all work, I think It's a matter of personal preference and what you have confidence in.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: January 3rd, 2019, 10:29 pm
by Roy
I use a box call more than anything and they’re very relaxing too me for whatever reason.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: January 5th, 2019, 11:55 pm
by savduck
I run mouth calls and trumpets 95% of the time. They hang on a lanyard around my neck, and I go.

When it's raining they are water proof. No other call can mimic the same amount of turkey sounds as a mouth call if a man knows how to run it.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: January 7th, 2019, 10:56 am
by misfire
I am one of the weirdo guys, I do not use a mouth call. I carry a variety of pots and a trumpet. I participated in the death of 9 birds last year, 4 with a pot and the other 5 with a trumpet. Its not that I do not know how to use a mouthcalls, I do, just more comfortable with pots and trumpets.

Re: Mouth Calls vs Friction Calls and Trumpet style calls

Posted: January 7th, 2019, 12:16 pm
by davisd9
I use about all the types of calls. Trumpets and boxes are my favorite. I probably have the most confidence with a pot call and use a mouth call to finish, I actually am not a huge fan of a mouth call but they have their purpose. I have killed birds with just each of the mentioned calls and birds using a variety of them. If I had to pick just one to hunt it would be difficult for me to choose as some years it seems like the pot is all they want and the next is another call. My box call was the call that had the magic last year.