Wing-bone turkey calls made from the bones of hen, jake and tom turkeys have different tones compared to each other or their synthetic equivalent.

 A historic turkey call was made from three of the wing bones of a wild turkey hen and these trumpet-style calls may also be made from the wing bones of  jakes and adult toms as well as from other fowl such as geese and swan.  Depending on the size of the bones, the configuration of the sound chamber and the user, different tones result from different calls. Generally, the smaller the bones the higher the pitch of the call and the more nearly it matches turkey vocalizations.

Calls made from tom (top) and hen (bottom).

  Although most of the calls shows on the video were freshly made, I cement the bones together with Elmer’s glue and wetted paper to fix the bones in place and so the call does not become disassembled in the call bag or turkey vest. This video is also on YouTube, on my channel wmhoveysmith, along with videos of me taking and cooking the jake and hen birds whose bones were used to make the calls.

  I have more information on turkey hunting and cooking in my books Backyard Deer Hunting: Converting deer to dinner for pennies per pound and  Crossbow Hunting.  There is also more information on turkey hunting and cooking on my Thanksgiving Show on WetTalkRadio.net and my blogs. These may be accessed from my website www.hoveysmith.com which has a live link to my radio shows.