Your best, worst, or newest?

[Vince at VECtor Calls]

What 'level' of your own calls do you hunt with personally?

I've got both a deer grunter, and a turkey call that I won't sell to anyone, so those are the two I use most.  I've also got a pearl orange acrylic duck call that I made for my oldest boy that one of the two of us use when we are duck hunting.

The other calls we use, tend to be calls that will be heading out the door the week after our hunt. 

Parker

[MoHops]

Most of the calls I use are ones that sound great but look ugly.  And it is usually a different one every time I go out.  Don't know what that says about my turning abilities!!!  Honestly, I have a couple mainstays that I have bought from other callmakers that I use more than anything.  I've been known to even sneak out into the woods with my Vector grunter or slate call a time or two   No need to fix something if it ain't broken.

[Crawdad at TripleGCalls]

I try to hunt with some of the best I have, you never know when you might run into some one that might want to see what kind of call you make. When that happens, & sometimes it does, I want to be able to show my best & it can result into a sale.

[Braz]

Well, I don't duck hunt, goose hunt, turkey hunt or call in deer. But what I do try and call are the predators. For those I have two lanyards of 4 calls each, made by me, that I have available. They are howlers, jack, cottontail tail, squeeker (rodent) and my double reeds. They are so effective that I also use an electronic caller when alone, because I hate calling in the lions behind me. Just a bit scary and happens too often to be comfortable.

[Robert A.]

I hunt with one call each year, most of them are my Frankensteins.. You know something that is so unique its ugly... LOL here are a couple of them then they usually find there way onto some Else's lanyard..

[Braz]

I sure wouldn't call those Frankenstein calls. Those are terrific. I absolutely love the second one with the inclusions in both the barrel and insert. Just absolutely wonderful. The other two are very, very nice also, but not like that second one.

[Jon @ JRwoods]

Definately the second one, is that apricot? Apple maybe?  Looks like fuitwood.

I have taken the good, bad, and ugly.  I had a duck call I was sure was going to work.  Once it got out in the cold the sound changed completely.  It rides the shelf of shame now.
Its all research and development.  I also enjoy using a really pretty call.  Drives some of the guys I hunt with nutty.  They say "that's to pretty to take hunting!" 
My response is either, "it has to work!" Or "you can rescue it, if you buy it!"

[Tobin at Copeland Duck Calls]

My lanyard is definitely made up of my seconds/ Frankenstein's .

[Aaron at Wingerts Woodworks]

I duck hunt public land so it is nice to have some of my best on my lanyard in case I get to talking to someone and get an opportunity to show them off.  Plus there's just a sense of pride in using nice calls that I made to bring the ducks in. 

My turkey calls tend to be my uglies.  One is composite deck material....Face it, that stuff is ugly but functional.  The other is a cocobolo glass call that is decent looking. 

[J.Rode]

I typically hunt with both, the uglies and the pretties.  I do keep a couple nice ones in the truck just in case I do run into someone and we start talking about "duckin". 

Jason

[BigB]

When out duck hunting, I can't ever make up my mind which call to take, so I usually bring along 4 for the lanyard, and 5 to 6 more are stuffed in the blind bag.  I've hunted my beat up calls as well as a few checkered ones.  For this year, I will try to keep 2 calls on the lanyard for the whole season.  One of them will have a CA finish and another will have an oil finish, as sort of a finish durability experiment.  Usually the calls that I bring along are the newest, but I always have a couple of old standby's to compare the new calls to. 

When out predator hunting, the same calls have been on my lanyard for 4 years.  Old and trusty calls are what I use.  Every once in a while, I will sneak a new one in my pocket for when times get slow.


Brian

[Crawdad at TripleGCalls]

Robert, any one of those calls can ride my lanyard any day, expecially the one on the right, LOVE IT!!!

[Bob from Eames Custom Calls]

I hunt with the first duck call I ever built, still has the original echo double reed in it. Most of the other calls on my lanyard have been built as needed to fill certian niches that nothing else works for. Some of them are beautiful, some don't even have a finish, but all have the sound that works for the areas I hunt. I keep thinking about building a nice matched set for the lanyard, but every time I build a matched set someone decides they need one of the pieces

 I'll stick to the mismatched set with the good record

 Bob

[Robert A.]

Thanks Guys.. The one with the inclusions was a peice of olive wood. 

[Braz]

I mentioned in Reply #5 above that I used my electronic caller when calling alone as I didn't like the lions. Well, this last weekend Monte Santos, msantos on this site, bought one of my double reed calls. He took it out antelope hunting and besides getting an antelope, he got this too. By the way, Monte lives in Reno, Nevada.





You can see my signature inside the bell in the second picture.