Turkey calls

The different vocalizations of the Wild Turkey are "gobbles", "clucks", "putts", "purrs", "yelps", "cutts", "cackles" and "kee-kees".

To reproduce these different vocalizations there are various types of turkey calls available today and a good hunter learns to use several because you never know which type of sound a wild turkey will respond to on any given day. Some days they may like the high-pitched yelps of an aluminum friction calls and the next they prefer the sound of a wingbone.

Turkey box calls

Box calls create turkey sounds with the friction created by sliding the lid across the surface of the box. Box calls are convenient and are capable of producing more volume than any other type of turkey call.

Turkey friction calls

Friction calls may be the most common turkey calls because they're easy to use and create lifelike turkey sounds. Friction calls feature a round (usually) surface, and the user creates sound by drawing a peg, or "striker", across the surface. Friction call surfaces can be slate, aluminum, glass or a variety of other materials.

Push-pull turkey calls

Push-pull turkey calls are the simplest of all turkey calls to use, and create realistic turkey sounds. A push-pull call functions by pushing and/or pulling a button on the end of the call, forcing a surface across a peg.

Tube turkey calls

The tube call is a popular caller for many of the nation's top turkey hunters. With it, a hunter can make virtually every sound in a turkey's vocabulary from yelps to purrs to gobbles. Tube calls consist of a small hollow barrel with latex rubberbanded across half of the top.

Wingbone turkey calls

Wingbone calls originally were made from the wingbones of a turkey, and some still are. They are a suction-type call. Sounds are made with quick, forceful sucking motions, much like kissing the end of the call. Good wingbone calls make a hollow sounding yelp.

Diaphragm turkey calls

Diaphragm calls are inserted entirely in the user's mouth and require practice to learn to use correctly.

Turkey locator calls

Locators are calls used to force a tom turkey to gobble, thus giving away his location. Mature male turkeys will "shock gobble" at loud noises such as an owl's hoot, a crow's caw a hawk's scream - even thunder or a train's whistle.

External links

* [http://www.nwtf.org/all_about_turkeys/sounds_of_turkeys.html Sounds of the Wild Turkeys] - National Wild Turkey Federation
* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Wild_Turkey.html All About Birds: Wild Turkey] - Cornell Lab for Ornithology
* [http://www.knightandhale.com/HuntingArticles/TurkeyHunting/basicfrictiontips.htm Basic Friction Call Tips] - Knight & Hale Game Calls
* [http://www.knightandhale.com/HuntingArticles/TurkeyHunting/Turkey-Locator-Calls-Made-Easy.htm Locator Calls Made Easy] - Knight & Hale Game Calls