Didn't offend me, sorry for the knee jerk reaction. If they land just out of range, I let them sit. No better decoys than the real ones. Very little pass shooting, most of my shots are birds dropping in, or when theyre getting up. If you've never done it, just leave the call at home. Throw out a few dekes and just see what happens. I have learned quite a bit by sitting quietly to just watch and listen to how different birds react to different situations.

^^^^

We like to threaten people with an accidental drowning if they call at ducks coming in. We follow that subtle hint up with "We were just kidding with the accidental part, we will drown you on purpose".

I think it depends on your location, the particular day, and early vs. late season. Sometimes they don't wanna hear any calling, sometimes I've had to hit them with a greeting call or a few quacks to get them to stop circling and drop in. Sometimes they just wanna hover and look until they hear a little bit of a feeding call. Also seems like you can get away with crappy calling early on, but if you call in late season, you better know what you're doing! I guess it's also different on your setup.. we mostly hunt medium sized tanks in central TX, and we have probably 90-95% gadwall.

When I started making calls, it was all about the acrylic. Something along the way changed me about the acrylics. I still have some and still use one every now and again. I just got bit by the cocobolo bug. There is nothing like cocobolo. After the cocobolo import ban I went and bought a couple thousand bucks worth of cocobolo and have it stored away.

This is my favorite one to make. Cocobolo, brass band and a rubbed teak oil finish. Nothing fancy, no frills. I like it. I will never get rich making calls, I just make what I like. If I sell some then great. If I don't, well alright then.

Just sharing... The below hunt consisted of zero decoys as I forgot to actually tie the sled carrying all the decoys to the Argo. A mile and a half later, we get to the spot and realize we have no decoys. All I did was call and kick the water for these ducks.

Location location location.

One of Creek 2 Creek Properties

That's what it all comes down to.

I don't understand, again... lol What does it come down too?

Location. I've stood in knee deep water out in the open, no calls or decoys, and had groups of birds dropping in 30 yds away. As was said earlier, a good spot can make anyone look like a champion caller.

Calling itself is NOT overrated. The ability to really run a call IS overrated.

I hunt big public water most of the time so being able to turn them is key. If I don't call half the birds I see are long gone.

On the flip side, I have heard some gawd awful calling actually turn dux and bring them in.

I never said that location didn't play a part. I have well over 1000 acres of wetlands with (2) 100+ acre flooded timber units. There is no way to isolate ducks on places like this without steering them, especially when they cannot see your location until they are on top of you. We all have our ways and opinions. This was just to show that sitting by decoys without a call may work for some people, but sitting with no decoys and a call has proven to work for me.

I have to admit, I have some top notch places to hunt and you could wear neon and pound out a few every day if you wanted with no call, no decoys, and no blind. But isolating small concentrations out of thousands, keeping them on line, steering them back on line, and finishing out a flock is much easier with an experienced caller. That all I am trying to say.

I agree, my first post of this thread I said it can be a useful tool. Just saying a lot of people do too much squawking and talking. If you have someone that knows when and how to call, it can draw birds in, but imo there's a large difference in between the people that can actually do it and the people that think they can do it.

That's why I started this post. How can people not hear that they sound terrible. I have heard tone deaf before and was just trying to figure out if this is valid term. I am not tone deaf. I can work a call with the best, but I can hear that I cannot sing a song for crap. ???

Man, I want to hunt with Creek2Creek. He can work a call with the best, has 1000s of acres of wetlands, and doesn't even need decoys.

People hear what they wanna hear. They buy a call, watch a duck commander video and then they're an expert.

Guess there's a lot of DC fans out here. I don't care for their calls

As far as "tone deftness", I have been involved as a sound tech for around 25 years. You be surprised as to how many people cannot distinguish between tones or "think" they can carry a tune but really can't. If you are "tone deaf" then you cannot reproduce a particular tone or pitch from a sound that you have heard because your auditory center or brain understands it as a different sound or pitch that what they actually heard.

Thanks. That's the answer I was looking for. Guess it is possible to not hear it.

That explains a lot about my singing. And I thought I was good.

x2. What calls do you run?

Echo Timber and Echo XLT

I can sing Wild Thing pretty good, after a few beers. That's about it though.

I met my wife in a bar, but lets just say I didn't steal her heart on karaoke night!