Making a Drinking Straw Turkey Call

Materials

1 plastic drinking straw 1 yd of leather lace, yarn or string scissors

8 plastic pony beads 2 turkey feathers

Procedure

1. If you are using a full size or cafeteria style drinking straw, cut a 6 inch length off the

plastic drinking straw and discard the rest. If you are using a coffee stirrer, use the straw as it is; it should be close to 6 inches.

2. Take the leather lace, yarn or string and hold both ends together. Slide on two of the

plastic pony beads until they are about 2 inches from the loose ends.

3. Slip the length of plastic straw between the two beads. Push them together to hold the straw in place. If your string or yarn is thin and there’s not enough friction to hold the beads in place, tie a knot at either end to secure them.

4. Slide 3 pony beads on each of the loose ends of the leather lace, yarn or string. Leave about ½ inch beneath the lowest bead.

5. Attach the feathers by sliding each one up under the three beads on the end of each lace,

yarn or string.

Learning To Use Your Turkey Call

Turkeys are smart and hard to fool. Generations of turkey hunters will all agree. By using a call, a person is imitating, not the male turkey, but the hen. The male turkey gobbles to let the hens know where he is. The hens then come to the male to be bred. So a hunter uses the call of the hen to broadcast to the toms that “she’s” out there. He in turn gobbles to let “her” know where he is.

To use you turkey call, place the uncut end in your mouth, halfway between the front of your lips and the corner of your mouth. Cup your hands over the end of the call to create a kind of echo chamber for the sound. Now, suck on it in little, short breaths. You should be making the sound of a hen turkey. It gets easier with practice.