howdy just wondering what calls you guys are using out there and would like to know how to preserve diaphragm calls mine typically only last one season at best. thanks for they feedback!

That's pretty typical.

I try and dry off the best your can without stretching the latex but other than that keep em out of the heat as much as possible.

I'm usually happy if one will make it an entire season. I usually have to buy several throughout the year. (That includes driving my wife insane during the preseason practicing) Is there a reason you're concerned they only last one season? I mean they're only like $5 a pop.

I know their cheep but i am ending up having to buy new ones every couple weeks if that i need to get more life out of them im out in the woods for weeks at a time and i cant have my diaphragm calls going out on me all the time they go through alot from freezing to temps over 90 in one day period.

What are you using for calls would be the first question? How are you storing them to use in the field. Just from the sound of things you are blowing them out. That would mean you need to go up in reed numbers or reed thickness. I use High Plains doubles and triples to cow call with and HS 3.5 to bugle with. If I drop back to a HS triple or 2.5 I blow them out way too quickly. The High Plains I can't get the same type of bugle out of but is the best reed to cow call on that I have ever used.
As for storage I rinse them with water and air dry them. I have HS call caddy[pouch made out of nylon] so air always gets too them. They hang on a hook in my closet. I don't keep them in the frig or freezer.

Replacing them every couple of weeks does seem a bit extreme. Like GSE said you might be blowing them out but the constantly changing temps will kill them fast particularly if they are getting really hot. I keep one in my pocket ready to go on hunts but all the others I keep my pack as long as possible so they stay by the cold water in my pack bladder and stay cool. I'll pull them out when it's time to really hunt.

Bugling seems to harder on them too than making cow sounds which I do 90% of the time anyway. Of course GSE is a call master and prides himself on his 4-5 octive bugles. How about it GSE? Do your many octive bugles kill them faster?

I won't say faster Rather Be, but by not calling like everybody else in the woods I tend to get answers some don't. Also by having control of the reed[from years of hard practice] I can match elk calls that the average caller can't. It does give me an edge. Because calls do fail I never carry just one call. I carry 4, 3.5 bugling reeds and 2 ea[triple/double] cow calling reeds. I do not put brand new reeds in my call caddy. I have a system of breaking calls in to get them to do what I want them to do.
The fastest way I know to kill a call is put it on the dash of your car on a warm/hot day. Just for point of reference I use both metal and plastic frame calls. The plastic frame calls are damaged by heat more so than metal frame calls. Once the metal frame starts to weaken calls will go down hill fast. Plastic frame calls last longer for me.
Learning to call elk takes time and practice. I have gone through a lot of calls finding what works best for me. Of course learning what or how to call in a situation use to be trial and error. That has been changed with Elknut putting his products on the market. Elknut has changed the learning curve for many elk hunters.
Wapitiwallowcrkoutfitters, I can trash a call in one season if I am out a lot and the elk are vocal but standoffish. I know I don't win every encounter but I do pretty good.

hey thanks guys i think im gonna start looking around for some better calls for sure i have killed many elk with what i am using right now but its tough when there isnt any in the pack to use

I use a call made by primos the name of it is "Imaka daBull Crazy" This call is amazing!
It has never let me down. I have always been able to call at least one bull in, whenever I go out. One of the guides I work for as some diaphram calls but he doesint have very many succes stories with it. I would highly reccomend the Imaka daBull crazy call.
The elk in my avatar, I called in within ten minutes of my hunt, Him and another bull came chargin over the hill.