If you re just starting out, I suggest buying tapes and listening to them, going to various seminars and, probably the best piece of advice I can give you, is to attend a turkey calling contest. These guys are the best around and you ll learn more than you ever thought possible just by listening to the callers before the show. Take a camcorder and record the action. If you just can t get the hang of using a diaphram, then a friction call is your best bet. Don t think of them as consolations because they re excellent, too.
Friction calls sound realistic and are easy to master.
The only disadvantage to using them would be the hand movement required to make a call. Being a good woodsman will correct this anyway. The new surfaces on some of the slate materials or strikers have even solved the problem of using them in the rain or fog. Friction calls come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can generally be classified as either a box call, a slate call or a push-button of some type. Each of the three types listed above are all different by design, but each requires one surface to stay in contact with another to produce sound.