LITTLE ROCK — With the book about to close on the 2011 spring turkey season, I bring you the 2011 spring turkey gear report.
MOUTH CALLS
In 2008, Rev. Mike Stanley, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Highland, introduced me to Woodhaven mouth calls while hunting in Sharp County. The sounds Stanley made with his calls sounded much better than the calls I used. That’s partly because he’s an excellent caller, but excellent callers choose their instruments for a reason. I bought a pair of Woodhavens that very afternoon, and they instantly made me a better caller, too.
My favorites are the Red Wasp, Copperhead II, Copper Wing, Classic V2 and the Matt Van Cise Signature Series. They are easy to blow and make raspy, resonant notes. They make wicked cackles, and they are the only calls with which I’ve ever been able to make consistently realistic purrs.
To get the best results from any mouth call, you should trim them to fit your mouth. That makes it easier to control volume and pitch.
Woodhaven calls are available at sporting goods stores all over Arkansas.
More information is available online at www.woodhavencustomcalls.com.BOX CALLS
Box calls are beautiful and a tribute to the wood from which they made.
A box call can duplicate any call a turkey makes - including a gobble - and it’s easier to control volume and pitch than a mouth call.
To make a box call gobble, loosely secure the paddle handle to the box with a rubber band. Grip the closed end and shake.
An old HS Strut Field Champion “Natural” from Wal-Mart is perfect for this.
It sounds like a jake’s gobble and will enrage a boss tom.
It might also attract another hunter, so do this only when you know nobody else is around.
For the past five years I used three box calls made by Dale Rohm of North Carolina. I consider the one made of American chestnut an heirloom. Before the 2011 turkey season, however, I found a selection of Rhodes Talkin’ Turkey Calls at Fort Thompson Sporting Goods.
They were made of walnut, beech, mimosa, mulberry, walnut, hickory and other woods. I tried them all, but two sang their way right into my wallet. They are gorgeous, and they sound wonderful. For information, call Rhodes Calls at (870) 942-2823.
SLATE CALLS
All the attributes of a box call apply to a slate call. This year, I used three slates, an HS Strut Li’l Deuce Double Glass, a PGC Aluma Cutter and another PGC made for tree calling. The Lil’ Deuce is a small, mass-produced glass call with a plastic base. It has a full, resonant tone. The PGC is made by Patrick Frachiseur of Dierks. I bought it on clearance at Gander Mountain after the 2010 turkey season. It has a two-tone aluminum surface on a wood base. The dual surfaces produce different tones, so you can sound like three different hens by rotating the call. It produces sweet, high dulcet tones, and it has elicited responses from five different gobblers this spring. The tree caller is a small, thin rectangular slate in a wooden base that makes subtle, quiet tones ideal for calling to turkeys on the roost. It comes with a special striker designed especially for the call. For information, call PGC at (870) 286-2883.
FACE MASKS/NETS
If you wear eyeglasses, finding a mask that won’t fog your specs is maddening. I finally found one. It’s called Doug and Nick’s Quik Camo. It’s a basic camo ballcap with gillie-style, hardwood camo leaves sewn into the seams and an integrated, full length, wraparound gillie camo cloth mask. It has mesh openings for your nose and ears. It’s pricey, but it works so well that I intend to use it for duck hunting, too. For more information, go online www.quikcamo.com.
SEATS
A comfortable seat reduces reduces fidgeting and just makes turkey hunting more enjoyable. A little Browning recliner fits the bill perfectly. The seat is about eight inches high, but it sinks a couple of inches in soft dirt and leaves. That allows you to sit against any tree above roots, rocks and sticks. It also has a couple of pouches on the front of the seat for calls. Its single shoulder strap is too short, and the thing is just a bit big to carry on one shoulder, so I’ll retrofit mine with two backpacking straps.
By now, you’re probably asking, does he really carry all that junk? How? I do, because the turkey woods are where I test all my junk.
A vest with lots of pockets is essential, and you can get those anywhere.
Sports, Pages 32 on 05/01/2011