One of the owners of a popular game call company keeps telling listeners that ultrasonics don't travel through the atmosphere. As most of you know, we have been using ultrasonic sounds which occur naturally to improve calling success for sometime. Above you will see that ultrasonics do travel just fine as I googled "How far sounds travel from a silent whistle". As you know, almost 100% of sound produced by a silent dog whistle is ultrasonic as we only hear the sound of air passing through the call.
My next question is why would anyone who tells you that ultrasonic sounds are not effective for calling be in the process of trying to bring an e-caller to the market that produces ultrasonic sounds?
Adios,
Gary

Not looking for a debate or discussion because I know I'm not a physicist, but I just happen to remember this physics principle.

Same AI Overview for "ultrasonic sound vs regular sound"

"Compared to regular sound, ultrasonic sound can generally travel a shorter distance due to its higher frequency, meaning it dissipates faster and is more easily absorbed by the environment; however, in specific situations like underwater or when focused into a beam, ultrasonic waves can travel further distances due to their ability to penetrate certain mediums better than audible sound waves."

^^^^^ Yup.
Predators are more attuned to high pitch stuff, squeaks, snapping twigs, etc. Communication is normally lower toned, danger/fighting and pain/fear are higher. Ever hear a scared deer scream? Weird sound.

What we have found is that the ultrasonic sounds tend to broadcast in a wider field while the lower tones tend to be more directional. I think that this ties into what you are quoting about the sound being absorbed by the environment. At any rate, it is safe to say that ultrasonics are traveling much further than some folks would want you to believe.
Adios,
Gary

You should video yours and a traditional e caller with a decibel meter so everything is equal at 10 feet or so and then move away at 100 yard or so increments and see what the difference is at greater distances.

A decibel meter measures sound volume, not frequency. A traditional e-caller is going to be louder as you sacrifice volume for sound quality. We have 15 volumes steps on the FREQ and I can only remember going to full volume on two occasions. Both were on a huge ranch in western NM when the wind was blowing 20-30 mph and I was wasting my time. Normally, I call at volume level 8 in South Texas where there's little wind and work down from there. If calling the Panhandle or other big rolling plains, I will call at about volume level 12 with 5-10 mph winds.
Most hunters grossly underestimate just how well a predator's hearing really is. Murry Burnham would tell me that a coyote could hear 7 time better than I could and I was still in my 30's back then.
Adios,
Gary

I have tested to see what makes dogs bark like crazy and found the wind speed and humidity levels make a big difference to critters being able to hear calls. On windy nights I run my Foxpro at about 1/4 volume for a few minutes, 1/2 for at least 5 minutes and if nothing responds, full volume for one minute. Then I go back to about 1/2. Many times I’ve heard the domestic dogs only cut loose after going to full volume on the windy nights. Providing they are upwind.

I agree that wind is the biggest obstacle when calling. Not only does it impair a critter's ability to hear the sound, I think that wind causes critters to want to stay down. Cats are especially difficult to call in a wind because they depend so much on their eyesight and hearing to feed. When the wind is blowing, everything is moving therefore, the cat's vision is impacted.
Humidity and barometric pressure do effect sound travel and scenting ability. The cat hunts with his eyes and the coyote hunts with his nose.
ntxtrapper, I spent a good bit of time in Bosque County back in the late 70's when I was working for the Federal Land Bank Association of Waco. Bosque was one of the counties that served making farm and ranch loans. Bobby Joe Conrad was President of the Association and a very good friend, when he retired, he was County Judge in Bosque County.
Adios,
Gary

Most decibel meters will not measure ultra sonic sound. IIRC, 3 weighted curves for human ear.

The debate is similar to light waves outside the human threshold for seeing. Sound and light are simply energy waves that travel in space. Humans have a very low range of perceiving these different energy waves compared to most animals, but we can "see" these waves with multiple devices available these days.

If ultrasonic sound does not travel in the atmosphere, then thermal imaging and infrared scopes would not be a thing either right? Just because we cant see it without the help of some device doesnt mean it doesn't exist.

Gary you win this one!

some people are just too ignorant for their own good.

Thanks Texas buckeye but not sure I am a winner. I am a cheater, as I have been experimenting and testing sounds ultrasonically for at least five years. I wanted to build an e-caller that would produce ultrasonic sounds back in the 90's as that's when I realized that critters were communicating at a frequency that I could not hear. It wasn't until I found speakers that would produce these high frequencies about 6 years ago that started us down the road to build an e-caller that would more truly replicate animal vocalizations. To my knowledge, no one in the predator hunting had any interest in doing this until we did and now we see at least one other company attempting to bring a similar product to market. Thank God, we spent the time and money to secure several patents on this technology.
We learned our lesson back in 1990 when Murry Burnham developed the first digital game call, the Compucaller and a few years later several other new start game call companies started building digital e-callers. I must say that using the FREQ has made predator calling more exciting for me, as I am seeing critters react differently to sound than I have in over 60 years of hunting.
Adios,
Gary

There are interesting infrasonic sounds as well. That may be why certain animals get on edge before earthquakes.

Just like most subjects, I know nothing about that!
Adios,
Gary

I've unintentionally called in predators by driving a squeaky golf cart so I never discount any tool that can be added to my toolbox. As for the claim by the other caller manufacturer that ultrasonic sound doesn't travel through the atmosphere, I'm guessing they are referring to this...

"AI Overview

The statement "ultrasonics don't travel through the atmosphere" is true. Ultrasonic waves, being high-frequency sound waves, are significantly attenuated by air due to its low density, meaning they cannot travel effectively through the atmosphere.

Explanation:

Density matters:

Sound travels better through denser mediums, and air has a very low density compared to liquids and solids, which is why ultrasound struggles to propagate through it.

Coupling agents:

When using ultrasound in medical imaging, a coupling gel is applied to the skin to ensure proper transmission of the ultrasonic waves because the gel is denser than air."

Which manufacturer is throwing shade on your product?

And the ultrasonic 'beam' is narrow, more directional.

Mike Dillon with Foxpro is a friend but has made the misstatements about ultrasonics and now, they are trying to bring an e-caller to market that produces an advertised 40 kHz. If ultrasonics don't add to the realism of a call, why would you want to build another ultrasonic e-caller? Thank God we went to the expense of securing multiple patents on this new technology.
I have read that ultrasonic beam is narrow but our testing has shown that this is not the case. Playing with ultrasonics for calling critters is so new that I feel there's a lot more to be learned and discovered.
Adios,
Gary

Why wouldn't he want to replicate? There is lots of interest in your caller because of the claims you make about its effectiveness, the issue the everyday hunter has with it is the price. Hell I woulda picked one up to verify your claims because I've got some very call shy coyotes, and I mainly use hand calls. I just can't justify spending that much on a caller. It's like a 1280 thermal, most people are priced out of them. So if they can make something similar at a more affordable price they will sell like hotcakes.

Is there a real possibility the ultrasonic waves propagate through ground much better and can be "felt" or "sensed" by predators?

I know elephants communicate through ground transmissions of ultrasonic sound.

Even if the Air is a poor medium which ultrasonic waves travel through, it doesn't mean they don't travel through the Air.

An ultrasound can be done without the gel medium, and when in an emergency the U/S is used most of the time without gel.

So maybe the conduit medium/coupling agent for ultrasonic calling is the ground

Elephants use infrasonic, not ultrasonic.

Narrow beam is due to sending and receiving transducers. Max 50 kHz distance is about 200 meters in air.

Our engineers have tested just the ultrasonic speaker using some of our fairly crude equipment and are getting readings at 500 yards.
Adios,
Gary

The 360 is 1500 bucks so they haven’t made something I would describe as affordable for the average person.

What's really crazy is that varmint hunting has turned into a rich man's game, especially you are a night hunter. Many of the guys that hunt the WTBBC are using $10,000 thermals, tripods that costs $1,000 and this is before you add the cost of a pickup with a high rack. Most are shooting custom made rifles as well. It's pretty easy to see how they can have $100 K tied up in all this equipment. For years, Texas was about the only state with competitions, especially night. Today, you will find night hunting contests across most states, where it is legal.
Adios,
Gary

Back in the day I was thrilled just to have this. The original CT 116 call. He gave it to me back in the early 80’s when my bird and animal caller needed to be repaired. I’ve got the old record player around here somewhere.

I still have a few here for sale and folks still come by and pick through them from time to time. Unfortunately, we can't purchase the blanks anymore.
Adios,
Gary