Turkey calls: which to learn first, and how to run it

What to buy first

One friction call, and most likely a box. The National Wild Turkey Federation's Turkey Hunting 101 says “beginners usually find a box call the easiest to get a consistent sound,” and its advice for a first season is to “start with one call.” You slide the paddle across the lip of the box and the call does most of the work of sounding like a hen. The call at the top of the best turkey calls for beginners is a box: the ESH All Weather Box Call, which ESH says “keeps you calling in rain or shine.”

If you want even less to learn, a push-button call is the other good first choice. You hold it in one hand and push a pin. Quaker Boy calls its waterproof H2O Easy Yelper the “easiest call to operate for today's turkey hunter,” and it ties the ESH on our scores. Whichever you choose, the call is only half of it. The other half is practice, and how to call a turkey for beginners lays out a path from the first yelp at the kitchen table to calling at a real bird in April.

How turkey calls divide

Every turkey call makes its sound one of two ways. Friction calls rub two surfaces together: wood on wood, or a striker on slate, glass or aluminum. Air calls use your breath, over a latex reed or through a barrel. Within those two families there are five kinds of call a new hunter will run into.

Box calls are two-handed friction calls that can go from soft clucks to yelps loud enough to reach a distant bird, and they're the type most beginners should start with. Some are built to run wet; traditional wood boxes want chalk and a dry pocket. Our box call picks sort out which is which.

Pot calls, which most hunters just call slate calls, are a round pot with a playing surface you draw a striker across. The surface sets the tone and decides how the call handles rain: WoodHaven says “slate is forgiving,” while glass and aluminum hold up better when it's wet. See our best slate call picks and slate vs glass vs aluminum pot calls. Deciding between a slate and the other two starting points is box call vs slate call and mouth call vs slate call.

Push-button calls are the one-hand friction calls. They're the easiest to run and are often pitched for soft calling to a bird that's already close; Knight & Hale calls its HD Cutter Push/Pull “a great closing call.” They're ranked in our push-button call picks.

Mouth calls (diaphragms) sit against the roof of your mouth. They're silent in the vest, leave both hands on the gun and don't mind rain, but they're the hardest type to learn. Start with a double reed, and see our beginner mouth call picks and mouth call cuts explained before you buy a pack of cuts you can't yet tell apart.

Locator calls don't call a turkey in at all. An owl hoot or a crow caw makes a gobbler shock-gobble and give away where he is. WoodHaven calls an owl hoot “one of the most trusted ways to strike a gobble at first light.” Our locator call picks cover the owl and crow calls that do this job.

What decides price and quality

Three things separate one call from another more than the logo does. The first is how it's made. A handmade, hand-tuned custom-shop call, like WoodHaven's, sits at the premium end; an injection-molded polymer pot sits at the other. Knight & Hale calls its Glass Hammer “economically priced” and says the Slate Hammer comes at “an economical price point,” and it markets both as perfect for beginners.

The second is weather-proofing. ESH coats its All Weather box where the lid meets the sides, Quaker Boy makes a waterproof version of its Easy Yelper, and WoodHaven packs its Fusion Aluminum pot call with strikers it lists as running when wet. The third is the paperwork. Primos and Knight & Hale publish 1-year warranties. WoodHaven “does not accept returns or refunds on products,” and Quaker Boy and ESH publish no warranty term. A higher price doesn't buy an easier call, and every score on these pages shows exactly which published facts earned it, following our published methodology.

The mistake beginners make

Buying five calls and learning none of them, then calling too much with the one they do use. NWTF's 10 Commandments of Public Land Turkey Hunting warns that “running too hard on a turkey call can be a problem, too”: it can keep birds gobbling, which draws other hunters, or shut down a gobbler that doesn't like what he hears. One call you can run without thinking beats a vest full you can't. How much to call, and when to go quiet, is in how often to call turkeys, and what each sound tells a turkey is in turkey calls and what they mean.

The other mistake is a safety one. A good call brings things to you, including other hunters. The Pennsylvania Game Commission's safe hunting tips say: “Never stalk a turkey! Movement or sounds you think are a turkey may be another hunter.” Sit with your back to a large tree, let the bird come to you, and identify it fully before you shoot. Electronic calls and some other methods are regulated differently from state to state, so check your state wildlife agency before the season.

How calls fit your first season

Buy your call in winter, not the week before opening day, and practice until the basic yelp, cluck and purr come without effort. Each type has a step-by-step guide: how to use a box call, how to use a slate call and how to use a mouth call. Once you can make the sounds, calling becomes one piece of a bigger plan: finding birds, choosing a tree, setting a decoy, and waiting out the last hundred yards.

That plan starts in First Season, which walks through a first spring from the license to the shot, and continues in Decoys & Blinds, which covers what to put in front of you once a bird is answering your call.