Wounded duck?

[rabbit16v]

Why in the hell do my mouth calls sound like a duck? My first instinct is to gag as soon as it hits the back of my tongue so I place it a little further up in order not to choke. But when I go to make a call, it sounds like a duck :mad:.

[UKturkeyhunter]

I would guess you need a little more pressure on the call. Try pushing up on the reed (slightly) with your tongue. This should get you a higher pitch.

Learning the mouth call was the hardest call I have ever tried. I had some for over a year before I could call "well". Just keep trying to make sound (any sound). Do not get caught up on sounding like a turkey yet, just get comfortable with the call in your mouth, then progress to clucks, yelps, cackles and purrs.

Good Luck!!:)

[kyfowlplay]

You may want to cut the tape down on it some. I cut all of mine down some.

[BuckUp]

Practice...practice.....practice....you'll eventually get it.
good luck.

[mcdenney]

Practice...practice.....practice....you'll eventually get it.
good luck.

Took me a while to learn as well, probably close to a year of playing with a mouth call. I tried trimming, everything but really what helped the most was good ole fashion practice. If you decide to practice please do so in very small adjustments. Many a good call be ruined by too much cutting.

[nwest]

Practice...practice.....practice....you'll eventually get it.
good luck.

I practice a few mornigs a week on the way to work.

[Chief Huntum]

You might be huffing (if that's a word) too much from your lungs. Don't bring up air from your lungs (gosh this is hard to explain). Rather, put more pressure on the reed with the back of your tongue, then start with a high pitch squeek to a lower pitch yelp by dropping your tongue. Have the sound come out the corner of your mouth rather then through the center of your lips, which ever side is more cordinated for you. In other words, your lower jaw will be off to one side. Keep the yelps crisp and sharp, not too drawn out and muffled. Play a DVD of real birds when you start developing the sound and emulate it. Try a smaller framed dome style call if you have gag problems. Good luck, you'll get it soon enough.

[nwest]

Primos makes a set that comes with 3 calls and a instructional cd, was very helpful to me.


be warned some people look at you kind a funny when you pull up at a gas station at 530 in the morning practicing a mouth call:D

[rabbit16v]

People at work already look at me funny regardless of the weird sounds coming out of my mouth :D

[Joe Bryan]

Trimming the call with half moon cuts will help alot, this will position the call where it needs to be.

You might want to tie some fishing line to it so someone can pull it out when you swallow it!;)

[JDMiller]

I've read a lot of threads on people who have trouble with mouth calls and at first I had that problem too. Even give up trying for awhile. Then several years back I was at an NWTF national convention in Columbus , Ohio ....and bought a glass call from the Heart of Dixie Game Calls booth and they threw in a mouth call. It peaked my curiosity right away because it was pretty small and back then you did'nt see many youth frames. I started playing around with it on the way back to Kentucky and by the time I hit the driveway....I was making good calls with it.

I used that brand in particular for the next couple of seasons and killed several birds with that type. Then I moved on to the normal sized calls because they were easier to find locally. Never had another problem.

The best advice to anyone.....dont give up and before you start whittlin down a bunch of calls...try some youth models first. Knight & Hale...Primos and many others make youth frame calls. Also... dont start with some wild 4 reed call...start with a single or doubble reed...their easier to control the sounds you want to make. My main mouth calls I use today are doubbles with only one or two "cuttin" triple reed calls. One of my favorites now is a Primos "piggy back" doubble. The reeds wont stick together and it doesnt seem to take much force to make clear yelps , purrs , tree calls & cutts.

[Xi Bowhunter]

You may want to cut the tape down on it some. I cut all of mine down some.
That is a good suggestion, most of the mouth calls are designed with this in mind.

[The Beagler]

I would definitely try a youth model. Be sure you are bringing the air up from your diaphram, not just blowing over the call. Bring the air up deep in your chest.

You might just try holding the call in your mouth first. It might help you from gagging -- to get used to the call. I'd try just holding it in your mouth like when watching tv or driving. If you can't stand the call in your mouth everything else is futile.

[notimlmit]

Oddly enough I accidentally found that you can make a call that's very familiar to geese with a mouth call. It's the low tone sound that a goose already on the ground makes when it spots airborn geese to signal " over here, the coast is clear" and it does work fairly well.

[rabbit16v]

Is it possible to have a mouth structure not capable of using a mouth call? Really think that this is time and money wasted.

[skin_dog1]

did you get the call I sent yet? You need to just start varying tongue pressure and air volume til you can make various sounds. Once you get used to making different sounds you'll figure it out. Start with alot of tongue pressure and ease air between your tongue and the reeds. As you do so drop your lower jaw and the notes will follow. If you can squeel on one just drop your jaw and you'll have a rough yelp. Play with it from there.

[CVN71 Ordnance]

Try the Quaker Boy Mini Mags, they are small and need no cutting. I like them, the other ones are too big for me and I have to trim them.