Turkey wing calls

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Freezer
Posts: 908
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2023 9:51 am

Turkey wing calls

Post by Freezer »

These are my latest project. They're not complicated, or time consuming but a fun project and they work well. I like doing as much as I can with the animals I harvest. We'll test them this weekend.
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CPJ 2.0
Posts: 3882
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:57 pm

Re: Turkey wing calls

Post by CPJ 2.0 »

One thing I found on mine is to take a short (like 3/8”) long piece of rubber hose and slide it over the mouth piece. The goal is to have a “stop” so that the same amount of the bone is poking out. That way you can keep it at a consistent place on your lips. Otherwise I found that I could get an amazing sound one time, then sound like a dying goose the next.
“The shepherd slaughters more of the flock than the wolf ever will.”
Freezer
Posts: 908
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2023 9:51 am

Re: Turkey wing calls

Post by Freezer »

Friends of my family have seen my calls and want one. They have provided five sets of wing bones and a couple spares. By mixing and matching the bones I can find a nice fit. I found that by using my grinder, jig jaw and epoxy, I can get a good fit and taper the joints for a better string wrap. I don't feel I need the wrap but it makes a great place to add a couple double closed swivels for lanyard attachment points. I use a small piece of wire to clear and tune the blow holes because the bone dust sticks to the epoxy. Each call has a slightly different tone with three capable of loud calls. The other two perr like kittens. This project is a lot of fun and opens a door to the past, one I gladly walk through. I hope that one day a later generation will see one of the calls I made and say, "What the heck, that's old school, I can do that!" and use a turkey wing calls instead of a cell phone, or whatever they have in the future. Like the old bolt action shotguns I refurbished in the past these will revive the old ways. My friend used Truetone calls to bring in my "First turkey" I'd bet these would do the same or better.

One thing I learned this year is, those old Tom's are hard to call. The Jakes and hens will respond to the mouth calls and hand held calls but there's nothing like the life sound your mouth and lungs can add to a bone call.
Wambli Ska
Posts: 4086
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2023 3:09 pm

Re: Turkey wing calls

Post by Wambli Ska »

The only time I played with one of those it was Junkcollector’s IIRC, maybe he’ll remember. I was really impressed how good they sound!
Japhy
Posts: 715
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2023 4:19 am

Re: Turkey wing calls

Post by Japhy »

An uncle taught me how to make turkey calls from a piece of cedar stuck in a corn cob on a small piece of blackboard slate. Hold in a cupped hand to tune it. They worked well
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