mez

Practice, practice and then you need to practice! I played with them for three years until I was comfortable enough to blow one at a real turkey. When you get it, it will just click and you can start making all sorts of sounds.

I started with HS calls, the cutt'n 2.5 is still one I never leave home without. Not a good beginner call however. As others mentioned, the more reeds and cuts in the reeds the harder they are to blow and control. Raspy old hen is a good call and doesn't take a lot of air. I switced to Woodhaven 2 years ago and love them.

I'll date myself a little. When I learned I used casette tapes, what are CD's anyway?
Had a stereo with a double casette deck. I found it very helpful to play the instructional tape and them try to mimic the call. When I was blowing the call I recorded the sounds on the second tape deck and then played it back and listened to the sounds. You could do the same with a dual CD players. That helped me the most to actually listen to my sounds, then I knew which parts to work on.

PA GOBBLER

tapes wow you are old hahahaha jk... i think i still have a turkey calling tape or two laying around someplace
btw GOOOOOOO BIIIIIIIIG RED!!!

mouthcaller

As you can surmise by my boardname I love to use mouthcalls for all the hunting I do - turkey, coyote, deer and waterfowl. I grew up using my natural voice to call ducks (called "yankin"), which was a practice passed on from my grandfather on down in the area I grew up (Reelfoot Lake, TN). I've always been able to blow calls well (goose, duck, tube calls, open reed and closed reed predator calls) ...... but.....

definitely, mastering a diaphram turkey call took the most time and effort. I blew them constantly for sevaral years before I thought I was really starting to get "good". It takes time. Stick with it. I had a great teacher so I knew what "good" sounded like. That helps.

Get some of Lovett Williams recordings of live turkeys and mimic them. Find a friend that is a good caller and work with him. Join the NWTF and go to you local banquet or calling contest and listen to those guys.

My preference is the cut 3-4 reed calls. Most of mine are custom these days made by people I've met over the years. I've used some of the Woodhaven calls and really like them, especially the Sadler McGraw Signature model. Also like the Southland Jim Pollard calls, batwing III, IV and Smackdown. Jim used these to win the Grand National Senior division last year.

Stick with it - It takes some time. The most important thing is open your mouth and don't choke the sound down with your hand where it sounds like you are calling from the bottom of a deep hole. Work on the rhythm of your calling.

OhioBowhunter

haha i hear ya on that one. but yeah just practice. sometimes scooting it up or back in your mouth can make the biggest difference its all about preference

White Falcon

Put it in your mouth and put your tongue on it. then say the word Chuck. Once you mastered that you will be able to do the rest!!