Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Bought the Tally-Ho

....a naked duck call reed and soundboard sounds just as good.

Do I need to learn better open reed technique?

I have used a tally-ho for years. They sound good without needing lots of air volume. Pitch is controlled by how much of the reed you have in your mouth. In mine, the reed will tend to stick if you call for long periods of time.

My favorite call.

Get a Critr-Call and never look back...

My closed reed calls sound better, but I may need to simply practice.

I use a Burnham's Mini Blaster and a Johnny Stewart PC-1

The Lohmans sounds good too, like cottontail

Not impressed with the TallyHo and have retired it. Sound is nothing special, reed seems to be quite loose, and it gums up / freezes quite easily. Not worth the trouble in my experience. Lots of people love them though, maybe I got a bad one.

Most Tally-Ho's don't work well right out of the package. They need a little work with some sandpaper and a new reed. The reed bridge needs a more pronounced curve to keep the reed from locking down against the call body. I also make a narrower reed out of .010 milar for the call. The extra work should not be necessary but the results are worth the effort in the end. I have used just about every open reed call on the market, and many custom calls, and a well tuned Tally-Ho sounds better than anything else I have used.

I know some people like'em, but that's pretty much my take on the TH.

I remember many years ago giving the TH a whirl, after another guy gave me a handful because he wasn't impressed either. Somewhere along the way I was told to try a Critr-Call which I did and the TH's are still sitting in the drawer.

I think calls are often times like rifles, knives etc. Guys have good luck with it, they rave about them.

I buy them all...


Travis

First bought a Tally-Ho back in '92 cause Jerry Blair said so. Good or bad, that's enough reason to own one right there!

Honestly though, when I go out a Crit'r Call and a JS PC-2 Mini are with me. The TH stays in the bag with about a dozen other calls I've acquired over the years.

If someone can tell me how to modify it to help, I'm all ears!

Pics would be nice too!

Anybody used an old duck call to call in a dog? I've tried the bag of retired duck calls I have and some sound pretty damn good!

I don't use the TH exclusively, but it remains a favorite in my repertoire of calls. I place more emphasis on the best calling setups then trying to be an authentic rabbit, bird, fawn, etc.

tally ho's sound like crap, they are so effective I called them the wacker.

Does anyone here really think that a perfect sound is all that important to success vs. the other 100 things you have to do right? Certain calls definitely function better/easier than others but a critter don't know one dying rabbit blues from another. Heck, I had an old Faulks adjustable closed reed that I tried for years to call with. Never saw a dang fox or yote with it and blamed that call. Should of blamed the other things I was doing 100% wrong. BTW, that call would call in every owl, hawk and crow within earshot. The calls fault? I think not.

If your duck call sounds good to you the coyote won't care. Heck, may even work better since you don't have everybody and their brother walking the country side blowing on it.

Others can probably help more but here's what I do to most open reed calls. Scrape or sand down the reed edges at least out toward the tip and maybe full length. Less often, thin and taper the full width of the reed for the last quarter its length. Keep blowing and testing every stroke or two as you work! With a thinner edge and maybe thinner last quarter of its length, the reed will start making sound with less air volume and pressure, and whimper down to quiet moans and such without "cracking" or stopping.

I worked over one tone board a bit by sanding but I don't know what I am doing on that and didn't improve anything so I leave them alone.

On the reed I mostly use a SHARP knife blade scraped and dragged at less than a right angle so it doesn't "chatter" but makes a smooth scrape. Have used super fine grit sand paper a few times also, but dont have any around now. You are only removing a miniscule amount of material to thin the edge so pick a sandpaper that is almost smooth. If you destroy the reed, they are replaceable!

Also: try inserting the call into your mouth at an angle from the corner so that the reed is going across the front of your mouth somewhat, and experiment with different positions and with pressing the reed at different tone points with lips etc. and not just front teeth. Some calls will "start" easier when angled into the mouth. I've no idea why.

I think I have it figured out. Watching Predator Quest right now and can duplicate his sounds with the Tally-Ho

Humming into the call and giving it some "voice" really sounds good.

Gonna go give it a test drive on a few stands here in a few. Will report back if I do any good.

I agree that it really doesn't matter what the pitch or tone of the call is, but there is definitely a difference in the function of certain calls. In addition, I think there are some calls which have a "live" sound and some that are lifeless pieces of plastic. As I said above most Tally-Ho's belong in the trash can right out of the package,but when tuned correctly they are function perfectly and have that "alive" sound better than anything I had used. If I buy 6 Tally-Ho's 2 will be superb calls and 4 will end up living in the landfill.

The Talley-Ho is the first one I grab.

An open reed call is a little harder to master, but the variations in sound makes them more than a little worth while.

Some can't master a diaphragm call either.....

I own ahout 25 open reed coyote calls. Only 3 were virtually useless out of the box, the Talley Ho, the Primos Hot Dog, and the Primos white mouthpiece one. Could hardly get a sound out of them.