lets talk pot calls
 

Just finished up turkey hunting and think I may want some new pot calls.

Here what I have and what I think of them.

1. Knight & Hale pocket series slate. The striker that came with call is a little disappointing. I think it may be OK if I get some new strikers. Would a bigger slate give me a better sound?

2. Quaker Boy triple threat. This came with two strikers. I only have the carbon left the plastic one is currently misplaced. I cant get that carbon striker to work very well on any surface. The aluminum makes a very bad screeching noise. All three surfaces are hard to condition because they are so small. I use the plexi surface the most, would almost like to get a call that just had this surface. Are other "glass" calls really plexi and have a similar sound?

3. Knight & hale White liar (plastic pot). This was probably the call I used the most. I like the Power Tip striker. Surface is a little hard to condition. I do have a tendency to make it squeak every once in a while.

In general do you guys reserve a sticker for a call surface or do you mix and match whenever you want...

What other affordable calls would you recommend?

I also have the White Liar. I just bought it before the season. I really like this call, excellent clucks and, for lack of a better description, a definitive P on the YELP. I normally use Quaker Boy box calls and always start there. Last Saturday after the initial fly down gobbling period was over and I wasn't hearing anything, I got the White Liar out and I think every gobbler in the county started answering me. Pretty cool. My son ended up shooting a very nice Tom.
My son has a Primos Power Crystal that I like to use a 1 piece wood striker on. I can make good clucks and real loud yelps with this call. It also makes the prettiest purrs of anything in his or mine packs. More than once I've had to get my custom striker back out of his pack...and more than once he's taken his pot back out of my pack.

My son's bird....

Mostly mix and match. I had an acrylic striker that didn't work too well on my aluminum pot, so I use a hardwood on it.

Generally, you can't too wrong with a 'power crystal', but my fave is a small slate, real slate, call from QB, The Finisher. It's just a slate disk in a wooden frame, one side is finished, the other is not. Really nice purrs, tree calls. It's hard to get too loud on it, which is good on pressured public land.

As for call recommendations...Go with what works. If the turkeys like it, I love it. The ceramic surfaced calls like, Sla-Tek, sound nice to my ears and are easy to use. Glass works very well for me.

Round out your collection. Don't limit yourself to one style of call. Get a box and some mouth calls. Primos and MAD have some affordable boxes. You don't need to drop big $$ on call that'll work. With a mouth call you can run a slate or a box at the same time, and sound, like 2 diff hens.

I suspect the triple surfaced calls get more hunters than turkeys IMO. I think you lose too much surface to find the sweet spot.

Have fun, and practice.

I've got a number of different calls, as well as strikers so I can vary things up to see if I can find what turns a bird on. I start low and build up with a Lynch box call and another smaller box call made by a guy in his shop in Lousyanna. With a rubber band around them, especially the bigger Lynch box, and moved up and down the box I can make good clucks, putts, yelps, purrs and by moving the rubber band down near the spring I can turn the call upside down and by holding that end of the box rapidly move it back and forth sideways to make a really good gobble by shaking the paddle back and forth across the box. If I get a bird started and he's coming in I go to a slate, but sometimes just stay with the box. You never know on any given day what will turn them on and by experimenting sometimes you can find what they want when nothing else will turn them on.

RemMod1100---Great picture of the boy with his bird!

Since your question was about pot calls I will comment on them. If money is an issue I would get a good slate call and a few different types of strikers as different woods can give a variance in sounds. I had a triple threat type call a few years ago and would agree that the surfaces are too small better to get one good full size pot. Also with the entire surface you can move around the call surface and may find that a certain area on the call gives a better more consistent sound. Also if you look in the stickies you will find a very good tutorial by Adrian Hare on conditioning your calls ! There is also a good guide to pot calls by SwampCollie unfortunately neither of them come to this site much anymore and I wonder to myself why is that!

Midwest Turkey Supply. Check out their website. Spend an extra $20 and go with one of the no name brand calls. Pick out a few strikers too. You'll never go back to a name brand call again. I use custom calls exclusively. I have 2 Knock Out Custom Calls, a Lights Out call, and a copper and aluminum call that I made.

Thanks for the advise so far guys. I guess I'm in the market for a new owl call as well. My toddler son stuck the handle of ride on toy into Palmer's Hoot tube and bent the reed some. It doesn't sound the same anymore.

Doesn't look like they make those anymore so will have to try something else.

Harrison hootin stick from Hooks Custom Calls. The call was designed by World Champion owl caller James Harrison. You won't be disappointed.

In my opinion, you won't find a better owl call than Harrison Hootin Stik. Check out the YouTube video of James demonstrating it.