Duck Calls

[Heartsblood]

I have questions.

Last year - my second season duck hunting -  I finally felt like I was able to get some decent sounds from my cheapie primos plastic calls. However, there's nothing to bust a guys confidence when your call's reeds get stuck from condensation. Jaysis. So, I told myself I would look into better calls for this season and am wondering a few things:

Is the significant price difference in acrylic calls worth the money?
Which do people prefer - wood vs acrylic?
Can you folks tell me some pros/cons?
What about custom calls? Any recommendations?

Lastly, why don't the manufacturers ever seem to say whether a call is a double or single reed?  Even on their websites? 

Any help out there?
Answers to any/all questions will be greatly appreciated.

[pjb3]

The besst I like is the primos hardwood wrench, cheap and easy to blow and sounds good

[Heartsblood]

Not too worried about the sound. More concerned with finding a coupla decent calls where the reeds are less likely to stick. Sounding better would be a plus of course. But I'm confident enough that a better call should only make me sound better. It's a reed thing... 

[crow killer]

I use zink and echo calls good sounding but alot of money

[ducklab]

Im a echo, rnt guy, try out calls. Most of the higher priced calls are single reeds, and if they dont say they probably are single reeds. I personally like wood calls. I think they give a more ducky sound. However if your situation calls for it usually acrilyic calls are louder. I have yet to experient with custom calls. As for your sticking situation, it happens, to zink, rnt, echo.

[D-Rock425]

This will be my 4th year duck hunting so I'm still using my cheap primos calls.  Maybe this year I will pull the trigger and buy a decent call.

[sticknstringman]

I was lucky enough to get to try or here some of the expensive calls in the feild before buying them. im convinced that a call sounds differant indoors than out in the feild. lucked out that my friends didnt care as much about spending the money as me and just bought em cuz they where expensive i also would ask guys at boat launches, parking lots, in the feild, etc. what they where blowing and how the liked em. one even let me give his RNT a go. now i got one and love it

[~GooseDown~]

I have a serious call addiction! Decide now whether or not you wanna journey down this road, because it's an expensive one.

I own thousands of dollars worth of custom, and mainstream calls. RM, C&S, Addiction, MuddyPaws, Committed, JJ Lares, RNT, Echo, Foiles, Zink, Lynch Mob, Primos, Duck Commander, Buck Gardner, Haydel, and the list goes on. And at the end of the day my lanyard only has two duck calls and a whistle on it. I guess what I'm trying to say is you won't really know what your favorite is until you try em all.

If you go the custom route contact Ronnie @ RM custom calls. He's and awesome dude, and will help you build a call that's just right for you. The JJ Lares Hybrid is also a great call, and I'll bet you can't get that thing to stick out in the field. Understand that a persons calling technique also has a lot to do with how much spit enters the call. If your of the school that gates the notes with the tip of your tongue, then you're going to have a bunch of spit in the call. And spit = stickin. If use use the arch of your tongue to gate the notes, then you'll avoid the dreaded squeal out.

[Heartsblood]

Hmmm. I'll hafta pay more attention to my technique there. I guess I also thought it was rain getting in there - no one wants to think they're a slobbermouth!  But then again, it always seems to happen after I eat my pb&j sandwich....      

I can definitely see how collecting calls could be addicting tho'. After all my searching and researching, I see how much is out there. Plus vintage stuff looks pretty cool too!

Thanks everyone for the pointers, especially ducklab and ~GooseDown~. I ended up not spending as much as I thought I wanted to and went with some mid rangy HS stuff. We'll see shortly - just over a week to go.

[h2ofowlr]

I am also a call junkie.  I have been collecting them for over 30 years.  I have some inexpensive calls that sound better than the $200 calls.  What comes with the acrylics is no swelling, but you still can stick the reed with spit. Or B&J as mentioned.  I have some great sounding Ivers. calls along with the latest and greatest.  A primos call will get you buy and they are inexpensive.  i should count the calls again. I just know I am up to 3 boxes of calls.

[Heartsblood]

I am also a call junkie.  I have been collecting them for over 30 years.  I have some inexpensive calls that sound better than the $200 calls.  What comes with the acrylics is no swelling, but you still can stick the reed with spit. Or B&J as mentioned.  I have some great sounding Ivers. calls along with the latest and greatest.  A primos call will get you buy and they are inexpensive.  i should count the calls again. I just know I am up to 3 boxes of calls.

So what size boxes are ya takin here? Shoebox? Or washer/dryer appliance size.... 

So with all those calls, what are your "go to" "workhorse" favorite few?

I'm all ears here. With your experience I'm paying rapt attention. Speaking of.... is that waterfowling contest happening this season? Congrats on that btw! I really enjoyed reading that thread.