Best of the Best: Top 10 Turkey Call Makers

If you ask 100 turkey hunters which turkey call is their favorite, you may only get about 147 answers. Most seasoned turkey hunters are steadfast in their choice of calls and wildly opinionated. The call they use is the best call, period. This, plus a huge volume of call makers can make choosing the right diaphragm, box or pot call intimidating for the new hunter. How much difference can there be in the various pot, box and mouth calls? According to many turkey hunters, a lot.

If you are new to the turkey hunting game, there are basically two types of calls to choose from. Mouth calls, which are usually diaphragm-type calls and consist of thin latex reeds usually stretched between a small aluminum frame. Plastic tape covers the metal frame and comes in a multitude of colors. This call goes in the roof of your mouth and the sound is made by “huffing” air over the latex reeds. Some hunters pick up on using a mouth call quickly and some of us struggle to learn this call. The mouth call is very handy when getting into close quarters with a gobbler as the hunter does not have to move his hands.

Friction calls, like box calls and pot calls are operated by moving the paddle on a box call or using a “striker” on the surface of the pot call. The surface can be slate, glass, (Plexiglas) or aluminum. The sound on these calls is made by the friction from rubbing one surface on another. Friction calls are in general easier to learn on than a mouth call but the mouth call is not as hard as most of us make it. A good teacher and the right mouth call can have you calling in short order. Both of these types of calls take a little practice, both will call turkeys. Most of what you choose is personal preference. Many turkey hunters carry several calls of both types, figuring they need different calls and sounds for different situations.

There is no doubt that some turkeys like some calls better than others, which is the main reason why many of us carry so many calls. If you ever figure out why a gobbler likes and will respond to, one call over another, I would like to hear from you (nobody really knows, not even the turkeys).

Here are 10 different call makers for you to choose from on your eternal quest for the “best” call. Some of these are larger “name” companies, some are smaller and you may not have heard of them. All of them make good calls, and all of them will call turkeys. The choices are up to you. Good luck this spring.

Woodhaven Custom Calls

Woodhaven is a name that has been familiar to turkey hunters for many years. While trying to find a particular call to use in a company's line can be daunting, here are a few suggestions for the Woodhaven line. The JackHammer mouth call is a new combination of blue latex over red prophylactic latex. This call is the development of a combo cut style call, which incorporates both a cutter-style cut on one side in conjunction with a hammer cut on the other. The Fusion Ceramic Pot Call is designed to help turkey hunters deliver a full range of turkey sounds in all weather conditions. This call comes with Woodhaven’s exclusive Rainc Check striker, a design that combines a water-resistant tip and a sure-grip rubber-coated dowel for virtually waterproof calling. The Cherry Real Hen Box Call features a one-piece cherry trough-style box with a matched Brazilian cherry lid. The Cherry Real Hen sends out realistic two-tone, raspy yelps, and is a great call for clucks, cutts, and cackles. 

Cane Creek Calls

Doug Adkins started Cane Creek Calls in 1990 and never looked back. He had a long run as a successful calling contest competitor and decided early he wanted to concentrate on two things when building his calls. First and most important is the quality of sound. The second is durability. Adkins feels the most important thing is that they work in the woods. Cane Creek Calls builds all their calls in-house. They hand-stretch all their mouth calls and build all the wood pots, strikers and box calls in their woodworking shop from choice lumber.

I like the Cane Creek Tuff Man call for a raspy call, and they offer a unique striker for pot calls in the Cottonmouth Striker. This striker is tipped with a unique material and will call on glass, slate, or aluminum wet or dry. In situations where you want a really raspy hen sound and want to “hammer down” on the call for a lot of volume, you might want to try the Cane Creek Tuff Man call. 

Nature’s Voice Game Calls

Nature's Voice Game Calls offers turkey calls that are made for hunters by hunters. This innovative company has seamlessly bridged the gap between competition excellence and real-world hunting success, bringing its expertise from the NWTF grand national stage directly to the deep woods. Their calls are crafted with the authenticity that only passionate hunters can provide. Whether you're a competitive caller or an everyday hunter looking to elevate your game, Nature's Voice offers competition-grade calls that meet practical hunting applications.

Perfection Calls

Jim Clay started Perfection Calls in 1972. If there are legends in the turkey call world, he is one of them. Perfection Calls made the first commercially available diaphragm call as well as the first multiple-reed diaphragm calls. In the turkey hunting and call-making world, Clay has been there and done that.

These days he is still making calls at his home in Virginia and he operates without a website (unheard of these days). He takes orders over the phone and will actually trade turkey sounds over the phone with customers and try to fashion a custom call for your calling needs.

Jim Clay makes plenty of raspy calls but he also makes the single-reed diaphragm calls he has been making for more than 50 years. These calls are easy to learn and are good for situations where you want soft calling when the gobbler is close at hand. Contact Jim Clay by phone (540-539-4960).

Kluk Custom Calls

In a world that now has dozens of companies making turkey calls, Kluk Custom Calls actually offers something new in the diaphragm call realm, although I didn’t think there could be anything new. Kulk makes calls in three different tensions of stretch in their diaphragms—low, medium and high. The “stretch” refers to the amount of tension applied to the reeds during the building process, which affects the sound and feel of the call. If you’re unsure which stretch suits you best, Kluk recommends starting with a starter package. This package includes one call in each stretch, low, medium and high, so you can test them all and determine your preference. For those struggling to find a diaphragm that they can use effectively, this can be a home run in getting you confident with a diaphragm call.

Hendershot Game Calls

In 2007, Shane Hendershot won the NWTF Grand National Calling Contest and has since gone on to win multiple titles on the NWTF Grand National stage. In 2011, Hendershot took his knowledge of turkey language and the ability to reproduce realistic turkey sounds and started Hendershot Game Calls. The company prides itself on diaphragm calls as well as custom-made friction calls. Every mouth call is hand stretched and cut by Shane himself, and he turns each of the friction calls on a wood lathe to ensure the quality and consistency he strives for. With Hendershot Game Calls you get competition quality sound at an everyday hunter’s price.

Lynch Turkey Calls

Can you actually be a turkey hunter and not have a Lynch Box Call in your collection? Well, probably, but many of us do. In 1940, M.L. Lynch started his world-famous turkey call company. He had many years to perfect the sounds of his call and wrote a book about how to call and how to understand the wild turkey language. He later put this information in a recording and reproduced it on a 45 record for his fellow hunters. The foundation of his company was three calls that say it all in the name he gave them. The Fool Proof and World Champion (makes hen calls on one side and gobbler calls on the other) models are box calls that have been used by turkey hunters for generations, and the Jet Slate model is a wood and slate call well known for making soft purrs and clucks. With a little practice, you can do a very acceptable gobble on the World Champion box call.

For those that simply can’t or won’t use a mouth call, the Lynch box calls or the Jet Slate for soft, low calling may be the answer. For those times when you really want to make some noise to call long distances, especially during windy situations, a box call is often the call to turn to, and a Lynch box call will work nicely for this. 

Bone Collector Game Calls

Most everyone is familiar with the Bone Collector crew—Michael Waddell, Nick Mundt and Travis “Tbone” Turner. These experienced hunters have taken us on countless hunting adventures on outdoor TV shows. Michael Waddell is an experienced calling contest competitor and turkey hunter in his own right, bringing this experience to the turkey call-making and development table. Here are a few of the Bone Collector Game Calls choices.

The Hat Trick series is a dynamic trio of turkey hunting deception. The Con Artist call leads with its innovative four-reed combo cut, delivering raspiness and clarity for hunters of all skill levels. Paired with precision design and soft tape for comfort, the Illusionist call effortlessly produces lifelike turkey sounds. Meanwhile, The Magician, with its 3.5 reed design, adds a touch of extra raspiness to enrich the sound, featuring a versatile V-style cut for excellent tone and ease of use. The Dynamite glass call is a compact walnut pot call featuring a clear glass surface, delivering impressive volume despite its small size. The included diamond wood striker ensures precise, resonant calls.

Mouthy Maynard Game Calls

Mouthy Maynard Calls is a family-owned business dedicated to creating premium mouth calls for turkey hunters. Established by Daryn Maynard, an enthusiastic outdoorsman with a career in toolmaking, he began to make mouth calls for his own hunting experience. The business has remained small while raising a family and creating outdoor adventures with his two boys. Daryn has passed on his love of hunting, fishing, camping and just being in the outdoors. I have used Mouthy Maynard calls in the past and would rate them as good, sturdy calls that you can call on with lots of air for volume if you need to.

Rolling Thunder Game Calls

“Rolling Thunder Game Calls exists to not only produce the highest quality game calls available, but to enhance our connection with God's creation and the hunting experience through the calls we build, the stories we tell, and the legacies we leave,” said Jacob German at Rolling Thunder Game Calls. “When it comes to building mouth calls, the single most important factor to optimal performance is consistency.

From the tension of the latex and the application of the tape to the precision of the cuts and the shaping of the calls, everything has to be accurate, every time. That's why we trust our consistency to one-at-a-time human touch over bulk machine production. When Josh Grossenbacher takes a seat at the workbench, he's bringing over 30 years of call-building experience to your personal call, and to the thousands that follow.”

When building its friction calls, Rolling Thunder converts locally sourced, raw materials into works of art, all to bring you closer to the turkeys you pursue. Built in Somerville, Tennessee, by in-house staff, its friction calls go from concept to clamshell all under the same roof —and they wouldn’t have it any other way.