I've been itching to have a go at turkey hunting, and need to get a box call. Any suggestions on a good box call?
I had 3 box calls, gave 1 to my daughter and the other 2 sit on the shelf. My Zink slate is all I use now, I really believe the slates are a better call. Mouth calls are fine as well, but I have such a strong gag reflex I haven't found one I could use. (yeah, the dentist loves me!)
They are all pretty good. A good turkey call is only as good as you think it is. If you are comfortable with it and have confidence in the call you can call un a turkey. I suggest you go to a place where you can try out multiple makes & styles and pick the one you like the best and then practice with it until you are comfortable (especially when your heart is beating 100 beats per minute because a gobbler has gobbled at your call and it's been 5 minutes since you heard him and want to call softly to find out where he is at and your hands are shaking like a leaf). Any box call is capable of calling in a turkey, the sound and reaction is up to you.
Just my 10 cents worth.
If there is 1 box call to have, get a Lynch Fool Proof.
I have to second DJ on the Lynch call. I have hunted turkeys for 45 yrs or so and have used about every call there is. I was a die hard mount call guy until about 5 years ago when I went back to the Box call and slate (quieter call). I find very few guys in my neck of the woods using the box call much. I am convinced the fact mine sounds different then the other callers gives me an advantage. I hunted a piece of property in VA with the farmer who is 83 years old and watched the old gobblers respond to his 50+ year old box. Made me switch back pretty quick.
QuoteOriginally posted by D.J. Carr:
If there is 1 box call to have, get a Lynch Fool Proof.
X3 and I've been doing this turkey hunting thing awhile... I stopped looking for a box call a LONG time ago when I got Lynch's Fool Proof.... :thumbsup:
QuoteOriginally posted by KAZ:
QuoteOriginally posted by D.J. Carr:
If there is 1 box call to have, get a Lynch Fool Proof.
X3 and I've been doing this turkey hunting thing awhile... I stopped looking for a box call a LONG time ago when I got Lynch's Fool Proof.... :thumbsup: [/b]
X4
If only there was an associate sponsor here how makes the best sounding individually tuned box calls there are...
Send me a pm if you are serious about a box call.
My Dad bought me a Lynch Fool Proof for a my birthday about 30 years ago, I've spent hundreds on box calls since then to always go back to the Lynch call. I stopped trying to find a better box call a couple years ago. Later in the spring I will also carry an old Kelly Cooper box call, that sounds dang good too, but its just for something a little different after the birds have had some pressure.
Box calls are like bows, theres a lot of really well made commercially made calls out there and there are some excellent customs. The Lynchs World Champ is what I started with about 35 years ago. Quaker Boy Grand Ole Master is my favorite Commercial call. The last 7 or so years I've been using custom calls. Woods Song is now by far my favorite.
Although I've become very proficient with a mouth call, I never hit the woods with out a boxcall.
My property is located in an area where Michigan started some of it's first turkey seasons. We've been turkey hunting on our property since the late 1970's. In fact, my dad and I were turkey hunting the morning of the failed rescue attempt of the Iranian hostages. I vividly remember the dairy farmer, whose farm we were hunting that morning, pulling up on his tractor and telling my dad and I what happened.
Back then, the hunt ended at noon and we had to drive to a DNR office and check in any bird killed. To Michigan turkey hunters new to the sport, that must seem bizarre.
With all that said, in my opinion, no turkey call collection is complete without the Lynch World Champion Box Call. I've called in more birds with the World Champion Box than with all other calls combined.
(http://ts2.explicit.bing.net/th?id=H.5004771943254797&pid=1.7)
Look at Spring Creek Turkey calls at www.springcreekturkeycalls.com. (http://www.springcreekturkeycalls.com.) Highly recommend Mike's calls.
Well if your looking for just a box to call a Turkey most any of the ones mentioned will do that and most of the other commercial made calls as well. But if you want an outstanding call, one you will be proud to own and sounds more like a turkey than a turkey does then get yourself a custom made call.
I know your thinking why spend that much on a call when I can get 3 cheap ones for that much. Well that's just what you get cheap ones. What kind of bow you shoot?, is it a massed produced assembly line import from China, Korea ect... Or maybe hand made by one of our custom Bowyers here in the U.S. You certainly get what you pay for.
Do a search for custom made box calls, there a several really good ones out there. If you want to know some of the best, PM me I'll be glad to pass along a few names.
Some people hunt turkeys a few times a year, just to pass time until deer seasons comes along. Then there are some of us who live for the spring, plan and practice all year long, hunt weeks not days, travel to several states, spend buckets of money , just to hear a gobble, just to match wits, one on one with the grandest bird of all. I think Colonel Kelly was right, there is a legion.
R.W.
I'd like to get a custom, but are there any nice customs that do an easy and realistic gobble call? All the customs I've seen seem to be yelp only. With my old Lynch, I've had the best luck using the gobble/with rubber bands. With the World Champ, shake it and get ready. LOL
Have 2 Lynch's a Fool Proof and an old gobble box. Nice thing about boxes not many guys use them anymore. Older a Lynch gets the better it sounds.Also use a Cody Envy Pot and glass.
QuoteOriginally posted by bulldog18:
Look at Spring Creek Turkey calls at www.springcreekturkeycalls.com. (http://www.springcreekturkeycalls.com.) Highly recommend Mike's calls.
X2
Killer boxes at very reasonable prices!
Mojostick
A good custom boxcaller is only as good as the guy running it. A good box will yelp, cluck, cutt, purr and cackle. You can on some make a decent gobble to get by with.
I wouldn't be to concerned about gobbling if your hunting public land.
Mike
I'm hunting private land. The gobble with the Lynch World Champ is the money call and the one that 90% of the birds have been killed with at my place over the last 35 years. When you gobble right over another Tom that's gobbling, that really PO's them off and they come running in.
I'd like a custom call for the beauty of it. I don't want just a decent gobble, I want one to match the World Champ call gobble, otherwise I won't spend the money on a pretty call that doesn't gobble as well. I assume someone must make one. I'll look around. Thanks.
Just a list of few of my own box calls which are outstanding leading world class calls.
Scott Basehore
Irving Whitt
Michael Lapp
Albert Paul
Irving Whitt and Albert Paul's lead times are far less than the others listed.
If you desire a box that produces a gobble beyond any I have heard nor any my master custom box call maker and close friend has heard, then an Irving Whitt is easily a premier choice. A gobble produced by a box call is typically easily discerned as having come from a box. When Irving runs his box, you will wonder why all fine boxes don't replicate the quality w/o the distinguishable box call sound. His box is world class and commands the status as the Stradivarius of the gobble. If one plans to attend the NWTF 3 day convention with hopes of acquiring one, take note that Irving's calls are often sold out the 1st day.
There are many fine call makers; however the aforementioned calls hold the elite status both in the field and show.
I'd add Marlin Watkins and Jeff McKamey to the list that Friend posted. All these guys make a box that will make all turkey sounds including the gobble, and do it very well, you just have to learn how to run it.
R.W.
Russell Beard , Buford,Ga. BeardHunter Calls
My calling will certainly not win any competitions, I think they come in out of morbid curiosity. The turkey gene pool improves everytime I take a gobbler.
But I've been successful with my Lynch Fool Proof for many years.
Thanks for all the suggestions fellas! I may have to put the "Fool Proof" to the test.
May you have the best of success.
Lamar Williams of Starke, Florida.
Sorry for the awkward sounding post... new here...
OP - I know this is your thread, but why a box call? I'm not familiar with your region of the country, but everyone I know uses mouth calls and sometimes dekes... frees up their hands and what not...
I should preface this by saying that I don't claim to know much about hunting, but I can say that what I have done has been extremely successful where I was hunting. A box call, or any call for that matter did not figure into any of the turkeys that I harvested last year... but then I hunt turkey quite a bit different than most... I would love to discuss my methods with anyone interested, however I'm not sure it fits this thread, so PM me if you want to know more about it.
PT Tully custom calls - been the death of more than a few toms
http://www.customgamebirdcalls.com/Turkey_Calls.htm
Friend listed some great ones. For a production box call it's hard to beat Woodhaven's Real Hen. That's what I will be using this spring.
Lynch World Champion is hard to beat.
I have and use a Lynch World Champion, They are great calls.
I've heard that box calls are generally easier for the beginner, so I thought I'd start there, and add others as I needed.
A box call is the easiest to be proficient with, and you can make all the sounds a turkey does, so its perfect for beginners.
I love my Lynch but also a slate call. I stopped using mouth calls about five years ago and have killed more mature toms than the previous ten years. Saw a toms reaction to a mouth call one day as soon the guy called the turkey stopped gobbling and walked straight away in hurry the good part was he walked right into me
IMO, there is no better box to start off with than the Lynch Fool Proof.
Lots of truly great box calls out there these days though. Its easy for box calls (and slate calls) to become an addiction just as bad as buying bows. LOL
I broke my Lynch World Champion (given to me by my dad many years ago) and promptly ordered another for the coming season. It is the best box call I have ever used-and I mean the World Champion version. Lou
Bdann, here's a deal for you, if you got a bunch of Turkeys to hunt, I'll come down this spring and give you Bachelor degree in using a Box and I'll throw in pot calls as a second major.
Roy
Don't be fooled into thinking a box call is just for beginners, it is a very handy tool that one should not go into the turkey woods with out.
I bought a Rohm Brothers box call at a Sportsman's banquet 2 yrs ago. Dale Rohm is the maker I believe, he's out of PA. I've tried a lot of box calls and this one is by far the best, although i have never tried the Lynch that's been mentioned. Box calls have their place....like when you need the volume, just like mouth and slate calls have their place. Good luck.
By the way, I can not wait til the 2nd Saturday in April....it's opening day of turkey season here in NC and will be my 1st year trying to get a gobbler with my bow.
I went to a turkey calling contest in Elberton, Ga. back in the early 70's and the Rohm Brothers were selling little mouth diaphragm calls...had to really be careful not to suck them down your throat they were so small and light. They were all metal frame..with no wrap. If you had a bad tooth those calls would let you know it. Mouth diaphragm calls were just coming out and getting popular about that time.
The late Ben Lee made one about that time that did have a wrap on it, but it also had a chunk of had to be lead on top of the diaphragm..had real good luck with that call.
Turkeys would go crazy over the diaphragm calls back then..never heard them and turkey hunters were far a few. Most people didn't even know you could hunt them in the spring.
QuoteOriginally posted by Hoyt:
I went to a turkey calling contest in Elberton, Ga. back in the early 70's and the Rohm Brothers were selling little mouth diaphragm calls...had to really be careful not to suck them down your throat they were so small and light. They were all metal frame..with no wrap. If you had a bad tooth those calls would let you know it. Mouth diaphragm calls were just coming out and getting popular about that time.
The late Ben Lee made one about that time that did have a wrap on it, but it also had a chunk of had to be lead on top of the diaphragm..had real good luck with that call.
Turkeys would go crazy over the diaphragm calls back then..never heard them and turkey hunters were far a few. Most people didn't even know you could hunt them in the spring.
I remember seeing Ben Lee at a seminar back in the early 80's he said then that his calls were made out of lead.
My Marlin Watkins long box-Wow! Peace!
If considering customs, google Dave Holloran turkey calls. Impressive calls
Albert Paul of Pauls Calls.
30 year old Ben Lee raspy ol hen. Bought it new and it still sounds true.