Trouble Duck Calling (Please Help LOL)

[RDUB]

I am new to calling and I got a Echo Calls Meat Hanger as a gift. I am really having trouble getting that hot air, it just keeps sounding like a kazoo to me. I have tried some videos on youtube that say to use the word hut as a reference but it just seems to not be working. It hasn't been super long that I've been going at it but its tough not see results. Do you guys have any tips or any youtube videos you liked that helped you learn. Thanks

 

[JMasson]

It has more to do with the position of your tongue and how you use your tongue to channel air onto the tone board and reed. It isn’t so much saying words into the call, in fact I really don’t like when people teach that. Bobby Hayes of Duck Lander Calls has some pretty good videos on YouTube and he explains it infinitely better than I ever could.

At the end of the day, the call maker doesn’t matter nearly as much as the man with the call in his hands. In the words of Nash Buckingham, “A duck call in the hands of the unskilled is conservation’s best friend”. Those words will hold true for as long as electronic calls are banned for duck hunting.

Edited to add:

The men I grew up hunting around would’ve thrown my call in the water if I tried to use it before they said I could…my father included. It takes years of consistent practice to become proficient. It will not come easy and you won’t sound like a duck until one day it just clicks. Work at it and find someone to hunt with that knows how to call that is willing to teach you.

 

[sbaker0029]

I've never blown the echo meat hanger so I'm not familiar with it.
The best advice I can give is pickup a cheap Haydel DR-85. It's super easy to blow and get familiar with how you need to move air to make a good quack.
As far as the "hut" it can also be "vut, put" just kinda depends on you and your air.

The "hu-" needs to come from your diaphragm like pushing air out after a punch in the gut.
The "-T" needs to be an abrupt stop to the "T" with your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
It doesn't take as much as air as you think it will so start soft then force more air (get hit in the gut hard lol), especially with the DR-85.
Once you get that down move to the echo and use what you've learned.

I hope this helps and makes sense. It's really hard to put it into written word without demonstration.

 

[RDUB]

I've never blown the echo meat hanger so I'm not familiar with it.
The best advice I can give is pickup a cheap Haydel DR-85. It's super easy to blow and get familiar with how you need to move air to make a good quack.
As far as the "hut" it can also be "vut, put" just kinda depends on you and your air.

The "hu-" needs to come from your diaphragm like pushing air out after a punch in the gut.
The "-T" needs to be an abrupt stop to the "T" with your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
It doesn't take as much as air as you think it will so start soft then force more air (get hit in the gut hard lol), especially with the DR-85.
Once you get that down move to the echo and use what you've learned.

I hope this helps and makes sense. It's really hard to put it into written word without demonstration.

I actually bought 2 haydel DR-85s last year when I wanted to learn and I lost them both while out hunting. They both came apart and I only had a lanyard on one end. Maybe Ill go pick another one up for this. Thanks you.

 

[willfrye027]

keep it in your car and practice every time you’re out driving around.

Also keep in mind the softer whistles, grunts, and NO calling will kill way more ducks than a half-baked hail call. Being on the X is the most important thing in killing ducks, calling probably the least IMO

 

[sbaker0029]

I totally agree with willfrye, biggest park of learning to call is also learning when not to call and that's actually a lot of the time, along with using a single quack here and there to pull the attention in can be more than enough.
As well as the spread looking good and in the right place.

 

[KurtR]

Not a duck call but it took me alot of time driving and practicing to get a short reed goose call figured out. Knowing when to call is way more important than the calling its self

 

[MallardSX2]

scouting and blind concealment is 100X more important than knowing how to call.

If you do feel the need to call, learn the bouncing hen....

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Simply put: Your air is coming from your mouth, not your guts. It's the most common problem. You are blowing out candles......no pushing your Life's last breath from your guts.

Blowing out Candles = No good.

Gut/Diaphram expiration = Good with a whole different sound.

Once you tap into the correct air...it's not too difficult.


As the list of guys above said....one you get a decent QUACK....it's about all you need 80% of the time. If ducks want to be where you are at......they are gonna be there. The call simply get's their attention and gets a look at your Spread.

A Drake Whistle can be mastered by a true Flunky. And maybe the most deadly noise to pull mallards down from that last pass.

Running a call well.....is simply Cool AF. I don't have it mastered. Would love to be REALLY good. But I can get the job done. But in reality simple and less is better.

+1 for Bobby Hayes. All the shit that hangs from my neck is Ducklander.....save my Molt Gear short reed.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

If you're in California....all you need is a 3 n 1 whistle. You have mostly Chirping ducks down your way. 80% of them don't Quack.

 

[UpTop]

scouting and blind concealment is 100X more important than knowing how to call.

If you do feel the need to call, learn the bouncing hen....

The bouncing hen is the last thing a beginning caller needs to worry about. And if we’re being honest is mildly important if at all when working birds. Especially on a double reed call. The other part I agree with

 

[UpTop]

So the plain truth is it’s just going to take some committed practice and then after that more practice. Nothing can replace that. You don’t know what you’re doing wrong until you know what you’re doing wrong. And that takes lots of figuring it out. Best instructional is subjective but personally I listened to Keith Allen’s and just practiced all the time. First time I picked up a duck call and tried to make a sound with it I immediately put it back down and figured I’d be fine without one. It’s true more often than not working birds with a call is not needed to get the job done, but for me personally there’s nothing better than breaking birds with a call that were otherwise headed elsewhere. If you want to be good you just have to keep on practicing. On Keith’s instructional there’s a part about finding the proper tone. That was a game changer for myself. Carlsons old cd was a good one as well. Not sure if either is available anymore

 

[Ucsdryder]

I could call elk in a couple weeks.

It took forever for me to be able to blow a duck call like I wanted to. Years…

 

[Lamont22]

One tip I’ll add is record yourself calling with the voice memo app on your phone. Start with quacks and build to a greeting call. There is a setting on the voice memo app where you can see a graph like image of the sounds you are making with the call. You want the the graph to be in a decent. Keep at it and try not to get frustrated, it takes a lot of practice for most people (definitely me included there)!

 

[Fogalo]

Hold on - it sounds like you can’t even get it to quack. Could be an issue with your reed. Is it loud? How hard are you blowing?

 

[bgipson]

Flip the call around backwards and practice blowing air from your gut and getting hum on it. It took me a full summer to figure it out practicing every day but once it clicked, I progressed super quick. Once you've got the quack, your next thing to tackle is the feeder call.

Just keep at it and it'll click eventually.

 

[WKR]

Some folks got it and some don't, just find a wingsetter whistle and use that until you figure the mallard hen call out, otherwise you will just push birds away and piss off the guys hunting around you

 

[Gman12]

It's similar to learning to use a turkey diaphragm call. Takes hours of practice. You just have to moving it around and using different blowing techniques until you find the right way. Like someone said earlier, keep it in your vehicle and practice while you are driving. I have the same call and it is my favorite. Some Youtube videos may help.

 

[Jon S]

Vvvvvt! From your gut

 

[Justin_Tree]

Just keep practicing. When I was learning, I would keep my call in the pickup and practice while driving. Eventually it will click.