Anyone make their own calls or decoys anymore?

[Al "Shifty" Schultz]

Just curious if anyone is still out there making their own calls or dekes anymore?
I grew up Joe Dirt poor so we generally reloaded our own ammo, and made our own calls. I still take pleasure in making my own calls, whether it be a coyote howler from a bull's horn, or a moose call from a beef scapula, or my own turkey box and slate calls...

Attached are pics of some of my homemade turkey calls, and in the one of the rifle on the ground in front of it you'll see my "bull horn" Coyote howler.. I fashioned the reed from a piece of thin mylar and made the mouthpiece from a piece of sch 40 grey PVC..

 

[Rjohnson.307]

I made a slate turkey call out of a Box Turtle shell I found when I was a teenager, killed a couple toms using it. No idea where it went.

My dads hobby was woodcarving, so I made a few hand carved duck decoys out of basswood and used them in my spread.

Here's a pic of a Bass my dad carved and painted

 

[Al "Shifty" Schultz]

I made a slate turkey call out of a Box Turtle shell I found when I was a teenager, killed a couple toms using it. No idea where it went.

My dads hobby was woodcarving, so I made a few hand carved duck decoys out of basswood and used them in my spread.

Here's a pic of a Bass my dad carved and painted
View attachment 5560

That's beautiful!

 

[YETI]

I recently made a coyote call out of a shell casing, does that count? It sounds similar to the "distressed rabbit" on my FoxPro.

 

[Tony Caggiano]

I build all my own diaphragm turkey calls, have for years. I don’t use a jig, so have to play then to tune, so don’t make them for anyone else but happy to bring the parts along and teach on a trip if anyone is interested.

 

[Tony Caggiano]

I have also built a wing one call from a bird I killed.
Used it until I killed a bird with it and it’s been on a shelf ever since.

 

[Wade Burns]

I too grew up that way lol. Anyone who says the American dream is dead is because they’re too f’ing lazy to try. However to answer your question I’ve built a few wing bone calls and decoys in the past. In last couple years I’ve contemplated carving a set of cork decoys for duck hunting for the fun of it.