Ask Tad Brown Your Turkey Hunting Questions

[Jared Blohm]

Expert turkey hunter Tad Brown, of Flambeau Outdoors, is the latest "At the Roost" guest. Tad is one of the country's best known hunters, callers and call designers. He'll be available through this thread from April 23 through May 4 to answer your turkey hunting questions, talk about hunts or help solve your turkey hunting dilemmas. Simply write your questions in a post in this thread and Tad will answer them as soon as possible.

[Myakka Chuck]

Hi, Tad,

You are one of my favorite TV turkey hunters and I am real pleased to be able to ask you a, or maybe some, questions. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a question I posed to Scott Ellis (it never hurts to get another opinion).

I am pretty good with pot calls for most of the major turkey sounds, and reasonably proficient with diaphragm mouth calls at the louder and easier calls (clucks, putts, purrs, yelps, tree yelps) which is all you really need to kill a bird. But some of the finer, quieter, more subtle and less known sounds elude me but I would like to expand my arsenal. I know it has something to do with tongue placement but can't seem to make it work. I tend to like raspier sounding diaphragms, with usually means 3 reeds. Could that be making it more difficult to manipulate the latex? What are some of the more subtle calls and how can I do them with a mouth call?

Thanks,

Long beards, sharp spurs, and beautiful mornings to ya!

[tbrown]

Hi Myakka,

Thanks for the kind words. To be honest i too struggle a little with subtle calls especially the purr. I can purr well on a slate or pot type call but not good at all with a mouth call so i usually don't. We get too wrapped up in is our calling ability, don't get me wrong i like to asound as good as i can but the turkeys really do not care. When i get a bird in close if i'm the gunner i obviously use a mouth call and i do little clucks/wines & subtle yelps. I love to have them gobble in my face so lots of the time if a bird is in the right mood i will still yelp to him fairly aggresively at close range, again it is natural for him to hear a hen yelp out loud. Otherwise if i'm back a bit calling for some one else i like a friction call so i can do a little purring.

When it comes to mouth calls i like thin latex and 2.5 reeded calls, they are easy for me to blow and make those whiney high pitched sounds that seem to pull more gobbles for me. I use a call that i designed years ago called the Hyper Hen, (MD-113) it is 2,5 reeds with a thin propholactic reed on top. Propholactic is not as foregiving as latex but gives the more woodsy sounds i like, they just seem to sound more turkey to me. I have domestic turkeys too and i spend a great deal of time listening to them. i have one old gobbler that does this sound i have never heard in the woods but i use it with good success when a gobbler is close. It is hard to discribe but it is like kid trying to whistle for the first time almost cat like, it is Wirow wirow in double succesions. i hope this helps, just remember if that old gobbler is interested he could care less what you sound like as long as it is somewhat turkey, any sound you make at a close gobbler he thinks it is for him. One of my new favorite mouth calls is the MD-280 Perfecta by Matt Van Cise it is a triple reed call with a ghost cut in the center, it too takes little air yet is raspy and can be used for soft close in calling. Good Luck!

Tad

[Treerooster]

Hi Myakka,


i have one old gobbler that does this sound i have never heard in the woods but i use it with good success when a gobbler is close. It is hard to discribe but it is like kid trying to whistle for the first time almost cat like, it is Wirow wirow in double succesions.
Tad

This would be interesting to hear. Not to put you on the spot...but with youtube and all, perhaps you could give us an example?

[tbrown]

Well, i am fairly technally challenged, but i will give it a try.

Tad

[Myakka Chuck]

Hi Myakka,

"i have one old gobbler that does this sound i have never heard in the woods but i use it with good success when a gobbler is close. It is hard to discribe but it is like kid trying to whistle for the first time almost cat like, it is Wirow wirow in double succesions.
Tad

Tad: That may be one of the sounds that I've heard but cannot immitate. Also whines or "mews" that sound somewhat cat-like. I agree with Treerooster - I would love to hear and see you do these calls along with a little instruction on how you do them. I'm sure the T&TH guys could help you with the technical aspects if needed.

I agree with you that it isn't necessary to sound exactly like a turkey to attract and kill a tom. There is a well-known TV personality (he seems like a likeable guy so I won't say his name but he is better known as a fisher, has blonde hair and giggles like a maniac) who is such a bad turkey caller that one wonders how he can pull it off, but he does on a regular basis. Witness my own success with a rather limited repertoire - I too have problems with purring on a mouth call - it sounds like the wingbeat of a red cardinal rather than a good purr, but it still works.

Also, how do you keep the toms from focusing on you if you yelp loudly when they're in gun range? I find that, unless they're so hot to trot with henny penny that they throw caution to the wind like a rutting buck, the birds look directly toward where the yelp is coming from, and get hinky real quick, requiring a quick trigger pull or risk seeing only receding tail feathers.

Anyway, thanks for your response. I look forward to seeing you on youtube!

MC

[tbrown]

Well the key is like i mentioned earlier if he is playing well, i don't call hard to a close gobbler that is acting herky jerky but if they are committed they don't seem to mind rather like it. I learned this from Mark Drury, we are usually filming our hunts and they are more entertaining if the gobblers are gobbling in your face. He is quite the prankster and loves to call for other guys but won't let them shoot till he gives the signal. he often times have them gobbling right off the end of the barrel before he gives it, some of those guys get their eye's rolled back and almost pass out, it is funny....

We lli have the sound, now to get it where you guys can hear it.......

[tbrown]

Try to find it here, it says it has 70 more minutes to down load as of 1:20 PM central http://youtu.be/HITBYC_-ENE

[tbrown]

OK, it is downloaded and the link attached works, its short but pretty clear.

[Myakka Chuck]

Hi, Tad,

Can't say I've ever heard that particular turkey sound but have heard one somewhat similar. Now I understand your written description "wirow wirow wirow". The one I've heard is not as fast but maybe it is the same call just made different by a different turkey. Now that you have the technical aspects down, can you show us how you make that call on a diaphragm?

I have some of Mark Drury's videos from about 10 years ago and you're right, he does like to fire those hot toms up when he gets them in front of the camera lens (their Shipwreck 2 is my all time favorite diaphragm). And he's not the only one. A lot of call makers do that to help sell those calls, Quaker Boy being one that comes to mind. But almost all do, so much so that an eyewitness told me that not all calls heard on the videos of a certain major call maker were actually made at the time the videos were initially shot (no pun intended). I'm sure you or Mark would never do that.

BTW, I have made a note of the two calls you mentioned so I can try them next season. Thanks again for the advice and youtubing.

MC