Published: August 07, 2008 01:58 pm      

Calls of the wild

Man has conjured up some sort of calling device for nearly every wild creature around. Somewhere far back in history, a hungry hunter reasoned that if the game he sought was also hunting him, it would be easier to find. He soon discovered he needed to sound like a duck in order to lure one close to him. There began an endless string of sound-making gadgets painstakingly invented to call game.

There are collections of game calls which are fascinating to observe. If I had one each of all I have seen, the number would be staggering and it would be an interesting assortment.

It was one spring turkey season that got me thinking about calls and such business. More specifically, the thoughts expressed in this piece came to me as I waited in anticipation of a gobbling answer to numerous yelps I had made in our warm, green woods. The gobbles were scarce, even when I thought my yelps were superb, so there was abundant time for thought.

Just the one sport of gobbler hunting involves the use of many different devices for calling the shrewd bird. Electronically reproduced sounds are illegal for most hunting, but besides these there are many types of calls to choose from. Most are hand made. Some are made by modern machinery. The cedar box is a common one and is fascinating, not only because of the sounds it can make, but also because it looks like nothing else in the world. Its use could never be guessed by one unfamiliar to turkey hunting.



Special callers



The diaphragm type turkey call, which is held inside the mouth, and the wing bone and slate calls all add to the list of turkey getters. A hunter's turkey call is usually hidden away in a special box and guarded much the same as a tribal medicine man might stash his sacred herbs or a special bone with healing powers. One’s yelper is a personal item.

Calls have been created for nearly every American game animal except possibly the bears and a few others, although bears can sometimes be called using a caller that sounds like a young deer. Many of them, like some of the deer callers for instance, are of little value. Others are almost a necessity for a successful hunt. Large numbers. of ducks, geese, and turkeys are taken because the hunter is skilled in using his caller. The majestic elk of the west used to be fooled by a hunter who imitated the elk's challenge by "bugling" through some rolled up birch bark. Today one bugles through a bugle tube using a diaphragm.

Upon observing some of the weird types of game callers, one is amazed at the inventors’ ideas. A native of El Salvador once told me of the method his cousin used to bag their great sporting animal, the jaguar (called a tigre there). The cousin worked as a hunting guide in the jungle. Their jaguar is one of the meanest and smartest of the world's cats and is one of the most dangerous to hunt. They say he never avoids a fight. Once he learns he is being hunted, he starts seeking out the perceived intruder with intentions to kill him.

Each male jaguar stakes off a territory which he decides is his, and any rival entering this area faces a fight to the death. The guides enter the jungle where these cats lurk by floating their canoes in streams. They have devised a call which roars like an intruding tiger. If one is close enough to hear the roar, he arrives on the stream bank pronto and as mad as hornets.

The caller is made from a gourd and some string. A dry gourd is carved to form a sounding box. A heavy string several feet long is attached to the sounding box and rubbed with rosin. When the string is stroked between a practiced thumb and forefinger, a spine-chilling roar comes forth. If a jaguar hears this, he roars back and rushes in to eat you. You have a few seconds from the time he arrives on the stream bank, until he can dive in and swim to the canoe. In those seconds you must do him in with a well placed rifle shot.



Aerial fight



An old timer showed me how to make a hawk call back when I was a boy. I made one and still have it. It consists. simply of two bisymetrical pieces of wood with a rubber band between to vibrate when the caller is blown into. Its scream is loud and shrill and it can be tuned to sound exactly like a hawk. Using a crow call along with it will aggravate crows, cause them to gather and create aerial chaos that is deafening. The show is one of nature’s most exciting.

A study of game sounds reveals identifiable languages in many species. Meanings of the variations in natural sounds are recognizable in ducks, geese, wild turkeys and other game animals. This knowledge of course is valuable to those who hunt these species.

There is a certain satisfaction in the deception of animals with the use of callers. It is the involvement not only with the animal’s instinct but with its thought process as well. Calling challenges the bull elk to fight, invites a duck to feed or sounds like a lonesome hen to an amorous turkey gobbler.

Whether it be rattling deer antlers to attract a buck to a mock fight or using a rabbit squealer to invite a bobcat to lunch, the art is appealing to many. And the appeal lies as much in the tools of the art as in the practice of it.