38 replies to this topic

[clampdaddy]

Ok fellas, what mallard call is always on you lanyard? Do you like single reed or double reed calls? Wood or acrylic?Here are a few calls I like.I like double reed calls the best and my favorite is one that Braz made up for me with an Echo double reed poly Openwater insert. I had to play with the reeds a little to get the right sound but now it's perfect. It sounds great from top to bottom. Great feeding chuckle, smooth quacks, and a blaring hail call. My favorite single reed call is the RNT "Original" wood call. The Haydels BVD-96 didn't sound all that good when I bought it but after taking it apart and messing around with the reed and wedge depths it sounds pretty good.The Duck Commander "Green Mile" is an awsome sounding double reed call that would be my favorite but mine sticks alot when it gets some condensation between the reeds.The Wingsetter "raspy hen" is new so I haven't hunted with it yet. It isn't very loud and to my ear a bit deep sounding but it works when soaking wet. I ran water thru it, gave it one quick blow to get the bulk of the water out and it ran fine after that. It isn't a call I'd use by itself but it should make a fine finishing call or a good call for river/timber hunting.These calls aren't great but not bad either.The original Faulks WA-33 single reed. I think everyone starts with one of these. It'll call ducks but I never fell in love with the sound of this call.Primos "yo' sista'". A pretty good all around call for a beginner.Echo single reed open water. This thing is loud!!!! Great top end but it can be a little hard to control when finishing a wary bird. Now for the pieces of junk I wish I'd never wasted money on.The absolute wost call I've ever bought was the RNT Quackhead "rainmaker", not worth a damn. It has a descent enough sounding quack but the feeding chuckle sucks and the reeds would stick, stall, or squeal every time I tried to do a loud greeting call or highball. No matter how I tried to adjust the reeds it just wouldn't work.The Primos "over & under double" was a great idea (pintail whistle and mallard call all in one) but neither one works very well. The whistle stops up with the slightest bit of moisture and the mallard call is only a little better than the quackhead rainmaker.The Faulks DR-66 double reed call works well when wet and it's reeds have never locked up on me but it just doesn't sound very ducky.

[Gunorea]

I like the one Braz made for me. (Free plug)

[timmy]

Per my 15yrs old son Patrick, I am not allowed to use duck calls. I sound too much like a kazzoo. But he likes the RNT short barrelled cocabola and the RNT original acrylic.Sometimes he lets me shake the feeder call thingy, but only when there are no ducks around

[Soreloser]

For hunting the one call always on my lanyard is the RNT Daisy Cutter, without a doubt the most versatile call I've ever used. I have an ECHO Open Water and about a bazillion others around the house.For Competition stuff I am really liking the ECHO Boss.I cut and tune all of my own reeds. Clampdaddy, your Echo Openwater has a 10mm reed in it, take some fine sand paper and sand the reed down from the end of the cork to the tip until you are at about 9mm. This will fix the low end issues and also make the call even louder on the top. If you do the same thing with the daisy cutter, it gets RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME....... For me personally, I think 10mm is just a bit too stiff so I end up shaving just about all my reeds.

[clampdaddy]

Cool, I'll have to try that. I've always adjusted reed length, tip shape, and wedge depth, don't know why I never thought about altering the width. Do you trim it to a parallel sided 9mm or do you taper them from wedge to tip?

[Braz]

Clamp,he was refering to the thickness of the reed, not the width. That why he was using the sandpaper, to reduce the thickness.

[Soreloser]

Exactly Braz. On all my "Top End" calls I keep the reed pretty much the same width as the original, unless I am experimenting for some reason.. Just mark with the cork ends and sand from there to the tip of the reed until you got the sound and feel that you like.If you know your call well enough you will feel and hear the difference immediately.

[Old timer]

My favorite call is the one that brings in the most birds all the time

[Shoot-it]

don't call use mojo duck!

[clampdaddy]

You can only use the mojo duck during the second half of the season and then it only works for a few hunts. Then they turn into duck repellent.Today I took apart the Quakchead rainmaker and used some 220 grit sand paper to scuff the hell out of the tone board and it got rid of the high end squealing and it actually sounds pretty good. It just might be a serviceable call after all.

[tinhunter]

Last year I started using winglock calls and they sound pretty good. I do like the RNT calls a lot though.

[CRITTRGITTR]

My favorite is a J J Lares Hybrid. Its a single reed mid range call and it really works great. I still like the good ol' Primos Wench for a low priced call that works. When I lost my lanyard at the end of the season I ran out and bought another Wench for 14.99 I believe it was. Then my Dad surprised me at the Spotsmans Expo in Sac and bought me a new Lares. So I'm back in business. And Timmy don't feel bad my dad has a good 35 years of duck hunting experience and we still make his calls disappear several times a year. He always finds them or buys new ones. Good times though! I highly doubt he will ever figure it out after hundreds of dollars of instructional cd's and tapes and god only knows how many hours he has practiced in his truck. But A for effort I guess!

[lvr]

RNT daisy cutter or Haydel's dirty rice. Can't go wrong with those.

[Moe]

Like others here I have a bunch of duck calls. It's real easy these days to get over a thousand bucks invested in them. About 13 years ago when I finally settled down in North Central Washington I got back into waterfowl hunting. I started buying calls but nothing sounded just right but the closest to what I like is the Duck Commander cut down classic. I screwed around with it trying to get a little more raspy sound but wasn't having much luck so I called them and got to talk to Phil Robertson. He said he likes the raspy sound, too, and took my address. A few days later I got a Cut Down Classic that was personally tuned by him. It's still tuned and is my favorite call. I've seen calls costing $150 that are hard to blow and don't really sound any better than a $7 call from Wal Mart.

[clampdaddy]

I've seen calls costing $150 that are hard to blow and don't really sound any better than a $7 call from Wal Mart.

That's a fact! Last season one of the guys at the duck club asked what I was blowing because he liked the sound and when I really cranked it up he could hear it really well all the way across the pond. I showed him my fourteen dollar Duck Commander Green Mile and he almost turned green because he just bought some high dollar custom made acrylic call from canada. My duck commander call used to stick alot when it got wet but the other day I took some sand paper to a couple of my calls and scuffed up the toneboards and I'm hoping that will help. I really like the cajun style reed block on the duck commander calls. It makes them really easy to take apart and put back together so wiping the reeds dry isn't really that big of a deal.

[Robairto]

Cool, I'll have to try that. I've always adjusted reed length, tip shape, and wedge depth, don't know why I never thought about altering the width. Do you trim it to a parallel sided 9mm or do you taper them from wedge to tip?

Reeds are typically mylar. Some science in it but common packaging (clear plastic covering) for store bought items makes excellent reeds. Reed placement and bend alter the sound dramatically. The best sounding calls I've used were the RNT's but they tend to stick on me so I moved back to the JJ Lares with my speed reeds as I call them and they sing with little pressure. Haydels uses the thin mylar as well. Have fun with calls as they are a type of musical instrument/expression.

[clampdaddy]

Just giving this one a bump because over the last year I tried a couple calls that sound pretty good and as the season nears there might be a newbie or two looking for a first call.Today I received the new duck commander triple reed call, the "triple threat". It's a little high pitched, which seems to be the latest trend, but it sounds great and I couldn't make this call stick. One gripe is that there is no lanyard groove in the call body. At around $50 its a little spendy for a plastic call but if it proves to be as trouble free in the blind its worth it to me.A few months ago I got a Hunters Specialties double reed Bill Collector. It took some adjustment but it sounds pretty good. I haven't got around to giving it a wet test yet.Yesterday while browsing through Bass Pro I blew a Hunters Specialties Double Talker. This call sounded AWESOME! Right out of the box it was pure duck and super easy to run. Two other duck hunters migrated over to the call section just to find out what it was. I couldn't buy it because it was their only one left and they needed it for the display but this one is on my list of calls to buy.

[clampdaddy]

I think that I might finally have the perfect duck call! Last year I bought a cocabolo/poly RNT hunter series single reed and it sounded pretty good but wasn't great. Last night I made another reed out of clear packaging material, used a ball point pen to push a dimple into it, and used it to convert the call into a double reed and boy does it sound sweet! Real sexy low end quacks and a very loud top end with no squeal no matter how much air I put to it. Hopefully I'll get to put it to work tomorrow and see how well it works in cold wet conditions.

[fishandhunt4ever]

My favorite duck call is more of a universal sounding solution to duck calling. I can't really paint a picture to it in words, but here is a link to the sound of it.http://www.youtube.c...;feature=fvwrel

[fishandhunt4ever]

You can only use the mojo duck during the second half of the season and then it only works for a few hunts. Then they turn into duck repellent.Today I took apart the Quakchead rainmaker and used some 220 grit sand paper to scuff the hell out of the tone board and it got rid of the high end squealing and it actually sounds pretty good. It just might be a serviceable call after all.

My best day hunting last year was in January when ducks were flaring away from a mojo and came my way. I ended up pulling in my spread and almost walked away with a limit.

[CaseyU]

I have went though a ton of calls from wally world specials to acrylics, acrylics, and more acrylics. I keep one duck call on my lanyard and it is an acrylic single reed made by a man in chico they are called JJ lares calls. UNBELIEVABLE, I have had the call for about three years and not once thought about even picking up another duck call! Immaculate detail and care goes into each call. I went with the hybrid. with a 1.340 reed. can go from the overbearing highball to the ugliest mallard you ever seen in a quarter second. love the call, will never buy another brand

[clampdaddy]

I'm itching for duck season so the duck call addiction has bit me again and I've added a few new ones to the list. My latest favorite is the Big Bore Throwback from Commited Custom Calls made out of white derlin. Absolutely love it.

Last season I was bitten by the "cutdown" call bug and got a Black Stick Of Death.......it's LOUD!!!!!!!!! Works great for the refuge when dealing with guys that think it's ok to try and call off ducks that someone is working. Lol! It'll bark louder than the loudest mainstreet call can highball. As it is is my first cutdown call I can't really rate it but I have a new cut ordered from Bryce Decker called the Black Monster, which is getting some very good reviews.

[Toxic Shot]

Everyone on those refuges uses 12-18 mallards and a handful of teal and sprig 1-2 spinners then wails on the mallard call. I've had a lot of success ditching the mallard call and mallard decoys all together on the refuges. Just whistles and teal/widgon deeks, and something to make ripples.

[clampdaddy]

Spoonie and teal deeks for me at the refuge, and I'm a big whistle guy too. I probably use my whistles for 90% of my calling. I have one on order from Wingerts Woodworks. Can't wait to get it.

[Braz]

you will be super pleased. He is a great call maker and his whilstles are great.

[clampdaddy]

I didn't even know that anyone made a duck whistle that wasn't plastic anymore until someone at another forum told me about Aarons whistles. They are truly little works of art. I wish I could afford to get a matched call/whistle set but I've just bought to many calls lately to justify it.

[Braz]

You're lucky you got the whistle when you did. Aaron is about 3-4 months behind in orders he's received. By the way, he makes a nice turkey call too. In fact, he was requested to make one for the Governer of Missouri, which he did of course. unfotunately, the gov couldn't come through with a kill usinig the call this past season. Aaron is a heck of a call maker.

[clampdaddy]

Oh, I'm on that waiting list Lynn. I put in my order about a month or so ago. I couldn't decide which wood to have it made from so I just told him to surprise me with something that will make my hunting partners want one. I feel like a kid that's waiting to opening a present on Christmas morning. Lol!

[CaseyU]

This topic will never come to an end. I'm an avid waterfowler and can promise you a couple things. 1. if the ducks are where your hunting. the duck call you use is not the important thing. when you call is the utmost important detail about calling ducks. 2 the more you practice, the better you are going to sound. 3 no matter how good of a caller you are. whoever is where the ducks want to be is MOST likely getting the hunt. My favorite duck call is the jj lares hybrid. he is an exceptional call maker and i have stopped looking at duck calls for a good three years now. single reed is my favorite, but don't under estimate a quiet, nasty sounding double. best of luck. and keep practicing. pay attention what the ducks reaction is as soon as you hit the call. shoot straight

[clampdaddy]

Yep, this thread will probably go on forever because every year about this time I start my duck hunting jonesin' and I drag it back up. Lol!! Even if I ever found the perfect call I'd still buy more of them. I just love messing around with different duck calls. I'd like to get a Lares one day. I've heard a lot of good things about his calls. I can never decide if I want the hybrid or the A5 though and I only want to spend that kind of money once. Lol!