I made a sound!

[hanson]

Mouth call rookie here...

Not having anyone to show me how to do this yet, I finally got the call to make some squeaks last night. Long way to go no doubt.

Any tips from here?

[LABS4ME]

Dry mouth and a relaxed tounge and palate. When I first started I could call an elk better than I could turkey call... I learned over time to really relax that call in your mouth and it all comes together pretty quick from there. I've even started a couple guys off with the calls with the plastic dome on the top to teach them how to position it in their mouths. Work on clucks 1st and really get that down and go from there. You'll mostly be doing clucks anyways so get good at that.

Good Luck!

Ken

[hanson]

Quote:

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Dry mouth...

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Funny! I'm not used to having a call yet in my mouth and its a saliva factory in there no doubt. Yuck!

[Wallydog]

Hanson,

I've been calling with a diaphram for almost 25 yrs now. Each year I need to get my mouth, tongue and lips "in shape" for the upcoming season. I keep 2 calls in my mouth when hunting.... so, this week I start carrying 2 (1 in each cheek) when driving to and from work or practically anytime I'm alone in my truck. I rotate them into calling position with my tongue and call whenever I won't annoy anyone. Tho experienced with mouthcalls it still gets my mouth tuned up. The saliva thing happens to everyone. The frequency with which you have the call in your mouth will minimize the saliva production.

WD

[Captain B.R.K]

WAY TO GO!

Great story, read along .........

My first year turkey hunting, I bought some mouth calls and would just holler on em' when no one was home. Well I lived in an apartment complex that year and the one day I was hollerin and blowing on my mouth call as loud as I could. I was making the loudest yelps! 15 minutes later, there is a knock on the door & the old lady from down the hall says to me as she is on her cordless phone talking to the manager "where is the dog." I just laugh at her and say, lady, I'm playing with my mouth call

A small squeak will eventually lead to a strutin' tom someday, believe me!

Like Wallydog said, practice as much as possible whenever. I got a tape from my buddies dad that I play on the ride to & from work and blow away on the mouth call. Yeah, people look at me funny when they look my way, but I know that I'm preparing myself for a great hunt too so I don't really care what they think.

I know we talked on the ride up to Slabfest about different tapes and videos to get. Any of the H.S. Strut video's are going to be good. Best way I learned to use a mouthcall was to sit in front of the t.v by myself and play the video over and over until I got the hang of it!

Good luck Squeaky Hanson

[hanson]

I know this has to sound silly to you old pro's at this but without a dad, older brother, good buddy, or grandpa to teach you how to use a mouth call, its pretty tricky.

After watching a few videos and reading tips online here, I do believe I've got a smaller mouth which doesn't make using regular sized calls very easy, or learning on them very easy. I've found that I can make noise a lot easier when I bend the call a little to fit to the roof of my mouth better. According to Will Primos on a video I have, this will have a decent impact on the sound produced as well. Thats fine with me so far as I'm just trying to make sounds and that seams to have worked the best.

I did notice that Primos makes a new call called the Power Dome I believe which is supposed to help fit the roof of your mouth. They have that in a mini size as well and I think that may be worth a try to see if I can start to sound like a turkey. I can sure make noise but it don't sound like a turkey.

[Captain B.R.K]

You are not to bend the diaphram as you then you won't make the true noise the call was intended to make. A big no, no....at least thats what the ole season hunters have told me as I was learning.

There is one company out there that makes a call for small palates (spelling?!?) and is exactly what you are looking for. I bought one before, thinking I had the same problem as you. But I about swallow the thing when I'm calling on it and realized I just needed to get use to having a diaphram in my mouth.

[Powerstroke]

I had the same problem as you Chris last year. I thought for sure that the roof of my mouth was too narrow so I purchased a call for "small palettes". This ended up being too small and barely held in my mouth. If it is seriously uncomfortable drop the $10 on a smaller call but I think you will find that you have the right size already, it just is sitting in the wrong spot.

I'm not very good with mine, but I can cluck pretty good. I bought a "turkey sounds" CD by Ray Eye at Cabelas last year and it is very good and teaching individual sounds and then putting them together in a hunt sequence. I play this in the car whenever I can.

[Jackpine Rob]

You can always trim the fabric portion of the call using a scissors. When I started out I convinced myself the calls were made for giants, and after a call to the Lohmann folks I pulled out the scissors and performed some minor surgery. It helped. A lot.

Once you get reasonably proficient at blowing the diaphragm calls, it really doesn't matter much how big or small they are..... you can respond and deal with it.

I don't use the Lohmann calls much anymore, and like most callers have stumbled upon a few that seem to work best for me and my style. I've probably got 2-3 dozen diaphragms sitting in little plastic boxes right now, of various makes and models. All of them work just fine. However, there is one little H.S. Strut box with a chunk of camo tape on the cover that holds the keys to the Kingdom... 3 of them, broken in and ready to sing the songs of spring.

[hanson]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I was playing around again this morning. The call is feeling better in my mouth and the sound is starting to come easier.

I mentioned earlier that I bent one of the calls to fit better. Although probably a bad thing to do, it helped and I have since started to bend it back into shape and can still get a good sound. I guess its a learning tool now.

I'll have to play around with trimming some calls as well as experimenting with others. Its exciting because I never thought I'd be able to learn how to do it.

[Gus]

Quick story to share with you guys regarding carrying calls in your mouth like Wallydog does. I was practicing my mouth calling one day in the truck on a nice spring day. Had the windows down and someone cut me off pretty good. If you have played with a call you know that you can really bellow out an awful screech if you just exhale hard though it. I stuck my head out the windw and let out some gawd awfull screech and the person who cut me off looked at me like I was the devil or something and got right out of my way with this scared look in the face. I laughed pretty hard to myself about that one. The look on her face was priceless.

Happy Friday to everyone.

[Borch]

When it come to calls turkeys aren't nearly as picky as we hunters are in regards to sounds quality. Cadence and volume tends to be far more important.

Some of the worst tukey callers I've ever heard were real live wild hen turkeys. Some of them sound horrible!

Chris also look around. Those mouth calls come in all shapes and sizes. As far as bending them goes it's a crap shoot. At times it'll actually made the call sound better. The trick is keeping enough tension on the latex to allow then to vibrate. HS Strut also used to have the dome/trough calls. Although I haven't seem them aroond this spring.

I wish I would have seen this before Ice Cats. I would have brought a few out to to see if we could have called in a few of those river bottom toms.

I just got a new custon slate by Bill Purdy. It's one sweet call! Also just a plain gorgous call as well.

[buckpredator]

Some of the worst tukey callers I've ever heard were real live wild hen turkeys. Some of them sound horrible!- Borch

I just want to say good point borch, I remember hunting one day on public land and I heard the most awful calling I've ever heard. I thought for sure it was some hunter who might have needed more practice. I picked up my binocs and tried to look for him when I seen a hen on the other side of the river surrounded by a group three toms, I was floored. Ever since then I am not as quick to make fun of my buddies about their "bad calling". This is not to say don't practice, but you really don't need to be "perfect". I would say try to be effecient with multiple calls.

Thats My two cents.

[hanson]

Things are progressing I think.

I just picked up one of the Sonic Dome calls from Primos and I already sound better.

What I've been learning is definitely how and where to hold the call in your mouth as well as how to make various sounds. There are certain words that you need to say that imitate the way the air goes across the call to make the sounds. After playing with the sonic dome call, it actually sounds more like a yelp now than a monkey. LOL! I'll keep playing with this call and switch back over to a regular call and see if I can apply what I learned to that call.

As a back up, I also picked up a couple different strikers for my power crystal.

I'm so excited to give this a shot again. I've been watching The Truth 17 & All Stars of Spring XII all week now.

[CanOCorn]

I am new to this too. I think I've got the calling down.

Question though... what do you do with 3 wet diaphrams and one little plastic case?

Do you let them dry, run them under water, put them in there full of spit or what?

I don't want to pull them out the day of my hunt and have 3 moldy calls to put in my mouth.

[Cooter]

A little water and mouthwash in a snoose can works during the season. I believe Yelper Helper by Knight & Hale is still around? Comes with a little corntainer.

Off the subject a bit but if you've never let loose with a turkey mouth call in a busy mall about Christmas time you're missing out - talk about turning heads. Or if you've heard this at Oakwood Mall in Eau Claire I'm sorry, that was me.