The Ol' Yeller is an excellent call IMO. It sounds good, and it gets the birds fired up as good as any other call if they're in the mood. Its also pretty easy to use for a beginner. The sandpaper is to keep the call roughed up.Its best to rubthe surface of the call in one direction and strike across the direction you sanded.You should also periodically use the sand paper to clean the tip of the striker. If I was to recommend one call for a beginner, that would be it. I also like the Primos Power Crystal, although that is a bit more work to get sounding good initially. Once you rough up the Power Crystal, its a pretty sweet sounding production call.

Good Luck!