Photo by Matt Lindler
Just like anything else, practice makes perfect
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The finer points
of pot calls
When I began hunting wild turkeys, sometime in the dark ages of the early 1970s, the selection of manufactured friction calls was, at best, limited. Mostly, there were box calls and slate calls and not many variations of those.
The first slate call I bought was a small rectangular job with a thin piece of smooth slate barely 3 inches long on top of a hollow wood frame. It came with a short wood striker and made sweet hen sounds, but it had very little volume. Most of the time I relied on a box call rather than the slate because I could go from soft tree yelps to a loud locator call with a few strokes of the paddle.
Those early slate calls have evolved into the array of pot and peg calls we know today. Every call maker I'm aware of has several models in their friction call line, using surfaces made of traditional slate or glass, crystal glass, aluminum and even combinations of these materials. All are designed to reproduce the same basic turkey talk, but with different tones and volume.
The versatile pot
Because each type of pot call has a unique sound, most hunters I know have more than one model on hand. I tote a glass pot call when I want to shout, "Here I am," to a tom or otherwise shake him up, and I have a more subtle slate call in my vest as well. I always like to be prepared to toss a change up. You never know when a particular sound will get a positive response from a tom even when others do not.
Today's pot calls are quite versatile. Each one comes with a matched striker of hardwood, carbon, acrylic or some other material, designed to pull the best sound from the call. But different strikers draw different sounds from the same call, so it's good to have two or three of them in your vest, even if you have only one pot call to work with.
Some companies sell strikers separately for that reason. The Primos Striker Pack (three different pegs) comes to mind, as does the Tuner Peg Pack (two different pegs) by Hunter's Specialties.
Keep it clean
To get the optimum performance out of a pot call, keep it in good working order. Most calls come with a suitable scuff pad or sandpaper to re-tune the friction surface before use and occasionally thereafter. There are exceptions, but usually it's best to sand the call in one direction rather than in a crisscross or circular pattern. Also, because strikers can become glazed during use, they should be touched up along with the call.
Keeping the call clean is also important. Carry it in a special holster or resealable plastic bag and be sure to keep your fingers, and the oil they impart, off the call surface as this can cause the striker to slip at just the wrong time.
Pot calling tips
When I think of friction call experts, the name that usually comes to mind first is Matt Morrett, national pro staffer for Hunter's Specialties. He has won at least 50 turkey calling titles including five World Friction Calling Championships and seven U.S. Open Turkey Calling Championships. Morrett had several helpful tips for those new to pot and peg calls.
"A mistake most people make is putting too much pressure on the striker," Morrett said. "Like any kind of musical instrument, if it's a good call it will play with very little effort. Just hold the striker lightly, like a pencil tipped slightly away from you, and let it ease into the sound."
To make realistic yelps, Morrett suggests working the striker in small circles; for clucks and cutts pull it straight across the grain using short strokes. To purr like a contented hen, allow the striker to skip lightly across the grain for a half inch or a little more.
"Most of the calls play best when the striker is positioned on the outer third of the ring," he said. "To get the best sounds, keep the striker close to the edge and bring it toward the middle of the pot. With a little practice, you'll soon be making turkey calls that are music to your ears and theirs."— John Higley