August 04, 2011
By P.J. Reilly
Hunkering down in a layout blind in a cut cornfield or hugging a tree while standing waist deep in flooded timber isn't nearly as much fun without blowing through a piece of wood, acrylic or some other material to imitate the quacks, honks, whistles and squeals of web-footed birds. Here are some of the hottest duck and goose calls available to waterfowlers today.
Big Guys Best Fat Boy Big Guys Best founder, world champion caller Mike Keller, worked with Jeff Foiles to create the Fat Boy short-reed goose call in 2001. When Keller died in 2005, Foiles bought his line of calls and breathed new life into the Fat Boy by putting the Foiles Migrators signature guts into it. A large bore in the barrel and a short insert bring out the deep tones of this acrylic call. It's an easy-blowing call that requires no back pressure to produce goose vocalizations.
Flambeau Outdoors Big River Game Calls Long Honker Flambeau Outdoors offers a goose call for beginners and experts alike in the Big River Game Calls Long Honker. This flute-style call has been a staple in hunting blinds for the past two decades. Now available in Advantage MAX-4 camouflage, the Long Honker is an easy-blowing call capable of producing high-pitched hailing honks, as well as low, guttural feeding murmurs, clucks and moans.
Big Sean's Championship Calls Big Kahuna Sean Hammock , who has won several goose calling titles, introduces the Big Kahuna. The BK is a long call, making it easier to blow for beginners or average callers. It is designed to produce the low, gravelly sounds and deep moans of a mature giant honker. Comes standard with the Big Rig (rubber-inlaid) gut system and shaved reed for unique goose sounds.
Calef Calls Barn Burner Calef Calls double-reed duck call Barn Burner is a mid-volume call that is raspy enough for beginners to produce quality duck vocalizations, and has enough versatility for advanced callers. Barn Burner comes with a wood or acrylic barrel with a polycarbonate insert.
Crack Calls Goose Crack Crack Calls puts aircraft-grade, aluminum gut inserts into every one of its flagship short-reed Goose Crack calls for strength and durability. Calls are hand-tuned high to low, allowing callers to produce all the sounds a honker makes in the air and on the ground. Goose Crack is available in wood models for a more mellow style, and in acrylic for producing louder, sharper notes.
Cutt Down Game Calls DUo Whistle Cutt Down Game Calls combined a built-in roller-style whistle with the age-old 6-in-1 whistle to create the DUo Whistle. It produces the sounds of all of the whistling ducks, including pintails, wigeon, wood ducks and teal. You can also mimic the whistling call of a mallard drake. DUo Whistle has a tuning hole that allows the caller to vary the pitch. Models are available in rosewood and buffalo horn.
DJ Illinois River Valley Calls D-2 Series DJ Illinois River Valley Calls is now offering its D-2 Series duck call in acrylic, which creates a whole different sound from the wood version. The reed-base, reed and wedge in the tonal bell are removable so the call can be tuned to produce low, raspy notes or the higher-pitched, crisp sounds favored by competition callers.
Down-N-Dirty Outdoors Mayhem Down-N-Dirty Outdoors developed the Mayhem short-reed goose call after years of hunting public land and heavily pressured club ground. The open bore and worn guts allow a caller to reach out and grab the attention of passing honkers. It's an easy-blowing call that can generate high-pitched hail calls all the way down to low-end moans and murmurs.
Duckhead Duck Call Nationally known decoy carver
Jimmy Cerreta uses select wood to produce beautifully hand-painted working calls equally suited for display or to bring the birds in. The mallard and goose calls have a cedar tone board and Mylar reed to producing a coarse, raspy sound for the mallard, and a big honker sound for the goose. The pintail, wigeon and teal calls have a copper whistle to achieve a sharp, clear tone. Each call is hand tuned and blows easily.
Foiles Migrators Crime Scene Thanks to its worn guts, the Crime Scene from
Foiles Migrators short-reed goose call produces seasoned notes right out of the box. The deep, goosey sound makes the perfect clucks, double-clucks and moans needed to get honkers to drop their feet. Strait Pipe is a new version of the classic, flute-style goose call. The polycarbonate call comes with a back-pressure bell, a removable end piece that generates the back pressure for the user and makes the call effortless to blow. If you prefer, you can remove the bell and generate your own back pressure. Strait Pipe comes in Realtree Max-4 camouflage and an instructional DVD is included with every call.
Goey Calls Accomplice Goey Calls introduces Accomplice, a short-reed goose call made from DymondWood -- a tough, wood/plastic composite. It features an acrylic insert that holds the guts in place, providing the sound of a wooden call with the consistency of acrylic.
Hobo World Championship Calls Hobo Tracer Hobo World Championship Calls introduces the Hobo Tracer for fans of triple-reed duck calls. With the three reeds, the call allows the user to generate volume for ringing hails and also to tone down the sound for low-end clucks and quacks, just like you can with single- and double-reed calls. On the low end, the triple reeds allow you to make the unique, squealing sound of young hens. It is available in silver, black and green pearl.
Hunter's Specialties Bill Collector Hunter's Specialties put a new tone board in the Bill Collector duck call that allows callers to generate volume, but still make the quiet, raspy calls needed to finish ducks in the decoys. The tone board is angled so it's virtually stick-proof. Bill Collector is offered in both double- and single-reed models.
Knight & Hale Smooth Talker Double Reed The Smooth Talker Single Reed from
Knight & Hale is an entry-level duck call that is easy to blow. The barrel has been redesigned with a flare at the end to produce bigger sounds. The Smooth Talker Double Reed has a raspier voice capable of sounding like an old hen. A reed spacer ensures that the two reeds inside the call do not stick together, even after hours of use in the marsh.
Primos Honky Tonk Primos short-reed goose call, the Honky Tonk, produces all of the sounds geese make. Easy to blow, the call requires minimal back pressure to create smooth, crisp sounds. To keep the call from sticking, the sounding board has ditches in it that allow the reed to keep moving. The call is designed to come apart with ease for cleaning and be put back together correctly every time.
Sean Mann Outdoors Eastern Shoreman Sean Mann Outdoors has been selling the Eastern Shoreman goose call since 1985 to competition callers and hardcore hunters alike. It has produced scores of championship calling titles and has put even more honkers on the ground. The flute-style call is easy to blow, requiring no grunting or humming to produce hail calls, fast double-clucks and deep moans and murmurs. The acrylic model is loud and raspy, and it is now available in an array of pearl acrylic colors.
FoxPro Snow Crow Pro 2 FoxPro electronic callers are ideal for spring snow goose hunting. The Snow Crow Pro 2 is designed to help snow goose and crow hunters alike attract distant birds and keep their attention until they put their feet down in the decoys. The system comes with the TX-500 transmitter, 12-volt gel-cell battery and two external, 30-watt speakers. Two more speakers can be added for surround-sound effect. With 4 GB of internal memory, the system can store up to 500 sounds. It comes with 100 programmed.
Basin Calls Speck Crusher Basin Calls considers Speck Crusher to be versatile and realistic for calling specklebelly geese, yet it's easy to learn to blow. From bent notes to ground clucks, the all-acrylic call can make all the sounds of the white-fronted geese. All Basin Calls come with an instructional CD.
Wingtipsdown Calls Jackyl Wingtipsdown Calls built its Jackyl short-reed goose call with a stubby, 3-inch barrel to fit snugly in your hand. A double O-ring ensures a tight seal between the two halves of the call, so none of the air put in it is wasted. Each call comes with two sets of guts. The standard guts allow for fast calling and produce sharp, crisp notes. Right out of the box, the Worn guts generate a softer, sultry, pure-goose sound typical of a call that has been used in the field for many seasons.
Wing Nutz Calls Wing Nutz Calls introduces the
The Ace , a single-reed, open-water call that allows users to generate plenty of volume to reach out to distant flocks.
The Deuce is the double-reed model that produces the sounds of a raspy boss hen without ever sticking or squealing. Both calls have short barrels, which increase their raspiness. Wing Mann is Wing Nutz's latest short-reed goose call. Accented by a hex nut band around the center, the call has a short barrel and short insert so you can work it with one or two hands and produce equally appealing honks, clucks, moans and comeback calls. Despite the call's diminutive size, you can still generate plenty of volume and tonal range.
Zink Calls Naughty By Nature Zink Calls sought to reduce the size of a goose call without sacrificing volume or sound capabilities. The Naughty By Nature features a downsized mouthpiece and insert design that has the guts to reach out and grab a goose's attention. The NBN features a competition-caliber, worn-in tone channel for fast clucking and producing spit notes needed to call every subspecies of Canada goose. The exterior is decorated with retro-style laser engraving. Extra reeds, an instructional DVD, leg band and hard case are included.
Haydel's Game Calls Big Blue Haydel's Game Calls introduced the hand-operated Cluckin' Speck to help hunters finish wary specklebelly geese. Simply tap on the Cluckin' Speck's bellow to produce a perfect cluck every time. Big Blue is designed to call blue-winged teal. A double-Mylar reed allows the caller to produce high-volume, screechy teal quacks to reach out to distant ducks. It can also be used to call green-winged and cinnamon teal.
