Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting call advice needed

I'm getting my calls ready for the season and will practice this year.. I will try... (I'll do better on this than my new years resolution to lose weight)

So..

1. Pot calls - what material is more resistant to moisture? glass or slate? (aluminum?
I own a glass and slate call and hope the glass works for damp conditions.

2. What stiker material do you need for waterproof pot calls?

3. Mouth calls.. finally learned the trick and going to try them this year. Some sound better than others... Any advice for preserving the good ones? Do you soak them in diluted mouth wash to prevent mold?

Last item.. Complaint... I bought a diaphram mouth call from a custom maker and it works and fits better... paid $15...
looked at the printing on it and it was a repackaged HS Strut call you can buy for $8. I guess buyer beware.
I fuigure 75% of the call makers are repackagers. Especially when you see a pretty pot call.

I wash my mouth calls in a mild solution of dish soap and make sure they're rinsed very well. Then, I put a small amount of mouthwash on a paper towel, wrap them up, and keep them in the garage fridge. Not sure all that's needed, but it's what I do. Been doing this for years, and even my oldest mouth calls are in excellent, usable, condition.

My glass and metal pot calls work well wet with acryllic and carbon-fiber strikers.

I heard you should slide a toothpick in between the reeds to open them up to dry. Is that needed?

On the mouth calls.. I've been playing with the 4 I have as I drive to work and leave them in the car to dry or bring them in into the office. Its winter so the car isn't baking them.

i figure the 1/2 hour commutter pracatice will... Save my marriage.

I used toothpicks for a bit, don't anymore. But I do keep them moist and don't let them dry out.

I drove my family, and our dogs, nuts practicing with the mouth calls! Lol! I was an electrician and would also practice out on a job site. Got asked many times to knock it off!

I had cassette tapes that a wildlife biologist had recorded of turkey vocalizations out in the woods and I practiced mimicking those calls. What I noticed, was even turkey's weren't the greatest turkey callers, but the 1 thing that was always there, was a cadence or rythem. So even if you screw up calling, keep going and continue with rythem and cadence.

These are great strikers and play any pot call I have, wet or dry. The clear striker is an acryllic striker that came with a Perfection glass call I have. The two green ones, I think are HS Strut strikers that came with some World Champion pot calls I got back in the 90s. I'm not sure what they are made of, but feel like green acryllic. The shaft are very hard and feel almost like glass. So I think they are acryllic, too.

As far as mouth calls go, I slide a small piece of a toothpick between each reed, and like Dean, put them in a zip lock bag and keep them in the refrigerator in the garage.

I had a turkey that was out of sight that sounded so bad, I thought someone had slipped in was was hunting our farm. She finally came into view and low and behold it was a real turkey, a very mouthy turkey. She came up in front of me and brought a tom with her. I killed the tom and she went right on talking and walked out of sight like nothing ever happened.

One of those green strikers with a hs strut black magic the one with 16 holes in the base are my go to call. No matter how many others I try/buy I always go back to that one. Can still find the calls here and there on ebay but have long been discontinued.

Glass/crystal is my preferred pot for damp conditions. Several call makers offer waterproof strikers. Eddie Wynne’s is particularly nice in my opinion. You can go carbon, acrylic, or aluminum each having a different tone.