Jus starting out and need some tips?

[Beretta_hunter_forlife]

Im a novice goose caller. I normally called the flute calls. I want to try the short reed and get a high class call such as a foiles. I want quailty and a great sounding call. Should i get the foiles flute or go to a foiles short reed?? i dont no how yet to call a short reed but i heard it wasnt that hard to learn.. Can u guys help me out?

[SGTSLTR]

I would reccomend getting both. They are all great calls. If you're going to get a short reed, I would get the SMH. Yeah, it's a spendy call, but WELL WORTH IT! The Meat Grinder is a great call for the money. Not very expensinve, and you can make just about every sound on it.

I plan on getting the Meat Cutter Flute here in the near future and the HPH in all wood.

Just my $.02.

[rushcreekganderlander]

Go with the SMH and then the MC. I always blew a flute and found it a little difficult learning the short reed. But once you get the hang of it you won't believe the sounds you can make. I just bought the MC at WW2. I never thought I would blow a flute again but after listenin to Big Sean and Grinder, I had to have one. Either way you're gettin a great call. I'd also suggest buying Callin Geese 2.0 no matter which call you buy. Jeff will get you soundin like a pro.

[kingkilla]

i have a meatcutter right now. its not that hard to learn but i couldnt blow a short reed to save my life. im trying to learn. i just have a H.S. short reed. i dont now if i would get a $150 call and them figure out that you dont want to blow a short reed, or you cant. just my opinion

[IowaMigr8tor]

Yeah kingkilla I'll get you soundin' like a pro in no time on that H.S. Canada Hammer. lol. thats what I learned on, then a Tru-Tone, and finally steped up to the Foiles.

[hoosierhunter]

I'll tell you right now, it's alot easier to learn to call on a good call than a cheap call that is not tuneable and sounds just ok. Season is upon us right now, so as far as learning a short reed in time for season, I don't know about that, but you'll definitely want to go to a short reed call vs. a flute eventually. Flutes are good enough sometimes, but again the sounds that you can create with a short reed are alot more goosey and realistic, you'll really tell the diff. in late season, fooling the migrators. So in my opinion, get you a good short reed to learn on, SMH is a great first call, and if you don't like it you can always sell it and get most all your money back out of it. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[IowaMigr8tor]

Hoosierhunter I agree with you to a point. Yes it may be best to learn on a Premium call, however if all he is looking to do is build a foundation on calling on a short reed it is unecessary. Im not sayin dont buy in, however I am saying it is a good idea to start cheap and work your way up. Also for many years all people used was flutes, so I would say that they are a excellent tool to use. In our late season this past year it seemed that my flute call could turn geese instantly, where they would stay just out of range with the short reed. I have both calls and they are both awsome. But dont discard the flute altogether.
I would just start practicing on what you can afford, then move up to a premium call. You can still learn how to call during the season. I learned during the season by listening to what the others in my group were doing and mimicked it. To an extent: "The better caller will cover up the worst caller". Go out and buy Calling Geese 2.0 DVD it will help alot.

[Duck Hunter Paul]

You should buy what you can afford, but, don't buy an inexpensive call now to go out and buy a premium call later. Thats a waste of money, because once you get the good call you will not blow the other call again.
Depending on the call, you could actually learn the wrong way to blow a premium short reed. My brother in law bought a $15 call from Gander and tried to learn to blow it, well it required so much air that when he tried to blow my SMH all he did was lock the call up.
So my .02 worth is to just wait and get a premium (FOILES) call.

If you don't have the time to do it nice, You must have the time to do it twice.

[Nick McArthur]

Benelli 4 Life,

Everything everyone has said to this point has some validity....so here is what I think about your current situation....take it for what its worth for YOU!!

The high end acrylic calls are GREAT and worth the money, and plus you are getting some added value as well....such as a call that is "almost" (notice I said almost) indestructible and most importantly, the acrylics carry a lifetime warranty by Jeff. Sound clarity is better than a polycarbonate, the polycarbonate is a bit buzzy (not in a bad way, its just the way the call is, its a great call for the money as well)!!!

Both the Meat Grinder and the SMH (or any of the acrylics for that matter are easy to learn on), but the Foiles flagship call and the call built on the premise of an EASY blowing call is the SMH....great top to bottom goose and easy to run.

The Meat Grinder is $60.00 and is great for the money, but from my experience and talking to others, all of them bought the acrylic after they learned on the Meat Grinder.....so you could put the $60.00 from the MG towards the SMH and have a call gauranteed to last a life time. But its up to you, the Meat Grinder is the best Poly out there!!

Now, for your flute situation....you can already blow a flute, so if I was you I would go ahead and learn to blow a short reed. The short reeds are very versatile, produce a lot of sounds, but the flute makes great goosey sounds and have a place too. But once you learn the short reed you will be able to bounce back and forth between the two and have another trick in the bag. The Meat Cutter is great, mine never leaves the lanyard, and if you get one, I am sure you will feel the same....it gives you the little something extra to try on geese all year round.

I kind of rambled on here, hope something in here helps you...let us know what you decide!!!

[Nick McArthur]

Oh ya, and you can learn anytime, no time like the present.....your hunting buddies can help you out and there are a lot of geese around now to go out and learn from as well, for they are the best teachers....

[rushcreekganderlander]

Buy the SMH. You might not be the best on it by this season, but by next year you will be pretty good. And if your hunting buddies all blow flutes it will give you a little diversity. We hunt with 5 to 7 guys and blow 1-2 flutes and the rest short reeds. We mix it up with the short reeds though. We all have a SMH but our group also has every call that Jeff makes. When you mix the calls together it makes for some nice killin tunes. IowaMigrator, I'm suprised to hear that you flute brought in birds that stayed out of range with short reeds. Everyone that hunts around our area blows flutes or Zink calls and we call birds in right past them all season long. That is what sold me on Jeff's calls especially on the SMH. Don't get me wrong, the flute definitely has its place and we always have someone callin on one, but you are missin out if you don't know how to use a short reed. I also agree with HH that a good quality call like Foiles is easier to learn on than cheap or less quality short reeds. I tried it. Didn't mean to ramble on, but I was in the same shoes you are about 3 years ago. I was die hard flute call, but that's changed since I learned the short reed.

[kingkilla]

rushcreekganderlander- i blow a flute and with iowamigr8ter and we can bring them right in. but three guys in our group blow short reeds and we usually have 1 or 2 on flutes as well.

[rushcreekganderlander]

I wasn't sayin you can't bring em in with the flutes. We did it for years. But it seems now that we have went to mostly short reeds we get a lot more birds to come right in. And found it way easier to get birds to come back. But like I said before we always have 1-2 people blowin flutes. The combo of the different calls sounds really good.

[mlgorecki]

Benelli 4 Life,

I'm also new to callin geese; just starting my second season. I did EXACTLY what Nick says below:

"The Meat Grinder is $60.00 and is great for the money, but from my experience and talking to others, all of them bought the acrylic after they learned on the Meat Grinder.....so you could put the $60.00 from the MG towards the SMH and have a call gauranteed to last a life time. But its up to you, the Meat Grinder is the best Poly out there!! "

Furthermore, I purchased the "Callin' Geese 2.0" DVD and, I swear, within a couple of days, I was able to make the basic "meat-hunting" sounds.

Nick. You hit the nail on the head. The SMH is now my primary and the MG is my back up.