Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl Duck call advice needed

+1

Good friend can call so amazingly but won't ever just STFU and let the birds work themselves...

I'm new to duck hunting, so theres that... Couple years ago me and a buddy were on a local conservation area. Had got there an hour early to beat people to the hole, no trucks around. We set up the decoys, slipped back in the willows and drank coffee waiting on sun up. About 5 minutes before legal shooting time, adjacent to our little pond was an old strip pit with deep water, too deep to even think about wading into the water, all hell breaks loose. The worst calling you'd ever heard. Continous. Not shutting up. Had to be 3 or 4 guys over there throwing every call they had at the ducks they thought were going to come in. It was terrible.

5 minutes into shooting time, they still haven't shut up. I leave my hiding place to go see what these knuckleheads are doing. Go walking over there and low and behold its about 50 mallards having a party....

That's funny!

My first or second time duck hunting, when I was in grade school, we went to a big public slough. So in the dark we find ourselves good spots in the weedy end. Just after sunrise some guy walks up to the far side where the banks are bare and wades in a few yards. You can see this because of his big white cowboy hat. To top it off a little kid walks from the guy's pickup to the shore line and starts throwing rocks into the slough. All we could do was laugh, it was a bluebird day with nothing flying less than a mile high anyway.

I got a Duck Commander mule call for free a few months ago when I bought a Mojo Rippler, and it might be my new favorite. Very very easy to blow, it’s the only call I own that I can make a decent sounding feeder call.

Yentzen, Chick Majors Dixie Mallard King, and Haydel's Dirty Rice.

I just started and went through a BUNCH of different calls ...

the ones I found easiest to blow

Buck Gardners Double Nasty (it’s cheap too compared to others)
Zinc’s green machine ATM call

The secret to calling. Only call when there are no ducks in view. That way you are not scaring any off. Buy a good whistle call. That way when the dog is 700 yards away, chasing seagulls. He can hear you.

I learned on Haydels, I was a poor college student at the time.

I know blow JJ Lares, though I do have a few Haydels as backup.

Good looking toller. Still happy with my old wood body Duck Commander.
Like others have said, try a bunch, one will sound right, For You.

You are going to go through a ton of calls. Ask your buddies if you can run their calls just to see if you like it. I found a Wingloc to be my fav. Don’t over call. Practice at home. Don’t sky bust.

Faulks WA-11 duck calls work really well and are cheap. Like most duck hunters I have a bunch of different calls. I find the Faulks the easiest to use,

YES, ...to ALL the Above

( Mechanics/ Technique Aside) Props to the RNT Mondo/ DC/ OG

The easiest call that sounds the most like a hen mallard to me is the Duck Commander Cut Down. Only about 30 bucks and worth every penny. Learn to call, it is the best part of duck hunting for me.

I’ve got good and not so good calls of all sorts. Boxes full. I’m not brand specific, but more sound and style specific...so, just generalities:

If you learn on a true cutdown style, its often hard to transition to J-frames, often locking them up, no matter who made them. It’s different air through different call types....just something to keep in mind. The reason it’s easier to learn on double reeds is that there’s less air and back pressure required. OTOH, running an old Olt AR style CD, w/ 1.4m reed all morning can have you seeing blue monkeys. Wood and acrylic and molded all sound different, but all call ducks. Talking duck when a duck expects to be talked to and not when they don’t, matters far more than getting the call right. Only place I’ve ever had them love anything and everything thrown at them was new birds in Saskatchewan.

I just went through this last year - how to call ducks...

The caller we had got through cancer and they removed his tongue - yes DAMN! .. he is a good friend, it was hard on him... still puts me back.

Anyway -

Out of all the advice I got, here is what worked.

You need a call that isn’t crap to learn on -

1). I bought a bunch (tried a bunch), Zink’s ATM green machine was by far the best deal, that had the range needed.

2). Second - you need a instruction CD that breaks things down the science of the sounds, and how to make them -
Here you can’t beat Carlson’s Champion calls - duck calling A to Z.

These 2 are what got me to be proficient... after that it was hunting, and driving to the lake to hear the ducks sounds...
the CD will tell you when to call & shut up - it has a DVD in it where they show the birds reacting to the call, and when not to call.

DR-85.

Only call on the corners, let your decoys work. Keep your face in the shadows or behind the blind so they don't see a big moonpie reflection as they commit.

Jerk cord works probably better than a call, all things being equal. And, make sure you have a hole for them to land in your decoys.

Drakes tend to follow the hens in flight. Mergansers fly horizontal - let them pass.

Good Luck.

^^^^Much of this is great advice. Calling can be somewhat overrated. Highballing ducks is a good start when your spread needs a look. Once they see, running jerk lines with swimmers and feeders creating motion and water movement is all you’ll really need after that. Nothing attracts ducks more than movement. At that point calling isn’t really needed. Regarding calls, I use a KM cut-down keyhole basic. To me it is the ultimate call providing both loud, soft and in between versatility. Easy to blow and makes the most authentic sounds out there in my opinion. Good luck.

Pick a cheap double reed to begin with. They have natural rasp and tone that takes practice to mimic in a single reed. The downside is they aren't as fast to run or have the range top to bottom of a single, but they do sound "ducky" which will kill birds.

Some cheap ones I have used are Winglock, Echo and my favorite, the Let Em Lite Mrs H my buddy gave to my son. That thing sounds great, acrylic and cheap.

I use a Duck Commander call and Zink calls.
I have swapped to using a drake whistle/call more over the last few years and found that I get really good results. I figure here in TN that the duck have been "called at and screamed at" all the way down here and are "wise" to it by now. Don't think as many use the drake call so that is what I tried and it seemed to work.

Since I have never been very good at it, My call advice is to bring my son along. He does very well.