RE: Advice to a Beginner
My advice to you would be to learn the most basic of calls...the yelp. Anyone who can produce a good sounding yelp can successfully call turkeys. One way you might be able to produce good sounding yelps with ease is with a push-rod call. They' re in the shape of a rectangular box and have a spring-loaded rod which you gently push to produce sounds. Both Primos and Knight & Hale manufacture these types of calls. Once you master that call, then consider a slate call, box call, and finally a diaphragm call. With these calls you can then move on to more advanced calling techniques such as the cluck, fly-down cackle, and others. Another piece of advice I would give is spend the money on a video tape with lots of turkey hunts on it. Practice while watching the tape. Many of the hunters profiled on these tapes are good callers. Learn from the experts. And finally, all I can say is practice, practice, and practice.