You definitely don't want to practice when your wife is around.
I think the best thing to do is buy a reed, learn to use it, and then try and copy the sounds made in this video,
Whenever I walk around in the thick stuff, I end up bumping a lot of elk. I am sure someone quieter than me with better situational awareness could turn that into a valid hunting strategy, but I have found it works better to get high and wait for them to come to you.