Turkey Call

I will be a first time turkey hunter with my daughter this spring. What’s the easiest most effective call for a rookie?
Thanks, Bob

Box call

Huntindave wrote:

Box call

Yep. Push button you can use with one finger.

The two calls give above are great for new turkey hunters. Box call or push button. I would also pick up a slate call you would have 3 choices to try then.

I see you are in SSP i’m also from cow town. There is a Turkey seminar put on by Mike Foster at A1 Archery on Tuesday March 20th at 6:30. That would be a great class to run out to sit in even bring your daughter. He will cover turkey hunting from bow hunting and gun , go over calls also.

Not a huge turkey hunter but agree with above…however, I feel a reed call is super easy to use and keeps your arms free for less movement which is clutch for hunting these guys.

Dream’n wrote:

I will be a first time turkey hunter with my daughter this spring. What’s the easiest most effective call for a rookie?
Thanks, Bob

I asked this very question when I started turkey hunting and the overwhelming response was to go with a box call. And I did.

You can make every turkey vocalization needed with these calls. And YES, with some practice you can even gobble. I saw a lot of comments when I was researching that said gobbling was the exception with box calls, but with some practice, I found I can do a passable gobble.

A couple of things I’ve found about box calls:

1. Size matters. Not in the bigger=better sense, but differently sized calls make different tones and at different volumes. You really have to try them.

2. Keep the call dry and have a backup. Box calls stop working if they get wet. Even the ones that are “waterproof” get hard to use if wet and thier tone changes, so you need to keep the call you’re using dry AND have a backup call in case you get a call really soaked because it can take a full day for the call to “recover” and get its normal tone back.

3. Don’t be a loudmouth. Many experts say that a turkey’s hearing is easily 4-10X better than ours. So keep in mind that whatever the call sounds like to you, to a turkey it’s basically turned up to 11. Practice calling at a variety of volumes including very, very, very softly. It took me some practice on a box call to get the low volume calls and I found one of my calls simply won’t do it. So another reason to own several.

Grouse

I agree the box call is versatile and easy to use and great for beginners, but I also agree with Hoyt4, a slate is also quite easy to use and has become my favorite.