You can definitely get bogged down in the choices that are out there.
I can highly recommend hunting with someone who is an experienced turkey hunter. What you do, and how you set up is as important as the calling I've found out.
I have a friend who is obsessed with making perfect turkey sounds and it's just not that critical in my opinion, just listen to real turkeys.
I have had many calls, none extremely expensive, but decent calls that I have settled on for my needs.
Cody Slate pot style call.(good for low sweet or raspy sounds)
Cody Glass (this call makes the best sounds to me, can make it raspy or crystal clear)
MAD Super Aluminator 2(aluminum call with an acrylic striker,can use it to locate, because it will get very loud, I use this one a lot on damp or rainy days)
A good box call, Lynch Foolproof is good, as are others. It gets damp and wet a lot here in south Alabama and I bought a Woods Wise Mystic Wet Hen box call with a black lid that has a no chalk feature and will play wet. It doesn't sound good to me, but I have watched numerous gobblers die with the sound of that call the last thing they heard. We started calling it the black box of death.
For locator calls. In the morning I just use my own voice to owl hoot, later in the morning I may use a crow call, or the box call to locate birds.
I am no good with mouth calls but have found a few that I can at least make a turkey like sound with and keep one in my mouth when a bird is coming in. If they hang up and just need a little more coaxing then I use the mouth call.
Most experienced turkey hunters won't use a push button call, but the last birds I called in came to one. It was the only call I had gotten out that morning for my son to use and the birds sneaked up on me. I like the ones that don't need chalk, again because of the usually damp weather in my area.
We can use decoys in Alabama and I have been using a Dave Smith Decoy upright hen along with a Funky Chicken Jake and have had good luck. I have also had good luck with the cheap foam decoys.
None of these calls are very expensive and they just plain work for me.
The next question is which shells to use, 3 inch, 3 1/2 inch, lead, copper plated, hevi shot, #4's, 5's, 6's, 12 gauge or 20 gauge, which choke tube?
When you have one gobble in your face, you'll be hooked.
Bob.
