Posted with permission form deadlyimpostergamecalls.com and Stu Bristol.
Hunters new to the sport of wild turkey hunting contact me dozens of times each year asking which the best calls are to use as a beginner. For the past fifty years my answer has never changed. If you are just taking up the sport of wild turkey hunting the two most important calling devices are the box call and the pot call.
The box call is by far the shortest learning curve. The call consists of a rectangular box to which a hinged lid is attached. By drawing the lid across the open box, a variety of turkey vocalizations can be produced. There will be more intricate maneuvers than that, which I will discus in an article focusing on box calls but today I want to stick to pot calls; how to select one that is right for you.
The pot call comes in a variety of shapes and descriptions but the most common is a circular, bowl-like “pot” covered with any number of materials; slate, glass, ceramic, copper and aluminum. Each call structure serves the hunter is different ways.
The first step in selecting a pot call is to go online and listen to recordings of live wild turkeys. Your primary function as a hunter will be to become a play actor, imitating the various wild turkey vocalizations.
Research the basic daily activity vocalizations then search out the sounds of mating male turkeys (gobblers) and hens. For generations here in the Northeast hunters grew up as whitetail deer hunters, primarily in the months of October (bow hunting) and rifle season in November. Wild turkey mating season is a springtime activity but some of the mating principles are the same. Males service a harem of females and then for hunting purposes become expendable. Glad we are not deer or turkeys, huh?
The new turkey hunter needs his or her box call and pot call to be capable of accurately depicting the daily vocalizations plus the short time mating calls.
CONSTRUCTION OF POT CALLS
The most common size for pot calls is 3 – ½ inches in diameter and slightly under ¾-inch thick. A select block of wood is cut roughly rounded then mounted in the chuck of a woodworking lathe and cut down to the desired diameter.
Using the specialized woodworking tools the inside of the call (bowl) is formed, leaving a ¼ to 1/8-inch recessed lip to which the coving will be glued. It is common to leave a circle of wood in the center, raised about 1/8-inch to which a sound board can be attached.
Next a 10-12-inch dowel is inserted into the lath and a tapered striker will be created. This striker will be drawn across the surface of the finished call in different manners to create a variety of vocalizations.
That’s the basics in a nutshell; now comes the difficult part and what will determine the pitch sounds and other properties of the call. From this point forward the hunter must consider this creation a “musical instrument.”
FRICTION
Back in grade school you must have learned the cause and effect of friction. Remember when you drove the teacher nuts by running your fingernails across the blackboard? This same principle applies to all friction operated turkey calls; box, pot and others, and yes, there are many other types of friction callers.
Sound waves travel through materials such as wood, slate, glass and others differently. If your hunting buddies or the literature you read or video you just watched points your interest in slate covered pot calls, understand that some woods and some pieces of slate allow sound to travel at different speeds.
Here at Deadly Imposter Game Calls we offer custom calls, of course but also create inventory of the most popular woods and surface materials. Those being, walnut, purpleheart and African zebrawood. The size are each 3 ½-inch diameter and the sound board glued to the center pedestal is 3-inch diameter double thickness glass and the cover surface is 1/16-inch gray Pennsylvania soft slate.
Before any sound boards or surface slate is attached we coat the inside of each all with four coats of polyurethane, allowing each coat to dry for 6-8 hours. This prevents the call from warping. Remember this when you look at store-bought mass produced calls.
How the glass and slate are affixed to the wood will affect the speed and direction of sound waves. Rather than using a hard-clamped wood or all-purpose glue we use a product sold as E-6000. Instead of clamping the sound glass or surface slate we run a bead of glue on the shelf created near the top of the pot firmly place the slate calling surface in the glue and turns back and forth to seat firmly then we place a small weight on the call and let dry overnight. Too much weight and the glue could release after heavy use in the field. Read the glueing instructions.
Now for the striker or peg which you will draw across the playing surface. The angle make a huge difference as does the shape of the tip of the striker. Striker selection can be frustrating. We pack each pot call with two different striker combinations. One for soft calling in dry conditions and one for raspier tones and easy of operation in damp conditions, sometimes even in the rain.
In 2019, Stu was inducted into the New England Turkey Hunting Hall of Fame.
Stu learned his callmaking craft while hunting with some of the best-known turkey hunters and callmakers including Ben Rogers Lee, Dick Kirby, Niles Oesterle, Neil Cost and Bart Jacob. His “new England” model slate over glass turkey call has been a favorite since 1983 and is currently selling well on deadlyimpostergamecalls.com
BRISTOL’S WORLD –September 2023
It Was 55 years ago during the late winter of 1968 while working as a Vermont State Game Warden in southwestern Vermont. Neighboring game warden, Arnold Magoon and I met wildlife biologist, Bill Drake on a gravel road west of Lake Bomoseen, in Hubbardton. The back of Drake’s pickup was piled high with orange crates with feathers poking out through all the slats. It was then New England was introduced to wild turkey populations.
As, one-by-one we clamped leg tags on each bird an tossed them into the air. To this day I remember the words of biologist, Drake, “If this reintroduction takes hold your children and grandchildren will have the opportunity to hunt the largest big game bird in north America.” Those words had very little meaning to my 22-year old ears but as the years passed, I married, had children, grandchildren and now great grandchildren, truer words have never been spoken.
From two meager releases totaling 31 trapped in the wild turkeys relocated to suitable habitat the entire Northeast has been re-populated with wild turkeys. And, yes, my children, and grandchildren have enjoyed turkey hunting and we expect to pass on the sport to the next generation.
Over the years I have tutored hundreds of potential wild turkey hunters through my books, articles and in-person seminars. Still I get asked questions on how and why I continue to hunt wild turkeys and why I continue to hold the bird in such high esteem. Sit back and read on to enjoy my take on wild turkey hunting as I practice the sport.
Let me tell you right up front that I am a liar, a fake, I pretend to be something I am not; an “imposter” and that’s why my game call company and I share the same title, “Deadly Imposter.”
My company motto is “All hunters and anglers are play actors and the woods and waters our stage.”
As do others who hunt and fish, I assume dozens of roles each time I hit the woods or water. You may see me as a 214 pound man dressed like a bush but fish and game see or hear me as a variety of familiar sounds -until, that is – until too late.
Back when bass fishing tournament were a new sport it was unthinkable that a 5-pound bass could be caught then turned back into the water or at the same time why do fly anglers regularly admire fish then open the ne and watch it disappear back into the stream.
Deer hunters and yes, even wild turkey hunters have the same option. After all, we are the top of the food chain predator. We can admire the beauty of a strutting gobbler or th magnificence of a huge trophy whitetail but we can also understand that our challenge has been met and killing or harvesting as the new liberals would say has been accomplished. You can fill the freezer or let others enjoy the beauty you just witnessed. The choice is yours and mine. I don’t hunt or fish to show off and tell my friends, “Look what I got and you didn’t.” I hunt and fish for my own enjoyment, not to impress others.
A serious golfer doesn’t just want to beat the others in his foursome, he wants to bat the course; to avoid sand traps and water hazards and turn in the lowest score possible. With that in mind I see those who hunt and fish and others who are hunters and anglers.
If filling the frying pan is their goal, anyone can thread a worm on a hook and dop it into the water. It doesn’t take a lot of research to walk a logging road or sit at the edge of a meadow and kill a deer or turkey.
The serious hunter learns what the habitat holds, locates travel routes from sleeping to feeding and what and how to reproduce the many vocalizations that will aid in communication. Turkey hunters do likewise and read book, watch videos, attend seminars and get out into the wild and look for evidence of turkey populations.
Those who follow my writings already know I am a serious turkey hunter. In my first book I dubbed myself a “turkeyholic.” Every corner of my house is adorned with turkeys in one manner or another. Building turkey calls in my basement is now confined to when the family is not home. Over the years I have driven them crazy with turkey calling.
As a Master Maine Guide, I cater to both those who hunt and fish and serious hunters and anglers. Throughout the experience my clients grown to understand my personal philosophy and I believe I have mentors some of the best and brightest.
When I hunt alone I scout 365 days a year. I talk with farmers, rural mail delivery personnel, other hunters, and just about anyone and everyone that can help me pinpoint my prey.
On hunting days I am in the turkey woods hours before daybreak and I climb to a high vantage point and listen. As daylight creeps into the forest the birds start singing and chipmunk chirping and first the wild turkey hens begin their morning conversation with soft clucks and yelps barely audible at 30 yards.
Next, the young male turkeys begin to sound off; the jakes and 2-year-olds. They haven’t perfected their gobbling so they call time and again double and triple gobbling, each trying to outdo the other.
Then, if you did your homework and a mature longbeard is nearby you will hear its unmistakable gobble so loud the hair on the back of your neck stands up. At this point this 214-pound man dressed like a bush become “the deadly imposter.”
My plan is run off the hens first if that can be accomplished without flushing the longbeard. Most of the time I am so close the mere showing myself is enough for the hens to fly down and away. It they stay my job just became next to impossible.
With the hens out of the picture I assume the role of one of those hens, eager to breed with the mature gobbler. I stat with low clucks and yelps then simulate the hen flying down by flapping my hat against my thigh and sounding off with a fly-down cackle using my pot call or box.
After a short pause I increase the volume of my hen yelps and emit a more pleading tone. After all, it is the hens natural duty to go to the calling longbeard. Once again, the turkey is not dub. It can can the difference between a 7-pound hen turkey and a 214-pound man dressed like a bush.
So I turn away and call less frequently and in a different direction simulating a hen that is losing interest, hoping the longbeard will follow. This back and forth could be over quickly or could take hours. The challenge was never meant to an easy one.
If all goes according to plan and my play acting has been successful, the gobbler will waddle into sight, well within killing range. His red, white and blue head is befitting of being dubbed an all-American treasure. Every feather on his body is quivering with excitement, his brad tailfan is something to behold, his body feather show off their iridescence in the sunlight.
Decision time for the successful hunter. His/her challenge has been fulfilled. Just as the serious angler opens his hands and lets the fish disappear back into the stream, the turkey huntr has a choice to sit back and enjoy the show or level the 12-gauge cannon loaded with 3-inch magnum shot and blow his head off and fill the freezer.
I never said I was a nice guy. I am the “Deadly Imposter.” www.deadlyimpostergamecalls.com 
