Using Glass Turkey Calls to Sweet Talk a Tom

Depending on where you go turkey hunting in the country, it might be harder or easier than you might think. In some pressured areas, the birds may be more wary and discerning. While in less pressured areas, you can often lure a tom in with minimal calling experience. Either way, there are a few advantages to using glass turkey calls over other types of turkey calls. And they can have you sounding like a real turkey in no time. By using just four turkey sounds in the field, you could realistically bring a tom into shooting range this season.

Advantages of Glass Turkey Calls

Many people start with slate calls, and they work just fine…until it rains. Once it gets wet, slate tends to not be very functional in a turkey call. One of the best advantages that glass turkey calls provide is that they can function well in rainy conditions without sacrificing a lot of their sound quality. Another benefit is that the glass surface can produce very loud, sharp, and raspy notes. This is good for reaching out and calling a tom in from afar, but it can still produce realistic raspy tones up close. And they don’t take a lot of effort to maintain either.

The Sweet April glass turkey call by Bone Collector is a great option for beginners and seasoned turkey hunters alike. This pot call has a mahogany cup with a glass top, and comes with a hardwood striker. It works great in the rain and can produce realistic, raspy calls when you need them.

4 Essential Turkey Calls to Master

As Michael explains in the video below, you can use these glass turkey calls to draw a gobbler into range fairly easily even as a beginner. But you always need to focus on your cadence and rhythm. They are very important for turkey calling. Try listening to turkey recordings – or better yet, real turkeys in the woods – to get a good grasp of the cadence and rhythm they use for each call. You’ll start to internalize it over time and know when to use each one. Here’s some more information from Michael:

Yelp

The yelp (starting at 47 seconds in the video above) is a universal call that turkeys use very often. Michael describes it as a note that starts high, and sounds like a rusty wheel rolling over from there. Depending on how you grasp the striker and how much pressure you use, you can also change the intensity of the yelp and create that raspy sound that’s more realistic. Importantly, there’s a bit of a range of purposes for yelps. The first option is a loud and intense one that can get a turkey’s attention from far off to lure it in. But when they close the distance, you need to switch to softer, more subdued turkey yelps. You can do this by applying less pressure. But it does take some practice to master the difference between these two.

Clucks

Turkeys use clucks (starting at 2:40 seconds in the video above)to reassure one another and communicate where they are. After striking a tom in the distance and trying to draw him into range, a series of clucks can help encourage him to keep coming. To make a cluck on a glass call, you need to use short, single strokes with the striker. They should be done in a slow sequence of 2 to 3 clucks, leaving some time in between each one.

Cutts

If you can make a turkey cluck, you can also make cutting sounds (starting at 2:50 seconds in the video above). Basically, a cutt is a more excited, faster-paced, and aggressive version of a cluck. They are usually louder and sharper, which conveys a sense of excitement. Cutting can be helpful when a tom is hung up out of range or stuck with another hen somewhere. Try cutting to gain his interest and maybe even draw the hen in. A useful tactic is to combine cutting with louder yelps when the turkey is further afield, and then transition to clucks and softer yelps as he approaches.

Purr

Michael said the purr (starting at 6:30 seconds in the video above) is one of the easiest turkey calls to make on glass, in that you can gently drag the striker across the glass to produce the sweet, soft, purring sound. Turkeys use purrs often when they’re feeding to let each other know where they are. It is a good reassurance to a tom when combined with clucks.

With a bit of practice and observation in the woods, you’ll be able to make these basic turkey calls very quickly. As far as what situation to use them in, that will come with time.