best diaphragm mouth call

[hawglips]

I've tried a lot of different calls, and hands down, the best mouth call I've ever tried is the XT Kee.

It's very versatile, easy to blow, and has a lot of turkey in it. It's tough -- the last one I wore out took me 4 seasons to wear it out. It had a lot of mojo. The current one is will start up on season #3 this fall, and hasn't missed a beat.

Whoever has never tried one, nows a good time to give them a try cause he's got them on a 2 for the price of 1 sale at present. But better hurry, 'cause he's going to shut down till January pretty soon.

Anybody else got a nomination for best mouth call?

[Turkey Talker]

My best mouth call is the one that works best that month. I go through so many mouth calls its not funny. I throw away 20 or more a year. I have never had the same mouth call twice. Even same brand, pitches are different. Not by much, but still different. Wood haven, hooks, you name it. If it sounds good, I will be running it that season until its dead. This is the reason I need to buy my own press.

[dirt road ninja]

I doubt I'll spell his name right, but I really like David Holleran's Natural Born Killer. The XT Havoc is a good call and Cane Creek's CC Smoker. Got a bunch of Hook's calls that I like as well. Of the Hooks calls I'd pick the Executioner. If I had to pick only one I'd probably pick the CC Smoker. Tomorrow I would probably pick another.

[Struttinhusker]

I like the Cane Creek CC Smoker and the Cane Creek Lost Poult.

[devastator]

hands down the hooks devastator for myself.

[MKW]

I do like the XT Kee a lot, but I don't buy them because the tape is way too stiff for me. I replaced the tape on all the XT calls that I had and they certainly run well, but I would rather buy calls that run well out of the package...so I run Hooks diaphrams, mostly. The tape thing is just a personal choice, so if you like stiff tape, XTs are good.

Mike

[hawglips]

I love the stiff tape on the XT calls.

[dirt road ninja]

I hate the stiff tape too. Once they're in they soften up after about ten minutes and run great.

[ICDEDTURKES]

I have never had the same mouth call twice. Even same brand, pitches are different. Not by much, but still different. .

Alot of that is in the latex itself.. This stuff is not made to make a musical instrument, its made for other purposes.. Whereas a piece of green latex in .0035 might not make a difference if the next batch is .003 in a glove, but in a mouth call it can make a huge difference. Batch to batch the thicknesses may vary as well as the composition.. Even micing every piece does not tell the whole story, the chemical composition can change batch to a batch. A good builder will take notice batch to batch and may make a minor change or two in tension to accomodate to their very best to create consistency. Alot do not even pay attention.

After building calls for a few years, I could not imagine building them for sale and not being able to blow each one on a test run.. Sometimes I will sit down and try to duplicate a previous call and throw out 25 or more goodones looking for that one that has a little more horsepower for whatever reason..

[GLS]

I've tried different calls, but not all fit my palate. Years ago I bought a close-out of Jim Clay Perfection calls from WalMart that I use every season. They work for me. I keep them stored in a metal ammo can in a cool place and the unused ones have held up for years sealed in their original small ziploc bags.

[TS]

Hooks Executioner

[HuntnMa]

WoodHaven is made made for the beginner....Hooks makes some damned good calls too......

[Grover]

I found one this past year I liked a lot, it's a Cramer's Custom Calls sweet talking jezzebelle. I've never been able to purr on a mouth call in my life but I learned on this one and went toe to toe with a hen this year at 15 yards for 15 minutes. I'm certanly not the best caller around but this one felt right the first time I tried it. It's a soft tape so it ran well for me right out of the package.

[Hoobilly]

Hooks Executioner II and others

The Woodhaven Red Wasp

those are my favorite hands down..

[GobbleNut]

I have never had the same mouth call twice. Even same brand, pitches are different. Not by much, but still different. .

Alot of that is in the latex itself.. This stuff is not made to make a musical instrument, its made for other purposes.. Whereas a piece of green latex in .0035 might not make a difference if the next batch is .003 in a glove, but in a mouth call it can make a huge difference. Batch to batch the thicknesses may vary as well as the composition.. Even micing every piece does not tell the whole story, the chemical composition can change batch to a batch. A good builder will take notice batch to batch and may make a minor change or two in tension to accomodate to their very best to create consistency. Alot do not even pay attention.

After building calls for a few years, I could not imagine building them for sale and not being able to blow each one on a test run.. Sometimes I will sit down and try to duplicate a previous call and throw out 25 or more goodones looking for that one that has a little more horsepower for whatever reason..

This! ^ ....I bought a lot of calls over the years before I figured out that mouth calls, even of the same brand and name, rarely ever sound exactly the same. Unless a caller is really particular about how a mouth call sounds, most of the time it probably doesn't make much difference, but some of us can be really "anal" about how a call should sound.

I, too, make my own calls,...and I run through them like chewing gum until I make one that sounds exactly the way I think it should,.... based on the way I call. I say that because no two people call exactly the same way either. Everybody is different. Some guys can run a bat or ghost cut call and sound fantastic, while another guy sounds like "chit".

I'm a center V-cut man myself, for the most part. I am partial to thinner reed calls and most often get my best variety of sound and volume control out of two-reed proph/proph (.0025 thickness) with the V-cut or half-V. I also like a three-reed .003/.003/.003 (gray/natural/green mixes) V-cut for loud agressive stuff as well as cluck/purr combos. Of course, one of the problems with using proph reed material is that the calls have a tendency to wear out quickly compared to calls with thicker latex reeds.

Regardless, anybody that really wants to learn to master the mouth call has got some work to do in terms of trying a bunch of different call designs, ...and then hoping that the next one he buys of the same type sounds anywhere close to the one he likes.

[savduck]

I like that wacky batwing from rutnstrut, Dave hallorans stuff, and my favorite are Houndstooth.

[TRKYHTR]

I've been making mouth calls for 8 years. Tom is right about the consistency in latex. Last year I got 3 different .003 natural latex from the same company. Most of the time I can tell when I make my first cutt in the latex if the call is going to sound good or not. I've got a folgers 1# coffee can full of calls I've thrown away. There are some that sound good but just not to my liking. The problem is that you can't try a mouth call out before you sale it like you can a pot call, box call, etc...

TRKYHTR

[hawglips]

Every time I hear a good mouthcall sound that I like, I go out and buy that call and see how it does. But I keep going back to the Kee.

I even had a buddy who makes calls bring his equipment to my house and make some calls while we were loading some shells one evening. He made several different styles (tape, cuts, etc) for me to try, and made adjustments in tension etc as we went along. Never did get one that I liked as much as the XT Kee.

[Stinky J Picklestein]

I keep going back and forth between the Hooks Executioner and the Woodhaven Sadler McGraw (I don't think it's made anymore). I tried the Executioner II out last year, but still prefer the original.

[Turkey Talker]

yeah , i like the thinner latex with prophylactic the best. V cut, Moon Cut....I like em all. i just like a tight stretch with thin latex for the nasal young slu tty hen sounds.

[ICDEDTURKES]

Proph is a love hate thing for most folks.. I personally love it.. Its easy to get a front end, has alot of pop for cutting and cackling..

Proph is an absolute PIA to work with.. The proph is cut by hand from second condoms.. So some pieces are longer than the latex, some are the same and some are shorter making tension a night mare for consistency.. Also with it being cut by hand the slightest angle on the cut is magnified when you put your side tension in thus messing up your spacing.. Its also a pain to tack to another piece of proph..

I probably throw out 50 percent of the proph i get and just keep the longer pieces.

[drenalinld]

Tom, I have quite a few "seconds" if you need some material.

[ICDEDTURKES]

Tom, I have quite a few "seconds" if you need some material.

Thanks for the offer, but I need the longer pieces not the shorter.. I do not think yours are gonna work.

[Turkey Talker]

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

[devastator]

Tom, I have quite a few "seconds" if you need some material.

Thanks for the offer, but I need the longer pieces not the shorter.. I do not think yours are gonna work.

lol where did you get that ya sick little bastard