This Clever Turkey Call Hack Will Help You Bring Toms in Close
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A pot call modified to be a two-sided call
Some of the most realistic turkey calls are feeding sounds, pleasing squawks, and purrs. Additionally, because chickens make these sounds all the time, they are the calls least likely to startle a boy who is under duress.
A proper glass call can certainly make these sounds, but if you want the right tone and volume, you’ll want to use this modification I learned from a champion turkey caller.
How to Make a Pot Call to Both Sides
For an upcoming event, I interviewed Dustin Jones, the Grand National Türkiye Calling Champion and one of the best pot calls. Outdoor Living podcast here he shared a simple tip to add versatility to any call. In my opinion, Jones makes some of the best two-way calls, having a main playing surface and a surface at the bottom of the call. The idea is that you have the main surface for striking a bird and the bottom part of the call for softer finishing sounds. That’s why a glass top with a slate base is a classic two-sided combination.
But you don’t need to buy a two-sided pot to have this kind of versatility. You can draw a section of the bottom of your favorite call, add some box call chalk, and have surprisingly good-sounding calls directly on the board. Here’s how to do it.
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What You Need
Step 1: Sand
The pot call was sanded with 120 grit sandpaper.
Sand some of the bottom of your pot call – a small area is all you need. Jones recommends sanding with the grain of the wood.
Step 2: Chalk
A small box of chalk to the sanded area.
Add a small box of chalk to the sanded area.
Step 3: Run
Don’t cut the soft talker on your main surface and run it as if it’s going to squeal. “You don’t want to hold him (the forward) too tight because of the clucking and purring,” Jones says. “If you hold it really tight it will make the whole striker stiffen up and that’s what you want.” A loose grip allows the striker to shiver more. Jones also says to keep the striker higher to increase resonance.
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An Amateur’s Perspective
I’m no Dustin Jones and my calling ability is definitely in the average classification. After speaking with Jones, I decided to try this hack on one of my less valuable searches. I used 120 grit sandpaper to scrape a 0.5 x 0.5 inch area. You’ll want to make sure you’re sanding the wood, not just the surface finish. Then I put some chalk on it and bought a striker. The call was surprisingly easy to conduct and produced some nice, quiet squeals, clucks, and purrs without much effort on my part. The main thing I’ve noticed is that you’ll use less pressure than you think you need, and keeping your striker loose will make a huge difference. If the striker starts to slip, apply more chalk to the worn area.
One of the coolest things about this pot call hack is that variations of it have been used throughout history. I have seen historical records of hunters scraping off parts of gun butts and using the nail as a striker.
