doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Goose calls???

Geno, how I miss him. I wish I had bought one of those calls when I had the chance. Pricey but worth it for the memories.

Skeetx,

i used to think what you said was true. Now I am not so sure. I can tune and blow just about any short reed call you put in my hands. Yes some I call better but there are different factors why... Lip position, grooved in call channel, back pressure, how well my tongue and cheek muscles are in shape to blow.

I am often asked what call should I buy and I always tell people to buy the Knight and Hale Magnum Clucker. Learn to blow it then start to play, shave the reed, grove the call channel. If you muck it up they are cheep and you can start over. I have a good friend who won the Western Canada Championship using a Knight & Hale.

On the other hand I only use acrylic calls because the tone and pitch do not change in different climate situations. I also use 4 different calls depending on how I feel that day and the type of calling I need to do the most of. If it is long range hello calls it is Tim Grounds Half Breed. If it is deep and low landing calls it is Chris Holtz Paralyzer On other days I use a Foiles Straight Meat and a Foiles Cackler.

Skeettx,

I should add in the above reply I am assuming I am calling geese. If I were calling people I would agree with you whole heartedly. There are some calls that I just can not make on certain types of calls. In competition that would be a serious problem but when calling geese you don't need all those fancy calls people have made up. Plain come in, landing, loose em and get em back are generally all you need.

Calls are a musical instrument. You learn to make the sounds first, then you learn simple songs, then more complex and finally you learn to play the right song to the audience you have in hand.

Tamid, which calls that are currently on the market do you recommend?

The reason for this thread is I'm hunting in an area where I feel the geese are a lot more weary. I use to hunt south of Interstate 80 where the geese responded to even the most basic calls from the cheap 20 dollar single reed calls I have whereas up here it seems to me after 2 years of hunting these geese are very unresponsive.

My perception anyway of this area.

Weary-or wary? Try a few of these "zero-call" hunting tricks-- Do you hunt solo, as I do, or in a group? Field or over water, or both. Geese do get call-shy in a hurry, after the sound of gunfire follows the calls often overblown at them. First thing is volume- approaching geese to your spread out of decent killing range hear your calls, but if they hear the same volume from them as they get closer to killing range, somethings spooks them and they fall back and backpedal out of decent range. Why? Many valid reasons-- but we are talking about calls- so, your pal Tom is 100 yards away and you shout at him to come in for coffee- When he gets 30 yards out, if you have the same volume in your shout-- what does he hear then? Right- a louder volume. Try the same with your calling-- distant geese are more often attracted by decoys and flagging, weather conditions pending- my theory-- have plenty of landing room, as geese, unlike mallards, do not like to fly over a large group of decoys below them, they like "lebensraum"-- also, have your sentinel decoys on the outside edges, and facing away from the larger group they are "guarding"-- I use a ratio of 4 feeders/preeners to sentinel dekes, whether land or water spreads. Use some hen mallards in the mix, as often, geese will come in to their feeding chatter, and silently. Mimic the birds, don't try to be a Leopold Stravinski at the Hollywood Bowl- A call is indeed, a form of musical instrument, but not every horn player is a Bix Beiderbeck, or a Louis Armstrong--

I meant wary. That's what it is RWTF they're call shy. Hunting close to state game land blinds that are in huge propagation areas (no hunting, no entry, no shooting, do not under any circumstance bother these geese except when you are in a state regulated blind.) Great area to hunt but the geese ignore me like I've never encountered before. They have to be call shy.

I understand- we have some similar areas in MI- Todd Farm in Allegan area, and Shiawassi near Saginaw. The only way I have found to get shooting, assuming you get a early blind area draw in the morning lottery- is on real nasty weather days, when the geese are pushed by strong winds, snow, overcast weather-making days- Almost all pass shooting then- 3" 12 magnum or 10 gauges work best, and seldom do you seem to get birds working your decoys as you would like. I seldom try to call, other hunters in nearby blinds can blow their lungs out, I'm just hoping for a single to drift my way--

Great info RWTF and I'll give it a shot. I still would like to try one of those fancy Zink calls and see how much better they are compared to the cheap single reed calls I already have.

FWIW- a pal won a Zink goose call at a DU Banquet a few years ago-he is a better called than I will ever be, and his comment_ "I'll keep it as I won it, but I wouldn't pay retail for one"> One thing I notice, in the call, shotgun and decoy ads in the DU magazine and also in Shooting Sportsman as well- the guys in the ads almost always have a big necklace of leg bands on their multi-call lanyards- reminds me in some way of the "brag patches" seen at trap and skeet clubs no so long ago-- But-- as I agree with the "no rattle-no shine" military mantra, I have the varnish on my wooden calls worn off, and pick up my empty hulls, sunny day or not. But all those leg bands came from some bird's leg at one time or another, and the call makers know to "sell the sizzle with the steak"_ Hope my few words on tactics help you get your birds this coming season too. RWTF

Hmmmm, that's an interesting comment. I always thought that the Zink calls were held in high regard by all waterfowlers but, I guess not.

Bottom line is, I let my skills decline over the years and now when I'm seeing a more challenging or more wary bird I need to improve my skills. Now all I need is for snow geese to start showing up and then I'm really screwed.