Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk ALTurkey Talk -- Beards and Spurs Mouth call for a newbie

What's a simple/good mouth call for a newbie to learn on? I know little to nothing about them so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

The brand is a personal choice. Preston Pittman mouth calls are the only ones that fit my mouth. The biggest thing you need to do is pick any thin reed call and get use to it in your mouth. Learn to make the different sounds of a turkey. The yelp and cluck is fine for now. Youtube some videos and try to mimic them. Remember, a real hen would never win a calling contest. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Just stay away from mass produced calls for the most part. Ex. Quaker boy, primos, knight and hale, hs strut, etc. most of those calls just suck. A great caller couldn't sound decent on them. Some wood havens, zinc, etc sound good but it's normally spotty, same models but not consistent. I'm a fan of houndstooth, pecker wrecker, Tom teaser, rut and strut, south land. Among others. I hear that fatal attraction and the yekrut diagrams are good but haven't tried them.

Go find you a simple double reed call and start with that

I disagree.

A ghost cut Woodhaven is easy to use.. The one with the orange tape. It has some rasp and is easy to purr and cluck on. But if you are like me you will go thru a bunch till you find one type you really like.

I suggest a double Reed split v. It will be easy to get sound out of. When you get good with it, message Yekrut and get a sampler pack and find a couple you really like. It's fun to learn. My wife just LOVES my practicing!

Care to explain?

I wouldn't start expensive. It wont make you sound any better. Get one at Walmart and play around with it until you sound like a turkey. Then when you get better you can go more expensive.

As far as the cut goes, it's just something he will need to play with, everybody is different. I can't hardly stand a ghost cut, except to kee kee, but some love them. Some like a batwing or v, center or side, or whatever, just play with a bunch of calls and find what you like.

I agree about the wood havens and was basically trying to say the same thing. I can buy 3 red wasps and they might get one or two of the three that sound right. Seems like their consistency has gone down over the past few years.

I disagree, there's not much difference if any in price, what's 2 or 3 bucks?

I think Woodhaven isn't as 'custom' as they once were. They sell at Basspro now...

There is one woman that stretches all of their calls. I mean all of them from the stage down to what you buy in the store.

get with YEKRUT and get a bowhunter cut. i tried for years and never could use a mouth call. he sat down with me and made me calls until we found one i could work with. i still cant run one all that well but i run it better than any other mouth call...

I like mfk game calls. Great videos online and great customer service. They make excellent howler and distress diaphragms as well if you like to hunt predators.

first off i will say i cant use a mouthcall near as well as i would like and i am still working on it but i will say this, some people can get more realistic turkey sounds out of a mouth call than any other call ever created but i would be willing to bet that over 80% of people that use a mouth call do not blow it right, myself included. out of all the friends i have ever had that turkey hunted which is alot there have been 2 that actually blew the call the right way. many people dont even know they are running it wrong until they sit with a person that can actually run one the right way, im not saying these people wont call up turkeys with a mouth call and kill them because i did it the other day but the difference between me and my buddy that can run one the right way the difference is night and day. this is a good video that i think explains a whole lot about mouth calls and proper selection and proper use
click here

another good video by the same guy
click here

Yea the Shane Simpson video is how I am "relearning" to call and I agree on the sound being day and night. It takes a lot of practice to break old habits so I would suggest learning how todo it correctly from the git-go, you will be happy that you did. I think the ghost cut is easiest when making the two note call, but what do I know.

As far as improvement goes: record yourself with your phone from across your house or outside to get a feel for what you truly sound like. Then adjust to sound like a real hen. Good luck!

LOL... if I went this route, I'd still not be able to blow a mouth call. I tried MANY from the folks at HS Strut, Primos, and Pittman and never could produce a hint of turkey talk. When I first purchased a Woodhaven Hornet and V3, all of a sudden I could blow a mouth call. That was 15 years ago... and I now can blow most calls outside of those brands I used to try - I'd suggest getting a Legacy, Houndstooth, or similar call maker like Stony or Yekrut and going from there.

The Simpson video brings out two very important ideas to mouth calling. One... how the actual call works - producing the front end and back end notes. Two... the fact that everyone doesn't channel air in the same route. Me? I don't do well with either a split V or a ghost cut because my air channel is not down the middle of my mouth. On the other hand, I can easily run a combo cut (best) and a batwing. Those who say, "a split V is the easiest cut to run" may... or may NOT be right. It depends on the person and where he/she channels the air in the mouth.