Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl splain duck calls to me please.

been killin waterfowl since before steel became maditory, but have never really used calls, and very few decoys.

now i'm starting to get back into waterfowlin again, decoys are kickin butt, but i need a call or 2.

we are hunting ducks along the streams here or what they call rivers !
one place is lined with trees, and another spot has a canyon wall along the far bank, maybe 50 yards away, and trees in the bottom and a hill behind. we hide in the willows.

what i'd like to know is single or double reed ? timber or open water models ??

wood, acrylic, plastic, or ?????

I will be following this thread. I am also not a caller. In fact in my hands a duck call is one of the most effective waterfowl conservation tools known to man.

an incorrectly used call is a consevation tool..

For me, and this is just me.... single reed, acrylic. Acrylic hasn't frozen up on me like the old favorite yentzen double reed or the Olt 66 I used to love....

Call use sparingly, and I use whistles a fair amount more than the regular. Regular a lot of times is only single quacks here and there and feed chuckles... For us, we get to shoot birds after everyone else from AK on down has shot at them, they are a tad bit educated by the time they get here..... highballs, come backs etc... often don't work that well.

That was my implication.

Still use an old Olt 66. If they are headed your way shut up. I use drake wistles and single quacks. Alot of times early in the morning I will mimic ducks on the bay and as it gets light they will pick up and drop into my decoys. On passing ducks I just give them a short simple greeting call alot of times they will fly out of sight and 5 min later swing back in. if they bail after making a pass I'll throw a big comeback at them, I've got nothing to lose. I've called back a flock of mallards six times once befor I could get a shot where I wouldn't lose a duck if came down. First time out with a new pup and wanted the bird to spash down right in front of the blind for her.

Having asthma an easy blowing call is nice for me. Get a couple of training CD's keep them in the car and practice driving to work in the morning Go to your nearest park early in the morning and listen to the ducks talking.

As I've gotten older I use fewer dekes and call less. I hunt public land only but tend to migrate to the back corner away from the big spreads of decoys or a little piece of water near the landing that everyone bypasses. I don't get the big flocks but the little ones the just want to land. I seem to come off the water with just as many ducks as the big spreads.

I started with cheaper wood and plastic models. Double reeds are probably easier for a beginner. However, I'm a fan of acrylic single reeds, and RNT calls in particular, at least for ducks.

I'd suggest going with a timber model at first.

Love the RNT Daisy Cutter, probably my favorite call. However, I do like my acrylic RNT Original, and bocote wood RNT Short Barrel.

The right answer is whatever floats your boat...

You can't call that well, or at all, right now. I would get a call that you could make a few quacks with and burn it up than move on to different calls.. Get the CD's and hear these guys, do what they say... Burn that call up.... Seek out a few lessons from some good callers...One of the founders of our goose club is a great caller.. I just decided that he is going to give me lessons this year but NOT while hunting... You don't practice calling in the blind..

After about 40 hours on the call you might be OK if you are lucky..

I see these guys all the time in the goose pits that think they can call and they can't even run a call for 5 min straight without sticking the reed let alone call for 1/2 an hour..

I am not saying or even implying that I am a great goose caller or even a good one...

decoys work just fine without calling, but not all birds are coming in.
i am not going to be calling when birds are coming in with wings set, just the ones that give a fly bye, and just may turn back if some noise is coming up at them.

i can practice all i want, all day long, in my truck. i feel sorry for my swamper (helper) tho !!!

Practice your calling off season. Get a good tape or CD to help explain cadence and pitch. Set your tollers correctly and call sparingly unless they will not readily decoy. Call when the birds are not directly over you and can see movement. Movement will spook 'em before most any other sin. Practice, practice, practice and more. As said earlier, bad calling is good conservation. Too much calling is just plain anoying! MTG

I travel a lot, so I bought a Duck Commander instructional calling CD, and play it while I drive. I also take my calls with me and practice.

I can see the federal law now outlawing cell phones and duck calls while driving

I will admit that I have received some funny looks from other drivers over the years!

Ha ha! that's when I practice calling too.

What I did in the off season was to go to city parks (or anywhere wild/tame ducks gather) and spend time listening to them "talking". Then start taking along a call and try mimicking them. I think people call too much in general, and a few feeding clucks is all that's necessary to make up an undecided duck's mind as to whether to pitch into the dekes or not.

I'm a first year waterfowl hunter this year and at this point, a very novice caller. All the guys I hunt with are experienced hunters/callers. I did a lot of research about beginner calls and easy calls to blow and the first call I bought, Duck Commander Duck Picker, I absolutely love. It's easy to blow, very ducky, and won't break the bank at $30.

I walk my dog several times through out the day since I office at home so I throw on the lanyard with my calls and practice them then (my neighbors love me ), as well as when traveling in my car.

Buy what you like, and practice is the most solid advice I've gotten so far. There are some great free videos on youtube as well.

That's my novice two cents......HAPPY HUNTING!!

So you are that guy in the park...

6 years ago we had a house around the corner that was rented to about 200 illegals.. I live in a nice neighborhood, btw.. Anyhow, my truck got broken into one night.. I called the cops and did not touch a thing in my truck.. The officer arrives. On my center console and 1/2 on the floor was my goose lanyard filled with calls.. He looks at them and asks "What are these"?? I said "Goose Calls".. He Carefully picked them up and sniffs my Allen Stanly Canadis... lol... Then he hands them to me.. @ 5:00am in the middle of suburbia I crank off a FEW clucks and a comeback call... He thought that was neat.... Nothing was stolen..I did not have anything of quick sale value in the truck... I did find out later that a few of the illegals was going around helping themselves to all kinds of things...

bought a duck bait, double reed, timber model.
we'll see how it works in the morning.

I'd say... that buying a call and using it the next morning might not be the best... but if you do.. I'd stick to quacks, and a cadence spaced of 5 in a row and stop has always worked for me best.

At least thats what I hear around here after season when I listen to the few mallards we find.

I can't really say killin any ducks is very important over just getting out. If I scare some off, well, learning to call, is learning. Been practicing for a few days now. If some come in, great, if I scare em, well, I wasn't at work !
It ain't all about the killin.

As long as your hunting buddies and dog are OK with it....

I have told more then one guy to put the call away... My buddy, Ronnie, is 3 times worse then I am..