Proclaiming that I love this time of year is a complete understatement. Finding the words to express my happiness with springtime is very difficult. With the temperatures warming and the outdoors coming back to life, things are beautiful here at The Proving Grounds and things got even better this week with the opening of Missouri turkey season! Throughout the spring Grant and I are often asked what calls we use to lure those wary toms into range.  Here is a list of exactly what we carry in our vest!

Adam using the Harrison Hoot’n Stick early in the morning trying to locate a gobbler.

Although we use a lot of similar calls there are a few minor differences. You can find all of these calls and more information about them at Hook’s Custom Calls.

Grant’s vest:

• Exterminator (crystal glass) – This is Grant’s go to friction call. Teamed up with the Yellowheart gobbler stick it creates great clear to mid rasp sounds.
• Assassin Slate – This call creates a wide range of tone but its specialty is those soft tree yelps early in the morning.
• Diaphragm Calls – Executioner, Swindler, and the Game Changer 3

My vest:

• Assassin Glass – This is my favorite call to try and tempt that gobbler into range. This glass call can create mid tone raspy yelps to high frequency rasps to locate those toms on the next ridge.
• Assassin Aluminum – Aluminum has been my favorite surface on a friction call for several years. It can hit the high ball rasp that I really love or mid range yelps as the tom approaches our setup.
• Diaphragm Calls – Enforcer, Shockwave, and the Game Changer 3

The locator calls we both use:

• Harrison Hoot’n Stick Walnut – This is almost always the first call we make early in the morning.
• Harrison Crow Call Walnut – As the sun comes up we’ll switch up our locator calls and use a crow call.
• Harrison Howler – Sometimes when birds want to be tight lipped a howl on this call can create a response.

We use these calls daily this time of year and we can’t wait to get back out there again to try our hand one more time!

Daydreaming of long spurs and long beards,

Adam