Teaching a Mouth Call to a Young'n

From Tinker at Turkey and Turkey Hunting Forum

. . . Would like to know what learning experience a novice can actually get from a mentor concerning running a mouth call. My mentor was probably as good as I ever heard, but couldn't coach me a whole lot in how to use the diaphram. It took me 2 yrs. of practice to master most of the calls on my own. He had a low tolerance for my "sqawking" and couldn't relate the basics of tongue position and pressure, how the air should be run over the call, etc. During my journey to becoming a decent caller, I bought various videos and they didn't give any real good info either. It seems to be a hard skill to teach to someone else. I have a grandson who will be entering the woods soon and I am now realizing how difficult it is to instruct when you can't actually see inside the novice's mouth to determine how to correct him. It's not like watching them run a box or a pot. Any ideas?

My response:


I wish I could point you in the right direction. I was one of the unfortunates that could not use a mouth call. It took until the end of my third season. It was close too Noon on the last day. I walked out into the sunshine, took off my sweater and started the long walk back to the car. To kill some time, I brought out the mouth call I had been carrying around for three years and tried to make a noise with it. I was relaxed. The heat was on the back of my neck but it was off me as a hunter trying to perform.

Eureka! Once I relaxed, I made some right-sounding noises. Once I figured out how to make noise, the rest seemed easy.

You're not alone. I have two sons who hunt turkeys. #2 son can cluck and do a few yelps, but normally sticks to friction calls. #3 son had it on his first try and was fooling me with a mouth call when he was 6. I'd hear calls coming from his bedroom, and think he was listening to a tape. He clucks and purrs better than anyone I know. His first year out, he had a gobbler walk right to the end of his gun barrel.

All I can say is to be patient and have him keep trying. If he has an MP3 player or computer, get him the sample calls and have him practice on his own. Otherwise a tape or CD. That gets the performance anxiety out of it. That gets the tension out of the tongue and throat. That let's him experiment on the placement of the call, his tongue and the rest of it without anyone hearing the mistakes.