Ladies and Gentlemen:

I've been doing a bit of reading about duck and goose hunting, including calling.

What duck and goose calls work best for you in your experience while:

1. On a lake;
2. In flooded timber;
3. On a river;
4. On a pond, and
5. In a cornfield.

I don't have a boat or a dog yet, so I'll probably by near a pond or in a cornfield this fall, so that I can retrieve the birds on land.

My experience waterfowl hunting is non-existent.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

With the amount of fowling I do you'd think I'd be able to answer this well....but I'd say more people scare ducks away with their calls then bring 'em in. The only real difference IMHO is the ability of different styles to blow very loudly and others to sound good blown very softly. Big wide open waters need the prior, but the puddlers we're all hunting make mostly the same noises regardless of whether they're on a pond, lake, river or marsh.

I'm an adequate caller I'd say, hope to get better......but most guys would be better if they just put the damned things down entirely. I have heard some horrendous calling in my few short years of fowling.....this will be year #5 for me(didn't really start on 'em 'til age 40).

For the lake, river and cornfield get a Wayne Betts call

On the pond assuming its relatively open use a RNT acrylic or Olt

In flooded timber use a Rich N Tone "Timber"

If just getting started, make just a few calls to get their attention then like Norton said - just keep quiet and let the decoys do their job.

Learn to do the feeding call but use it sparingly.

All these are my present opinions and I will probably change my mind twice a season. In fact I have switched barrels, reeds and mouthpieces of calls around so much I have forgotten what type of call most of them in my bag really were.

I'm still using the same Olt duck call DR-115 Double Reed and Olt goose call I've used constantly since some point before 1980. Don't know when I got them, but they go on all hunts no matter the terrain.

The third call I take is another old one, an Olt pintail-widgeon Model W-12. It should also work on woodies and teal, but those come and go so fast you rarely even get a chance to use a call. It's the one that's a black plastic adjustable whistle.

The Olt duck call works real fine anywhere but really shines on big water. For close areas you just modulate or muffle it a bit.

I do have a collection of other duck calls which don't have names. They were handmade by local craftsmen over the years and decades. They are beautiful to look at, work fine, but are just not the go-to call. I did have a later model Rich-n-Tone, which you might say is the aristocrat of duck calls. I wound up making a gift of it to a nephew who is starting his hunting career. One of my closest partners, now deceased, had one of the first to be built Rich-n-Tone calls, given to him by its maker.

The Olt goose call has worked at times on Canadas but never much on other geese. "Other geese" for us is mainly snows (including the blue color phase) and on Specks. Snows make so much racket themselves I don't see how they even hear a call in the first place. The Specks don't really need calling at all; they either want into your spread or they don't. If they do it's a rare but very lucky day and you will get some shooting. When they decide to work, it's usually over a wide area and gets everyone's attention and you hear much excited talk from other hunters every stop you make.

At any rate, for me I've found over the years if there's a secret to filling your limit, it's not the calling, it's having a good place to hunt..

I would suggest 2 calls since it sounds like you don't have any yet.....skip the acrylic for awhile and get yourself a Haydel's DR-85 and a Flextone DR Guide Series......both sound pretty darn good and are very easy to blow without a lot of force(then again a buddy of mine got one and I cringe when he starts kazooing thru it). Less than $20 each.

I have a Buck Gardner but I'm not sold on it yet....it's a "reed and a half" style and if you lean on it it breaks up terribly(sound-wise).

Pick one and practice with it. I'd go with a mallard hen call of some kind, but your preference is yours. I've seen a bunch of calls in the same line, by the same maker, sound quite different, so saying go buy XYZ MODEL 8888 is tough. My old trusty is a Walmart $6 something or other. Can't read the name anymore, but has called in a bunch of ducks in a variety of situations. I would advise against having ten different calls and whistles hanging around your neck trying to fit every situation, and breed of duck. Some of the REAL experienced callers can manage it, but most guys just use a loud call, and a softer call (used most). Sounding like a duck with one call is way better than sounding awful with ten. Only call at their tails, and be very still. Resist the urge to keep calling. Practicing, and using the feed call (tugga tugga tugga) is a waste of time IMHO. Ducks see way better than we do, so if you keep calling, they will spot you and leave, especially later in the season. Don't look directly up at them, and be calm. Nobody gets them all to work, so don't get discouraged. When I was a teenager, my buddies and I would unload our guns after limiting, and just practice calling ducks. Great real life practice.
Get some good videos on calling, and practice. How you use the call you have is far more important than which call you have. If you can, go hunting with some experienced callers, and pay attention. I agree that most people should just be quiet.
For geese, I'd see if your area allows a tape recording. That has become legal in LA, and works so well it's scary. You could just about hunt on the local football field. I know some wouldn't call it ethical, but geese are actually overpopulated here and need thinning badly. We have a no limits, no excuses conservation season here, where just about anything goes. You can sneek em, no plugs, whatever, but you still can't use lead shot.
I've hunted a whole bunch without the boat or dog, and the rule of thumb is the water is ALWAYS two inches deeper than whatever boots/waders you have on. Good luck

my .02

In terms of buying a "specific call" the reason I mentioned the DR-85 is because IT IS KNOWN as one of the classic beginner calls but believe me it still sounds great. You may get discouraged if you buy any old call since some are definitely harder to blow than others. Probably shouldn't start with a single reed for that same reason.

In any case, once you catch the fever you'll have a pile of them like all of us.

I'd pick the one you sound best on.

In any event, there used to be some calls many used decades ago to learn on, kind of beginner calls. They were considered real easy to blow. You "graduated" on usually to something else although basically they didn't sound bad at all. One was the Mallard-Tone. Remember that? There was one other that was very widely used and considered a pretty good call. I just can't think of it right now. Can you guys? It was not Olt.

Another brain teaser...the most difficult duck to call in??

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:
Another brain teaser...the most difficult duck to call in??

Deaf duck.

Since you may be new to calling ducks, over time you will learn there are several methods to blowing a duck call. Some require blowing air through them, others (Arkansas style) sound best when your air is "brought up" from the diaphragm, producing a guttural "grunt" or hum as you blow the call. Step one, learn to quack, and learn this call very well. It is the basis of all Mallard type calls. If you can quack realistically, your on the road to learning the many other calls puddle ducks (and divers for that matter) use to communicate various meanings. The most vocal of most puddle duck species are the females (go figure ). Many, including many foreign species, have short, feeble quacks. I recently spent time in Africa studying the calls of Cape Teal, Yellow Bill ducks and a host of others. Haydel produces a Suzie Mallard call that is meant to replicate the sound of a hen with a craw full of rice/corn etc. It is a very raspy call, and short in duration. Again, the quack is the basis, and if you do nothing but a few quacks, especially 3 short, rapid quacks, you'll be killing ducks before you know it. I wouldn't spend over $15 to start. One of my best calls cost me $10 (single reed RNT; camo, plastic). It has lots of volume but I can blow it very soft in timber, although I usually mouth call in timber. Buy you a good call DVD and practice; away from everyone or you'll lose friends and family
Good hunting,
David

Gentlemen:

Thank you all for the wonderful advice.

I'll pick up one or two calls this week, and remove myself to the detached garage in the rear.

Next week, I'll be scouting a Pennsylvania state game lands unit near the Susquehanna river.

Fortunately, I grew up around Mallard ducks on the Wyomissing creek in Pennsylvania. Just never got around to hunting them, since the pheasant population in the 1970's was so extensive.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Good luck Yale, and let us know what you get and how you make out with it.

Are you an Eli per chance?

Dear Norton:

Yup, Class of 1985.

Just can't spell. I wrote "Yale" instead of "Yalie" when I signed up for this gig three years ago.

Are you a Dartmouth man perchance?

I know lots of Dartmouth jokes.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Nah, Chris....I did my surgery residency at St. Raphael with several rotations over at Yale-New Haven Hospital.....there from '96-'01. Moved here for the wife. Lived in Hamden at the time.

I always used to laugh at the Yale med students when they would rotate on my service.....they thought they were special, so instead of signing notes like every other med student(ex. MSIII)they would sign YMSIII. I was never impressed by them and several of them were suspended because they thought it proper to leave the hospital to go home for lunch. Sorry for the OT.....just a funny memory.

Thought I would post this call a friend of mine made. He is a master at his craft. Doesn't do it for a living, just a hobby. He has won a number of top awards in call carving. Several #1 awards. His name is Bob Wiseman from TN. Long Pond Duck calls.
Enjoy,
David

quote:

Originally posted by L. David Keith:
Thought I would post this call a friend of mine made. He is a master at his craft. Doesn't do it for a living, just a hobby. He has won a number of top awards in call carving. Several #1 awards. His name is Bob Wiseman from TN. Long Pond Duck calls.
Enjoy,
David

Man that is a thing of beauty. If it blows half as good as it looks, that man could make a fortune.