Wingbones, homemade slates, and lynch box calls were the standard. There were also these little cedar boxes that you would strike against a peg. The box was 3 to 4 inches long by 2 to three wide and 3/4 inch thick with a lip. The peg was 2 inches long and you held it still and moved the box against it. I have a few my grandfather made. Maybe it is time to go old school and pull those out of a storage box.

I’ve got an old frictionwood that is my go to in a bind. Had a friend that carried a Turpin that his granddaddy died still holding it in a turkey blind. It’d strike birds nothing else would. I forget how much it as worth but Rob carried every hunt.

im old school and i like it

I’m probably a solid mix.

I was taught by the guys that yelped 3 times and never made another call. I was taught to under no circumstances do you ever spook a Turkey.

That said, I call to move a turkeys feet these days. It drives the old guys I grew up with hunting crazy, but the don’t complain when that tail fan appears.

I love the game. I want to beat to beat a mature tom on his terms. I don’t want to sit in a blind over decoys and deer hunt a Turkey. However, if that’s how you hunt I am not going to berate or dismiss you. I just don’t get a thrill out of it.

I am teaching my kids to hunt now. They are 4 and 8. Baby girl just wants to ride the 4 wheeler and sit on the rack and listen to gobbles at this point. My boy is fully engaged. He called in a gobbler by himself this season and learned the hard way about not being hidden well. His exact words when we got home - “Mom I thought I was going to be sick my heart was beating so hard. I couldn’t make my hands and legs quit shaking!” He gets it….

Back when there weren’t any turkey hunters I think this may have worked. In today’s turkey woods these birds have been called to way too much, bumped, shot, shot at, etc. I don’t think 3 yelps and sitting on a gobbling turkey will work like it did 40 yrs ago. These Alabama turkeys today seem they just want you to give them a reason to walk away. Giving them only 3 yelps seems like a recipe for a long morning in the woods.

Oh I completely agree.

I haven never been one myself to do it, but my mentors taught me that’s how to do it. Honestly, it worked. They killed the 5 bird limit in Alabama and the 3 bird limit in Mississippi every year.

Back when the old timers were doing the 3 yelps every 45 minutes and wait. Hitting them hard and keeping the gobbling hard worked well for years. I rarely yelp at a bird and I mean rarely. I’ll let out a series on the Billy White if nothing is gobbling but that’s about it. Purrs, whines and light cuts/clucks is about all I do now.

I don’t use locater calls early. I wait and listen

The game has changed thru the years and there is always exceptions but that’s what I do now.

I miss the ole running and gunning and wearing a call out. Trying to get him to pass out from hard gobbling and never letting up. Those were the days.

I grew up with a different set of old timers, I guess. (1970’s) They weren’t one trick ponies for sure sitting around and clucking 3 times every so often. If the bird needed a lot of calling, they called a lot. If a little, a little. If he wanted a box, they called with a box, or a slate or a wing, a snuff box, a scratch box, a willow leaf (exaggeration) or a little later a diaphragm, whatever they had and needed too. And they would walk your legs off looking to strike a bird. About the only thing they wouldn’t do was crawl to one. They were sportsmen when it came to turkeys. They had seen some rough population swings and loved hunting them. They wanted more for tomorrow…

Or even call with two calls at one time too. I've called with one call then right behind it with another . You can take some two Reed mouth calls and flip them in your and make two total different calls . I've seen hens yelp a couple times I've seen hens yelp over a dozen times ...

And yes gobblers are different . Some like different sounds better I've heard hens that sounded nice and clear others that sounded bout like a dog barking . Why calling contest never impressed me. calling people is one thing calling a turkey is another thing

Just to add ... the flow of the call is what matters . You can call with a clear call or raspy but the flow need to be right . You mess up just blend it in . I've seen one hen call and the one beside her slap her around. So if you screw up a call don't worry that much about it hens ain't perfect either.


Its the flow

Turkey kills just don’t count unless you call him in to 15’ or less and flip him with a.410. Anything else is lowdown scumbag outlaw new school YouTube shenanigans.

I like them 12-15 feet with my 3.5 inch #6 nitro mags....but only if they will strut.