Where to “try” calls?

[younggun308]

I read articles that suggest trying calls out at a store. Ostensibly a place with a designated call counter and "test/display" models.
How far and where would I have to drive to find such a place, from Cleveland/Chattanooga, TN? Has COVID all but rendered it an impossibility?
Hate to have to buy before trying.

 

[Dodge Man]

I will be surprised if any store lets you try out calls in the store anymore with Covid.
What type of call are you looking for?

 

[TNGunsmoke]

I doubt that many places would let you try one now with Covid concerns, but I do understand the need/want to try before you buy. It surprised me at first how different a call can sound vastly different for two different people. And I mean the exact same call, not two of the same brand/type call. The amount of air, back pressure, "voice", and everything else that goes into it are unique to each individual.

 

[younggun308]

I will be surprised if any store lets you try out calls in the store anymore with Covid.
What type of call are you looking for?

Looking for a good timber hunting call that's on the quieter end for ducks no more than 150 yards away. Wanting more "ducky" quacks and an easier feeder chatter at the expense of volume.

Not sure if a wooden single reed (Osage, cocobolo maybe?), acrylic double with a narrower barrel, or even a cutdown with some modification on the barrel length would be the way to go.

 

[younggun308]

Been thinking about a Haydel's RL-99 or its acrylic version AR-19, RNT Daisy Slayer or Lil Richie (even considered a long-barreled variant of the Mondo), or an Echo Timber. Not sure though. It's all just speculation when based on what sounds someone on YouTube is able to produce.

 

[RUGER]

DR85

 

[MickThompson]

Looking for a good timber hunting call that's on the quieter end for ducks no more than 150 yards away. Wanting more "ducky" quacks and an easier feeder chatter at the expense of volume.

Not sure if a wooden single reed (Osage, cocobolo maybe?), acrylic double with a narrower barrel, or even a cutdown with some modification on the barrel length would be the way to go.

Pick a few custom builders/ call companies and give them a call. They should be able to get you in the ballpark since you can't run a bunch side by side.

 

[Dodge Man]

I would look at a Small bore JJ Lares T1, wood barrel would be better. Or

Hayes https://hayescalls.com/product/backwoods-lil-bad-azz-duck-call/

 

[Dodge Man]

https://upperduck.com/t/small-bore

 

[Ed B]

I'll put a recommendation out there for duck lander hand cut loud timber. I talked to the guys there about what I was looking for and they directed me to that one. I have a RNT daisy cutter and mondo...the DL call takes so much less pressure, really like it.

 

[younggun308]

Seems most sites are very picked over right now this close to the end of season. Might need to wait a bit till callmakers catch up and bring different wood offerings back. Some Bocote models are still out there, some Cocobolo, but almost no Bois d'Arc/Hedge/Osage calls.

Feel like I will eventually want to also get an "open water" call for when timber and sloughs freeze up and hitting up river channels is the only play. But that's going to constitute a smaller percentage of my season, so it's theoretically less of a priority. At the same time, if acrylics are going to go on massive clearance, I might be able to get a better deal than waiting on a timber call. Just not sure what the retail cycle on duck calls looks like, when and if there's a happy medium between re-stocking and offseason clearance.

 

[Dodge Man]

You might check out some of these calls if you want something cheap. They have some good prices on wood echo calls and other models.

https://www.wingsupply.com/buy-more-save-more-echo-call-discounts.html

 

[Dodge Man]

https://www.wingsupply.com/game-cal...burnt-hedge-acrylic-duck-call-wood-black.html

 

[Dodge Man]

https://www.wingsupply.com/game-calls/duck-calls.html

 

[BlackEagle1]

The Lares calls are nice and versatile. That being said my meat call is a black wood/poly echo. It'll do it all and it didn't cost a fortune. I'd rather send my dollar on decoys and ammo.

 

[younggun308]

The Lares calls are nice and versatile. That being said my meat call is a black wood/poly echo. It'll do it all and it didn't cost a fortune. I'd rather send my dollar on decoys and ammo.

What Echo did you get? The timber poly?

 

[BlackEagle1]

Dimondwood/Poly. It's just a call that seems to be workable for everyone. And guts are easy to get

 

[younggun308]

Of the ones that I've looked up available on wingsupply, I like the sound of the Buck Brush by BCG on some old hunt videos on their YouTube channel (can't tell if they're running polycarbonate or acrylic), and also the Echo Breaker, which seems to have both a good top and low end.

Man, it stinks knowing exactly what I'd ask to try at a call counter during the plague. :(

 

[BlackEagle1]

How experienced of a caller are you? That breakers a lotta call to cut your teeth on. I'm not saying it's a bad choice (echo fan).

 

[TNGunsmoke]

Bear in mind, no matter what call, the way it sounds is dependent on who is running it. The same call sounds different when 2 different people use it. Even if you like the way it sounds on a video with someone else using it.

 

[younggun308]

How experienced of a caller are you? That breakers a lotta call to cut your teeth on. I'm not saying it's a bad choice (echo fan).

Not very. Did more calling practicing than in the field. I ran a poly Quackhead J-frame single reed this season. Wasn't happy with the feeder chuckle on it, felt like it couldn't get quiet and needed to much air to get a decent quack. The ducks I heard were quieter than I could run the call. I didn't have much occasion to use it loud.
Managed to get some mallards to drop altitude as they were headed to a refuge one mid-morning. I was set up in some timber and they did a quarter-circle, but then I couldn't keep them locked (just not got enough experience calling to live birds). Probably was too scared to watch them lest I spook them with movement, to know when the right time was to hit them with something.

I want a call that's a little too much for me right now, but that I can grow into over the offseason. As for specific sounds, I hope to develop a bit of a "hiss" I heard on several occasions from ducks quacking on the water. I think I hear it imitated in *some* videos I've seen where someone does a "bouncing hen" on *some* calls. Confirms me it's *possible* to get that sound I heard real birds make on specific call models. It'd be up to me to figure out how to make it happen.

 

[Don'tDrinkTinks]

It's far but Avery Outdoors in Memphis will let you try out calls at your own risk.

 

[younggun308]

Hunting buddy picked up an RNT Bocote Hunter with the poly insert. Might try running it and see if I like it enough to get one. Wonder if the barrel is identical to another model.
Still think I'd prefer either all-wood or an acrylic insert like the Buck Brush, from the standpoint of durability and sound.