Just as others have said, the slate friction call is a pretty easy call to learn on. You can learn a few basic calls in relatively short amount of time. Don't give up on the diaphragm call. In my opinion, a slate or ceramic surface pot call is more forgiving for the beginner compared to a glass or crystal surface. Have fun.

Your post stuck in my craw all day long, so I finally picked up my 2 calls this evening. My daugher laughed at me as I was drooling & all I did was change the shape of my tongue & presto, I got a turkey sound.

Brilliant, I actually got both to work for the first time. Been dialing in a basic sound for a hour or so now. I'm finding that setting it back farther in my mouth helps. Funny, I've drooled for ever with this this in my mouth, got tapes I've studied, youtube tutorials I've studied and tried, just about everything & finally gave up after a couple years it seems.

Well, I'm going to give it some work & see if it does the job. To be safe, I'm ordering a slate call too. I'll learn that & have a couple of options come spring turkey season.

Thanks guys...Kevin

Congratulations. It's hard to explain how to use a diaphragm -- just got to get the feel for it.

Congrats to you. Sorry to your family. Just kidding. I know when I first tried to learn the mouth call I just about drove my wife crazy. Now I only practice at work or in the car. Keep at it.

The slate (or pot) call as the easiest to learn to use well enough to kill turkeys. Mastering one takes practice.

There's a bunch of different surfaces out there. A good one to begin with is real slate or one of the ceramic-type surfaces (like K & H's "sla-tek" for example). Another surface that's good is crystal. The Drurys have a "power crystal" that works very very well.

Don't worry about calls made from exotic hardwoods and surfaces. They're just as likely to not work as work, it changes from one day to the next in the turkey woods. Many turkeys are and will be killed with off the shelf calls.

And, one final piece of advice. When you find one that works well for you, buy 2-3 for reserve. Call companies have an annoying habit of discontinuing calls and releasing "new & improved" versions that aren't alwyas improved.

By far the easiest call to master is the push button call. I also agree the slate is easy to master as well. I use my slate and mouth calls. Once you get the hang of your mouth call its the best for hands free calling. If you can use a blind when bowhunting. you will be able to move more without getting busted. As for box calls, Im terrible at using them.

Easiest;

push button
box
slate
mouth

All good; if you know how & when to use one !

I'm good with calls, but I'm really so bad with hunting.

I am new as well, and think I will go with a box call. How does it work as far as needing your hands? You can only call when they are far off, and then you put the call down and raise the gun when they come in close?