I was feeling the same as you about a year ago. I had practiced and practiced trying to make a sound like the yelp of a turkey and sounded more like a sick dog. I got so frustrated that I gave up and just used other types of calls. Then one day I decided to just try to learn the more quiet type calls (soft clucks and purrs) on a mouth call. My reasoning was, if I am trying to get the turkey to come to me when he is still out of sight, I can use a slate or box with a little more volume. Once he decides to come my way, I'll go to the mouth call and try to entice him with the soft clucks and purrs.

I concentrated on one type of call until I mastered it. The first was the cluck. I have a 45 minute commute to work, so that is when I practiced this call. It took some time, but I did finally get it. I then went to the purr, which was harder for me to master, but I did finally get it. I can now cluck and purr pretty well. I also found that after mastering these softer calls, I was able to yelp very easily. My wife tells me I sound like a turkey, but that might not be a compliment.