Can’t find spring gobblers while scouting? Try this long box call turkey locating tactic.
Hold your long box call high in the air near a likely gobbler spot, cradled in one hand while stroking the paddle against the sounding board’s lip. Make yelping and cutting (fast clucking) with rising excitement, then stop and listen. A gobble may come at the end of this series, or a bird might cut you off as you call.
Yep, sure enough, some squeaky, squawky long box calls sound pretty awful up close. At a distance, it’s different though. Spring turkeys shock gobble to the long box too often to discount its use. Yelps from long boxes project far and long-distance gobblers sometimes reveal their locations when you use them. Once pinpointed, close the distance and call them in. Of course, when you use any turkey call to locate birds, be ready to set up immediately if a gobble comes nearby.
Late great turkey legend Dick Kirby of Quaker Boy favored this gobbler locating tactic–some would argue he invented it. Dave Streb, also a Quaker Boy icon, used to carry a prototype of what became the Quaker Boy “Road Warrior” long box call on his truck’s dashboard during spring turkey season. As Outdoor Life editor Gerry Bethge and I can both confirm: it worked back in the day and surely will now.
Fast-forward to the recent NWTF Convention in Nashville: I caught up with the Quaker Boy pros Ernie Calandrelli and others to hear more about their Road Warrior box call (pictured here). As turkey hunting legend and caller Chris Kirby (Dick’s son) pointed out during my booth visit: “Some guys might get a kick out of the size of this call (17 inches long), but we always say it’s no laughing matter when it comes to making turkeys gobble! The Road Warrior is the first of this kind. The realistic volume is unmatched by any call.”
Sure enough, the big long box call is oversized and on the heavy side, but it might just pull distant gobbles from tough birds as you scout and hunt. It works particularly well when looking for toms on big hunting properties, and of course when yelping and cutting through a stiff spring wind to get a turkey to shock gobble.
Check out the Road Warrior and other Quaker Boy Game Calls: https://www.quakerboy.com/