The Guide to Pot Calls
04-29-2008, 06:55 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Where the ducks don't come no more
Posts: 4,420
The Guide to Pot Calls
All you folks asking questions about turkey calling and turkey calls... here is some help for you!
I do a little bit of free lance writing on the side and this is an article I wrote that was published in The Sportsman's Magazine, April 2008 edition. Normally, everything is posted electronically on the website, but since its spring and turkeys are gobbling and tuna are biting offshore, everybody is busy... heck the edition didn't hit the shelves until the 15th of April! For my writing style its a bit of a dry read I think, its a guide/how to, rather than a story/advice article which is more my speed. Anyhow, I hope someone will gleen a little information from it. I need to post this up in my field journal too. Problem with writing is that when you need to have the writing done, you are usually out doing just what you are writing about in the first place... and there is nothing more out of place than a spring turkey article published in June or July!
Enjoy!
ADM
The Complete Guide to Pot Calls
Andy Martel
For the new turkey caller, and for many veterans, nothing has more turkey in it than a pot style call. Generically known as a friction call, or simply (irregardless of the surface) as a slate, they are very simple to use, simple to control and very basic to understand. They have been made out of several striking surfaces, laid in several types of media, and played with many different strikers or pegs. Generally, there are four main surface materials for pot calls: slate, glass, crystal and aluminum. Calls are also being made of several composite variations of those same materials, such as frictionite, and I have seen a few calls made from copper. Each one has its own unique sound and capabilities, as well as its ideal hunting conditions. I’d like to break each surface down for you, give some usage and care tips and list what conditions I have found each to be most productive in. But first, I’d like to go over some general rules.
Every good pot style call has four main components: calling surface, sound board, pot, and striker or peg. The sound board can easily be seen in glass and crystal calls and will typically have a design or the call makers logo on them. They can be made from wood or acrylic and typically are about 30% smaller in area than the pot and calling surface. This creates a “rollover” effect that when the peg is drawn from the outer edge of the playing surface to the center, creates a high to low note that is true to the call of a hen turkey. The pot itself is the outer casing that the caller holds when running the call. Most are made from wood, usually cherry, cedar, walnut, purple heart or cypress. The hardwoods, such as cherry, cedar and cypress, give a much higher pitched call, while softer woods like walnut and purple heart usually are found on calls geared to lower volumes. There are several holes drilled strategically in the bottom of the pot, and this is where the call itself comes from, just like a speaker. It is important to keep this in mind when calling, as you can direct your call in different directions. Pegs are made from just about everything; some of my favorites are laminates. Each call will usually come matched with a peg or two the call maker has found to sound best with that particular call (that’s what makes some of the more expensive calls worth every penny). Here again as with the pots… harder woods such as hickory tend to have a higher note, while purple heart will be a bit deeper. How the caller holds the peg has a lot to do with pitch as well. Now, on to calling surfaces…
Slate
Next to a box call, I would level a fair bet that more turkey’s have gone home to that big beanfield in the sky to the tune of a slate than any other call. A good slate call in proper hands can sound so good that feathers almost come out the back sound holes. The majority of high-quaility slates today are topped with deep mined Pennsylvania slate and set in a variety of pot materials. Slates have, compared to other pots, a softer note that can be raspy or soft. The pot material can effect how loud the call can get, but they are still the quiet call of the four main surfaces (that is far from a negative comment, loud is not always good). This is the ideal beginner call. Slates are easy to make good turkey sounds on. They are very forgiving of a missed peg stroke, as a slip often comes out just sounding like a cluck rather than a putt or a screetch. The fogiveness of the call is built into it by the inherent grip that slate provides when conditioned correctly and played with an appropriate peg. You should condition your slate with a piece of scotch brite pad, steel wool, or some type of similar “scrubby sponge” material. Avoid using sandpaper, stones, diamond paper or drywall screen. You should orient the pot so that you can always identify where the top of the call is. By that, imagine the face of a clock; the top of the call would be 12 o’clock. Most of your finer made pots will have an engraving on the back with the call maker’s name. Woodhaven and Bud and Betty’s calls all engrave their pots with their logo running WITH the grain. As a caller, you want to run your call against the grain for the most consistant sound. Just as a guitar or a violin is made from symmetrical pieces of a wood radiating out from center, as are most quality pot calls. Imagine the Woodhaven logo shown here running from left to right on a clock from 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock. When you condition ANY pot style call, you want to score the surface in one direction only and always WITH the grain. That will give you a coarse surface to call against and crate friction when the peg is drawn over the surface. That friction is where the term friction call originates.
Slate calls have one major drawback; they are rendered mute by damp or wet conditions. There is no effective way to waterproof them. A hunter must be cautious in the spring when the dew can be heavy, the woods wet and rain showers sudden. Many hunters tote their calls inside a vest pocket sheathed in a zip-lock bag. Woodhaven includes a rubber snap cover to rebuff the wet and the careless hand. A bit of a tip here; when you put your slate or any friction call into your vest pocket, place them with the calling surface in towards your body and the pot facing out. In the event your outer vest material becomes saturated by wet leaves or dew soaked winter wheat the pot will take the brunt of the abuse. Also, when you reach for your call, you will instinctively have your palm over the pot and not the calling surface. Oily, sweaty hands are in my opinion worse than standard water for a slate call. Slate does tend to try very quickly though, but be mindful of water or dew dropping from overhanging vegetation. One drop on a 3.5” call can make an awfully big puddle.
Due to their lack of moisture resistance, and more sublte notes, slates have been consistant performers for me on calm, clear mornings and on “bluebird” days. They do not cut through wind as well as some other calls do. I find them extremely productive in the hardwoods and rolling hills of Virginia. Cold and crisp mornings when sound travels exceptionally well are also perfect slate mornings. Anything much louder may well be too much.
Glass
Glass calls are my favorite of the pot surfaces. A glass call has a different sound to it than a slate, but is none the less still slam full of bird. A glass call gives a bit more volume, a higher pitch, and most calls almost have a bit of a whine built into them. They can produce some of the more raspy and nasty yelps that really drive gobblers into frenzies. Glass calls are a bit more reisistant to wetness than slates, but are still prone to silence when they get really wet. They shine best on “cold front” days when there is a wind blowing and the skies are grey. They work very well over large open fields too, and are also useful for thick cover like cutovers or late spring when there is a lot of emergent vegetation. They are a bit more tricky to get the hang of, and your mistakes will be amplified as putts or just total squeaks.
Conditioning is much more critical with a glass call than with a slate. As with the slate, you should always condition from right to left or vice versa, but in one direction only. This keeps the slurry you will create out of the deeper grooves you are trying to score in the surface. For conditioning, you will need diamond paper or diamond stone, sand or pumice stone, drywall screen or some folks even use a 120 grit sandpaper. A lot of callers condition glass calls far too much. A wood striker will not cut glass, so you should not have to condition your call more than 3 or 4 times in a single spring of regular hunting usage. Keep in mind when you are conditioning though, that you are not polishing the surface, you want deep grooves, but even grooves. Deep scratches hinder performance, just like having a surface too smooth in places will. You do not need to condition the entire face of the call, I typically condition the upper half of mine, just because it makes conditioning easier. A general care practice you should make that most hunters overlook is cleaning your glass call. After you condition your call, wipe it on your jeans or shirt sleeve to remove any glass or sand slurry left over. Throughout the season, wood particles, oils and other foreign matter will collect in the grooves and the sound quality will suffer. The way to correct this is with a simple cotton ball, cleaning patch, or alcohol wipe. Just like before, run from one side to the other with an alcohol soaked cotton ball to clean out the grooves. Let it air dry, and you are ready to go again.
Crystal
Crystal is a close cousin of glass. Like the glass call, it is a great for wetter mornings. It has the highest pitch and most volume potential of any of the pot style calls. This makes it great for windy day hunts. The high, raspy sound of crystal calls will make a bird gobble often even when he doesn’t want to. They have a very great range about them, almost exaggerated with a very high top and low bottom. Crystal calls usually do well with softer peg materials, like purple heart and walnut, but my cherry set crystal Woodhaven sings with a laminate or hickory stick. Just like the glass call, if you make a foul note, there is an increased chance the bird may hear it and pick up on the game. Care and conditioning of the crystal is identical to that of a glass call.
One tip to keep in mind when hunting with a crystal call, and this goes for glass too, these calls carry extremely well, the crystal call better than any other but a very loud box call. A lot of turkey hunters these days prefer “run and gun” hunting, which has its place and is for another day and another article. One thing I have learned to do (the hard way mind you) is that anytime I run a call blind, meaning that I am prospecting for a bird to gobble, I will always set up before I call just incase a bird is nearby and responds quickly. Additionally, I will stay in that spot for at least 15 to 20 minutes in order to make sure a bird does not come in quiet. The distance these calls can carry will leave birds gobbling in the distance that you cannot hear. When turkeys come to where there has been calling and find no hen or no trace of one (or worse a hunter “running”) they will be far less likely to come in and investigate again in the future. Just some food for thought.
Aluminum
By far the most weather resistant surface is aluminum or copper. Aluminum calls have a very “different” sound to them. It is a slight rise in pitch from a slate, but it has a very nasal sound to it that carries quite well. It is gaining popularity each year, and is now even winning a few hunting call contests.
In my opinion, aluminum are the least forgiving, and most difficult surface to call on. They are neither hard nor soft. They tend to be hard on strikers, and you must keep your pegs clean to keep your sound consistant. Rougher, softer pegs tend to sound the best on aluminum calls. For wet weather, some of the soft plastics, and even acrylics and carbons work very well. While I don’t think they are the best call in the woods, most hen turkeys don’t sound like much either, and the gobblers respond very well to both anyway.
Conditioning and aluminum call is very similar to a slate. Use a scotch brite pad, or piece of steel wool. They typically do not need much additional conditioning once you establish a good rough surface.
[/align]
I do a little bit of free lance writing on the side and this is an article I wrote that was published in The Sportsman's Magazine, April 2008 edition. Normally, everything is posted electronically on the website, but since its spring and turkeys are gobbling and tuna are biting offshore, everybody is busy... heck the edition didn't hit the shelves until the 15th of April! For my writing style its a bit of a dry read I think, its a guide/how to, rather than a story/advice article which is more my speed. Anyhow, I hope someone will gleen a little information from it. I need to post this up in my field journal too. Problem with writing is that when you need to have the writing done, you are usually out doing just what you are writing about in the first place... and there is nothing more out of place than a spring turkey article published in June or July!
Enjoy!
ADM
The Complete Guide to Pot Calls
Andy Martel
For the new turkey caller, and for many veterans, nothing has more turkey in it than a pot style call. Generically known as a friction call, or simply (irregardless of the surface) as a slate, they are very simple to use, simple to control and very basic to understand. They have been made out of several striking surfaces, laid in several types of media, and played with many different strikers or pegs. Generally, there are four main surface materials for pot calls: slate, glass, crystal and aluminum. Calls are also being made of several composite variations of those same materials, such as frictionite, and I have seen a few calls made from copper. Each one has its own unique sound and capabilities, as well as its ideal hunting conditions. I’d like to break each surface down for you, give some usage and care tips and list what conditions I have found each to be most productive in. But first, I’d like to go over some general rules.
Every good pot style call has four main components: calling surface, sound board, pot, and striker or peg. The sound board can easily be seen in glass and crystal calls and will typically have a design or the call makers logo on them. They can be made from wood or acrylic and typically are about 30% smaller in area than the pot and calling surface. This creates a “rollover” effect that when the peg is drawn from the outer edge of the playing surface to the center, creates a high to low note that is true to the call of a hen turkey. The pot itself is the outer casing that the caller holds when running the call. Most are made from wood, usually cherry, cedar, walnut, purple heart or cypress. The hardwoods, such as cherry, cedar and cypress, give a much higher pitched call, while softer woods like walnut and purple heart usually are found on calls geared to lower volumes. There are several holes drilled strategically in the bottom of the pot, and this is where the call itself comes from, just like a speaker. It is important to keep this in mind when calling, as you can direct your call in different directions. Pegs are made from just about everything; some of my favorites are laminates. Each call will usually come matched with a peg or two the call maker has found to sound best with that particular call (that’s what makes some of the more expensive calls worth every penny). Here again as with the pots… harder woods such as hickory tend to have a higher note, while purple heart will be a bit deeper. How the caller holds the peg has a lot to do with pitch as well. Now, on to calling surfaces…
Slate
Next to a box call, I would level a fair bet that more turkey’s have gone home to that big beanfield in the sky to the tune of a slate than any other call. A good slate call in proper hands can sound so good that feathers almost come out the back sound holes. The majority of high-quaility slates today are topped with deep mined Pennsylvania slate and set in a variety of pot materials. Slates have, compared to other pots, a softer note that can be raspy or soft. The pot material can effect how loud the call can get, but they are still the quiet call of the four main surfaces (that is far from a negative comment, loud is not always good). This is the ideal beginner call. Slates are easy to make good turkey sounds on. They are very forgiving of a missed peg stroke, as a slip often comes out just sounding like a cluck rather than a putt or a screetch. The fogiveness of the call is built into it by the inherent grip that slate provides when conditioned correctly and played with an appropriate peg. You should condition your slate with a piece of scotch brite pad, steel wool, or some type of similar “scrubby sponge” material. Avoid using sandpaper, stones, diamond paper or drywall screen. You should orient the pot so that you can always identify where the top of the call is. By that, imagine the face of a clock; the top of the call would be 12 o’clock. Most of your finer made pots will have an engraving on the back with the call maker’s name. Woodhaven and Bud and Betty’s calls all engrave their pots with their logo running WITH the grain. As a caller, you want to run your call against the grain for the most consistant sound. Just as a guitar or a violin is made from symmetrical pieces of a wood radiating out from center, as are most quality pot calls. Imagine the Woodhaven logo shown here running from left to right on a clock from 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock. When you condition ANY pot style call, you want to score the surface in one direction only and always WITH the grain. That will give you a coarse surface to call against and crate friction when the peg is drawn over the surface. That friction is where the term friction call originates.
Slate calls have one major drawback; they are rendered mute by damp or wet conditions. There is no effective way to waterproof them. A hunter must be cautious in the spring when the dew can be heavy, the woods wet and rain showers sudden. Many hunters tote their calls inside a vest pocket sheathed in a zip-lock bag. Woodhaven includes a rubber snap cover to rebuff the wet and the careless hand. A bit of a tip here; when you put your slate or any friction call into your vest pocket, place them with the calling surface in towards your body and the pot facing out. In the event your outer vest material becomes saturated by wet leaves or dew soaked winter wheat the pot will take the brunt of the abuse. Also, when you reach for your call, you will instinctively have your palm over the pot and not the calling surface. Oily, sweaty hands are in my opinion worse than standard water for a slate call. Slate does tend to try very quickly though, but be mindful of water or dew dropping from overhanging vegetation. One drop on a 3.5” call can make an awfully big puddle.
Due to their lack of moisture resistance, and more sublte notes, slates have been consistant performers for me on calm, clear mornings and on “bluebird” days. They do not cut through wind as well as some other calls do. I find them extremely productive in the hardwoods and rolling hills of Virginia. Cold and crisp mornings when sound travels exceptionally well are also perfect slate mornings. Anything much louder may well be too much.
Glass
Glass calls are my favorite of the pot surfaces. A glass call has a different sound to it than a slate, but is none the less still slam full of bird. A glass call gives a bit more volume, a higher pitch, and most calls almost have a bit of a whine built into them. They can produce some of the more raspy and nasty yelps that really drive gobblers into frenzies. Glass calls are a bit more reisistant to wetness than slates, but are still prone to silence when they get really wet. They shine best on “cold front” days when there is a wind blowing and the skies are grey. They work very well over large open fields too, and are also useful for thick cover like cutovers or late spring when there is a lot of emergent vegetation. They are a bit more tricky to get the hang of, and your mistakes will be amplified as putts or just total squeaks.
Conditioning is much more critical with a glass call than with a slate. As with the slate, you should always condition from right to left or vice versa, but in one direction only. This keeps the slurry you will create out of the deeper grooves you are trying to score in the surface. For conditioning, you will need diamond paper or diamond stone, sand or pumice stone, drywall screen or some folks even use a 120 grit sandpaper. A lot of callers condition glass calls far too much. A wood striker will not cut glass, so you should not have to condition your call more than 3 or 4 times in a single spring of regular hunting usage. Keep in mind when you are conditioning though, that you are not polishing the surface, you want deep grooves, but even grooves. Deep scratches hinder performance, just like having a surface too smooth in places will. You do not need to condition the entire face of the call, I typically condition the upper half of mine, just because it makes conditioning easier. A general care practice you should make that most hunters overlook is cleaning your glass call. After you condition your call, wipe it on your jeans or shirt sleeve to remove any glass or sand slurry left over. Throughout the season, wood particles, oils and other foreign matter will collect in the grooves and the sound quality will suffer. The way to correct this is with a simple cotton ball, cleaning patch, or alcohol wipe. Just like before, run from one side to the other with an alcohol soaked cotton ball to clean out the grooves. Let it air dry, and you are ready to go again.
Crystal
Crystal is a close cousin of glass. Like the glass call, it is a great for wetter mornings. It has the highest pitch and most volume potential of any of the pot style calls. This makes it great for windy day hunts. The high, raspy sound of crystal calls will make a bird gobble often even when he doesn’t want to. They have a very great range about them, almost exaggerated with a very high top and low bottom. Crystal calls usually do well with softer peg materials, like purple heart and walnut, but my cherry set crystal Woodhaven sings with a laminate or hickory stick. Just like the glass call, if you make a foul note, there is an increased chance the bird may hear it and pick up on the game. Care and conditioning of the crystal is identical to that of a glass call.
One tip to keep in mind when hunting with a crystal call, and this goes for glass too, these calls carry extremely well, the crystal call better than any other but a very loud box call. A lot of turkey hunters these days prefer “run and gun” hunting, which has its place and is for another day and another article. One thing I have learned to do (the hard way mind you) is that anytime I run a call blind, meaning that I am prospecting for a bird to gobble, I will always set up before I call just incase a bird is nearby and responds quickly. Additionally, I will stay in that spot for at least 15 to 20 minutes in order to make sure a bird does not come in quiet. The distance these calls can carry will leave birds gobbling in the distance that you cannot hear. When turkeys come to where there has been calling and find no hen or no trace of one (or worse a hunter “running”) they will be far less likely to come in and investigate again in the future. Just some food for thought.
Aluminum
By far the most weather resistant surface is aluminum or copper. Aluminum calls have a very “different” sound to them. It is a slight rise in pitch from a slate, but it has a very nasal sound to it that carries quite well. It is gaining popularity each year, and is now even winning a few hunting call contests.
In my opinion, aluminum are the least forgiving, and most difficult surface to call on. They are neither hard nor soft. They tend to be hard on strikers, and you must keep your pegs clean to keep your sound consistant. Rougher, softer pegs tend to sound the best on aluminum calls. For wet weather, some of the soft plastics, and even acrylics and carbons work very well. While I don’t think they are the best call in the woods, most hen turkeys don’t sound like much either, and the gobblers respond very well to both anyway.
Conditioning and aluminum call is very similar to a slate. Use a scotch brite pad, or piece of steel wool. They typically do not need much additional conditioning once you establish a good rough surface.
[/align]
04-29-2008, 09:55 AM
#3
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 7,437
RE: The Guide to Pot Calls
Now these are simmple diagrams. The white lines is the grain of the call as referred to by Swampcollie. The red mark is the actual striker stroke on the surface.
To make a yelp
Is like a letter "J" stroke with your striker
To Purr
Drag you striker is a soft motion.
To cluck it is one quick -brief striker movement
The diagram shows Cutting which is a series of several or more fast clucks.
I always practive to a CD by Lovett Williams - Real Turkeys VI (voices af the real wild turkey)
JW
To make a yelp
Is like a letter "J" stroke with your striker
To Purr
Drag you striker is a soft motion.
To cluck it is one quick -brief striker movement
The diagram shows Cutting which is a series of several or more fast clucks.
I always practive to a CD by Lovett Williams - Real Turkeys VI (voices af the real wild turkey)
JW
04-29-2008, 10:19 AM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Where the ducks don't come no more
Posts: 4,420
RE: The Guide to Pot Calls
Nice pictures JW!I'll bet my editors would of liked something like that to go with the article when it went to print. I had the girlfriend take some pictures of a few of mine spread out on the comforter and I was praying it'd get the point across! Those are perfect!
05-04-2008, 08:40 PM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Where the ducks don't come no more
Posts: 4,420
RE: The Guide to Pot Calls
ORIGINAL: Turkey Fife
Andy, very good writting, well written, I loved it. Do you have College? Whats your degree in?
TF
Andy, very good writting, well written, I loved it. Do you have College? Whats your degree in?
TF
My mother is an Ivy League educated writer (BA English, Minor in French, Cornell, class of 1974... you can imagine how she felt about me going to The Citadel of all places!!!), so I have a fair amount of encouragement to hit the keyboard as much as possible. The woman, bless her soul, wouldn't know a slate call from a goose call, but she'll read every single letter I type about hunting...and would do a cartwheel if she could every time one of my articles gets published... its the way Mom's should be I suppose
.
05-05-2008, 09:11 AM
#10
Dominant Buck
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ramsey , Indiana
Posts: 22,545
RE: The Guide to Pot Calls
I've found that a slate surface will sound better when you run the flame of a butane lighter over it until it's completely dry, when theslate no longer looks dark it's dry. This can be a hunt saver on damp days.