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How's my calling?

445 views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  SPatrick 
#1 ·
Still pretty new to this sport. Been working on my calling for the last few months. I definitely need alotta work still (tone, cadence) and I'd like some critiques.
My calling in general feels like it's alittle low pitched? I'm working on the feed too, it still sounds pretty off I think, like more of a flutter?
Please feel free to be brutal. It'll help me in the long run. Thanks in advance



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#2 ·
You got the fundamentals down! Your feeding chuckle sounds exactly like feeding ducks, the rolling chuckle you hear "pros" use is what the industry has adapted from competition calling. What you did is exactly what you will hear from ducks walking in a field or feeding in shallow water. Barnie Calef puts it very nicely in his "calling ducks my way" DVD. "you have watched the whole video and are probably wondering why I haven't told you how to blow the feeding chuckle *demonstrates*, well it's because you don't need it. This feeding chuckle *demonstrates a rolling chuckle* is what birds in high V's make, not what ducks on the water make. Ducks on the water make short half-quacks (exactly what you did)".

As for your other calling, you have the quacks down but like you said- need to work on the cadence and pitch a little if you want it to be perfect. It will call in ducks all day the way it is though, all hens sound different and i can guarantee you there is one out there right now that sounds like you. However, try giving it a little more pressure until it breaks then back down ever so slightly. That should raise the pitch a little.
 
#3 ·
BBK said:
You got the fundamentals down! Your feeding chuckle sounds exactly like feeding ducks, the rolling chuckle you hear "pros" use is what the industry has adapted from competition calling. What you did is exactly what you will hear from ducks walking in a field or feeding in shallow water. Barnie Calef puts it very nicely in his "calling ducks my way" DVD. "you have watched the whole video and are probably wondering why I haven't told you how to blow the feeding chuckle *demonstrates*, well it's because you don't need it. This feeding chuckle *demonstrates a rolling chuckle* is what birds in high V's make, not what ducks on the water make. Ducks on the water make short half-quacks (exactly what you did)".

As for your other calling, you have the quacks down but like you said- need to work on the cadence and pitch a little if you want it to be perfect. It will call in ducks all day the way it is though, all hens sound different and i can guarantee you there is one out there right now that sounds like you. However, try giving it a little more pressure until it breaks then back down ever so slightly. That should raise the pitch a little.
Thank you! Its great to be able to bounce my calls off you experienced guys. I'll def work on giving it alittle more pressure.

Also i left out, i'm using an Echo Breaker in the video, incase anyone was wonderin.

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#4 ·
It had the grunt of an echo for sure! The great thing about echo calls is that, for the most part, they can be blown hard and kept quiet which is fantastic for a beginner. The absolute hardest part of calling is to get a good cadence and pitch when soft calling the birds (when finishing birds). Sometimes you have to call them to the water and you can't be ringing the call at birds swinging the decoys.

My biggest piece of advice is to stick with one call, the echo is a good one! A good caller can pick up any call out there and make it sound ducky. The guy that owns the property I duck hunt on is a state and regional champion and blew in the world championships finishing second. (he has been asked to judge the world championship in 2017). He can take any call you hand him and make it sound like 5 different hens sitting in the decoys. Once you get good, then you can play around with different calls to find "the one" for you.

FyI, his favorite call is a $4.99 buck gardner "kids" single reed. He said he has thousands of dollars in calls, a rack full of $200 custom calls that makers have given him, and the old "five dolla buck" is what he blows in the blind.
 
#7 ·
Need to ramp up the airflow and intensity on that call, I know it can handle it That's why the pitch sounds low at the moment. I personally would tune it a touch higher until you can make the stock (?) reed sing which will come with more practice. Not bad, but a ways to go on it. Fwiw, you picked a single to learn with which is a good thing.
 
#9 ·
Best advice would be to set it aside and put a new one in and trim it, especially if you are new to tuning. That way, you always have that one to go back to should you trim the new one too short, something you're apt to do while learning the art of call tuning. Biggest thing to remember is a little goes a long way (i.e. trimming the smallest amount off the reed can go make it go from blah, to outstanding....and a little more can turn it to crap again).
 
#10 ·
jrode237 said:
Best advice would be to set it aside and put a new one in and trim it, especially if you are new to tuning. That way, you always have that one to go back to should you trim the new one too short, something you're apt to do while learning the art of call tuning. Biggest thing to remember is a little goes a long way (i.e. trimming the smallest amount off the reed can go make it go from blah, to outstanding....and a little more can turn it to crap again).
^^^ Excellent advice right here,only thing I might add is to use the original reed as a template to start with,then as mentioned you can start trimming away a c hair of material to find the exact reed length you need.
 
#11 ·
Thanks guys! Will work on more pressure this week, which i'm having alittle trouble with. I end up just blowing harder.

Am i correct in my understanding that raising your tongue to the roof of you mouth will decrease the amount of space the air is moving through and increase the pressure to the call?

Once i get alittle more pressure i'll start reed tuning? Does that seem like a good plan?

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#12 ·
Go ahead and blow harder to increase the pressure until you get the cadence and pitch down, then work on lowering the volume without it going flat.. That is probably the hardest part of calling.

You are long ways from reed trimming, you haven't even given the call all she's got yet to see if it even needs trimmed. Run that call "stock" until you master it, if you absolutely cannot get it to sound right then you should find someone with experience to tune it for you. Trimming now would be like sanding the boards before you make the cabinet.
 
#13 ·
BBK said:
Go ahead and blow harder to increase the pressure until you get the cadence and pitch down, then work on lowering the volume without it going flat.. That is probably the hardest part of calling.

You are long ways from reed trimming, you haven't even given the call all she's got yet to see if it even needs trimmed. Run that call "stock" until you master it, if you absolutely cannot get it to sound right then you should find someone with experience to tune it for you. Trimming now would be like sanding the boards before you make the cabinet.
Will do, thank u
 
#21 ·
My suggestion would be RNT's poly "Quackhead" line Timber (or, Lord help the marketing genius who re-named it, "Quack PIPE," depending on who's selling it). 1/4" bore single reeds seem inherently easier to get a handle on than larger bores, and the Timber and more expensive Timbre it was molded from were the easiest of the several single reeds I tried when transitioning from double-reeds. Won't get as loud as bigger bored calls but plenty ducky and a great little call to gain confidence with.

Second choice for me would be Echo's poly Timber, but they seem to run about $10 more.
 
#22 ·
It's not so much of blowing "hard" but making sure you are putting air correctly into the call. To me sounds like your air presentation might be slightly off but that video is very tough to tell, im getting a terrible echo. As for your feed use more of a cuh cuh cuh sound to get the cut style feed. Also on all of it feed included, no need to throw your hand yet, that is just getting in your way and hurting your sound. Get the basics down and then you can start throwing sound with your hand.
 
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