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.
