The term turkey call can refer to either the different vocalizations of the

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or devices designed and used to imitate these sounds. Vocalizations of

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...

s include "gubles", "clucks", "putts", "purrs", "yelps", "cutts", "cackles", "kee-kees" and the coveted French call "glouglou". To reproduce these different vocalizations there are various types of turkey calls available today and a good

hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

learns to use several because it is unpredictable which type of sound a wild turkey will respond to on any given time. The hunter will learn turkey call techniques to attract a turkey to their location.

Turkey box calls

Box calls create turkey sounds with the friction created by sliding the lid across the surface of the box. Box calls are convenient and are capable of producing more volume than any other call in the world.

Turkey pot calls

Pot calls may be the most common turkey calls{{Citation needed, date=October 2009 because they are easy to use and create lifelike turkey sounds. Friction calls feature a round (usually) surface, and the user creates sound by drawing a peg, or "striker", across the surface. Pot call surfaces can be

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aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

, glass or a variety of other materials.

Push-pull turkey calls

Push-pull turkey calls are the simplest of all turkey calls to use, and create realistic turkey sounds. A push-pull call functions by pushing and/or pulling a button on the end of the call, forcing a surface across a peg.

Tube turkey calls

The tube call is a popular caller for many of the nation's top turkey hunters. With it, a hunter can make virtually any sound in a turkey's vocabulary from yelps to purrs to gobbles. Tube calls consist of a small hollow barrel with

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fixed across half of the top with an elastic band.

Wingbone turkey calls

Wingbone calls originally were made from the wingbones of a turkey, and some still are. They are a suction-type call. Sounds are made with quick, forceful sucking motions, much like kissing the end of the call. Good wingbone calls make a hollow sounding yelp.

Diaphragm turkey calls

Diaphragm calls are inserted entirely in the user's mouth and require years of practice to learn to use them correctly.

Turkey locator calls

Locators are calls used to force a tom turkey to gobble, thus giving away his location. Mature male turkeys will "shock gobble" at loud noises such as an owl's hoot, a crow's caw, a hawk's scream, a peahen's call, a rock bouncing off a stop sign, - even thunder or a train's whistle.

References

Meleagris Bird sounds