28 Mississippi Sportsman^ | April 2015
Here’s what a few turkey experts prefer when they choose calls.
“I’m a box call man myself,” said Kerry French of Holmes County.
“I can crank down on one hard to send a piercing, raspy hen call
all across the woods. They are particularly effective on windy days
when a gobbler might have a more difficult time hearing a call. I
keep mine chalked up good and it has never failed me yet. There
are even some brands on the market today like the Woods Wise
box that will function reliably even when wet.”
Marvin Moak of Raymond prefers a different friction call — a pot.
“Mine has a wooden bottom with a thin piece of real slate glued
on top,” Moak said. “There are several holes drilled in the bottom of
the pot to emit subtle calls, but the real difference is in lightly circling
the tip of the heartwood striker across the freshly sanded slate.
“I like the control of going light or heavy with the striker to
make different calls including feeding sounds and purrs. I can get
the whole spectrum of yelps, clucks, purrs, and even excited cut-
ting calls when I really crank it up.”
Beau Starkey of Madison uses them all, but given a choice, he’ll
pick the diaphragm mouth call.
“I guess I use a little bit of everything from time to time,” he said.
“I have a favorite old box call and several friction pots with differ-
ent strikers, but when push comes to shove, I like the ease and
convenience of slipping a latex call in my mouth.“I can sit in my blind and remain completely motionless not
having to work a box or striker. A mouth call allows me to keep
my shotgun up and ready for the shot.”
Confusing? You bet it is, but finding the calls that perform best
for you is part of the fun. In the end, the best strategy is to have
one or several of each in the turkey bag or vest and know well
how to use each one.
That way you can change back and forth to see which call pro-
duces the frequency or pitch that really gets a gobbler fired up.
When it comes to fooling a wily ol’ gobbler, rarely does one call
do it all. ■Ask the experts
Like any seasoned turkey hunter, Beau Starkey
knows he’ll need to fine tune some of his friction
calls — sanding a slate surface, chalking a box
or tightening a screw — to help fool gobblers.Made in the USa
(866) 492-4849
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