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The box call section is slllooooowwwww right now, here's a topic to get it going again.  A friend and I recently discussed this.

How important is the look of a call to you vs the sound quality?  I think that most of us have more than enough calls, so the ones that actually make it into the vest probably have to sound good, but do they also have to look good? If the very best call that you have is "homely" will that have any effect on the number of days that you take it hunting?

Please provide a breakdown (in %) of how the following attributes contribute to how often a call is in your vest:

1. Sound quality
2. Call appearance (design, wood color, etc.)
3. Other factors (sentimental value, etc.)

For me it's probably something like:

Sound = 50%
Call appearance = 30%
Other factors = 20%

The one caveat being that the call has to sound reasonably good to at least be in consideration.

Maybe one day I'll get bored enough of killing turkeys to care about anything other than "it works." Not there yet.


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1 - 70 %
2 - 15 %
3 - 15 %

I will take a ugly woman/call over pretty woman/call any day , most ugly women/calls are usually better cooks and you don't have to worry about anyone messing with your girl :TooFunny: ... 

Quote from: Greg Massey on February 09, 2022, 10:17:25 AM
1 - 70 %
2 - 15 %
3 - 15 %

I will take a ugly woman/call over pretty woman/call any day , most ugly women/calls are usually better cooks and you don't have to worry about anyone messing with your girl :TooFunny: ...

:TooFunny:

1. 85%
2. 5%
3. 10%

I'm probably 70-75 sound, 25-30 sentiment or story. Looks don't really play a factor because I don't buy ugly calls to begin with. Everything in my collection is sexy as hell


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1. !00%   2. 0%  3. 0%  If I carry it all that matters is does it help to kill turkeys                                                                                                                                                         

Quote from: ol bob on February 09, 2022, 11:55:34 AM
1. !00%   2. 0%  3. 0%  If I carry it all that matters is does it help to kill turkeys                                                                                                                                                     

I'm right there with ol bob.

I might go 5% on sentimental. 0% on looks (although most folks do like a nice looking call)

 I admire and can appreciate the call makers craft but tone turns my head. I have some calls from makers that I won't use much but would never get rid of because of who made them.
1. 90%
2. 0%
3. 10%

1.100%
2. 0%
3. 0%
It's  all about performance in the woods.

I couldn't break it up that way. It's gotta sound perhaps different toned than others but perfect if that makes sense. That's gotta be 100%. If anything less why carry it. It's gotta be put together well, fit and finish MUST be professional. That's gotta be 100%. I'd never carry anything less. Not referring to scratches and scars but workmanship. The type of wood is a def passing thing. I'd carry a great sounding, well put together call any day over a real pretty sub par one. Sentimental always holds weight.

To the OP:

1. Sound quality: 99.9%
2. Call appearance: 0.05%
3. Other factors: 0.05%

I see bow guy's point, but I think craftsmanship isn't so much in the "call appearance" bucket, as it is in "sound quality." If its not built well, it won't sound well.

Appearance is simple aesthetics. Could care less if it looks good, it just has to sound good to my ear. If it looks nice, well that's just a plus. I carry a Quaker Boy aluminum in a black plastic pot I found for $5 on a clearance table. Ain't much too look at, but jeez did Mr. Kirby get that one right.

Sentimental - that is important to me individually. I carry calls because of who made them, but they also hit the mark for sound quality.

It should be all about sound but I think some people have to have looks an they lose out jmo.


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For a box that I'm strictly using as the best tool I have to call a bird to gun, my breakdown would unequivocally be :

1. Sound quality 100%
2. Nothing else matters
3. Nothing else matters.

That being said..........there are days I'll hunt a call that has some sentimentality and maybe takes a hit in sound quality. 

I have some homely calls that are screamers.  I have some pretty calls that are firewood. 

My current go-to boxes (except for one homely one that's been responsible for more gobblers' deaths than all the others combined) CHECK all the boxes, though.........Sound, appearance and sentimentality.

Great post, BTW, bud !!!!

:icon_thumright:

I'll say # 1 75  #2 0 # 3 25.  Sound is everything.  Looks will never kill a turkey. The wood was my deceased neighbor's wood stash, and the call was made as a tribute to him and all he helped me with. Yes, there's turkey blood on this call.

1. 90%
2.  0%
3.  5%

Sound 100%


If my wife made me a call from the broom we jumped over when we got married,
I might carry it.

But only on her birthday

Quote from: crow on February 09, 2022, 09:24:48 PM
Sound 100%


If my wife made me a call from the broom we jumped over when we got married,
I might carry it.

But only on her birthday

Glad to know you still have the broom...  :TooFunny:

 :icon_thumright:

dont care what it looks like as long as it sounds goood

Quote from: mspaci on February 10, 2022, 04:08:57 PM
dont care what it looks like as long as it sounds goood

:you_rock:

Are there ugly box calls? I haven't come across one that made me scowl yet.


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I say 100% sound, but only because the makers on here are true craftsmen, and it is expected for their calls to look great, and having a story behind them is assumed, but not under appreciated.  Kind of like getting chocolate cake with double icing and some ice cream on top, when the cake alone was spectacular by itself.

Quote from: AppalachianHollers on February 10, 2022, 04:34:05 PM
Are there ugly box calls? I haven't come across one that made me scowl yet.

There are.    ;D

BUT......... Just like somebody already mentioned........sometimes the ugliest girls make the very best wives.   :icon_thumright:

It should be all about sound but I want something that pleases my eyes as well.I probably won't use it as much if it doesn't catch my eye somewhat. I am probably 70%,25%,and 5%. Luckily I like almost all my calls so I hunt many different ones throughout a year.

Looks and sentimentality matter more to me the older I get. If I'm successful with a particular box and it contributes to a special time afield, a memory that sticks in my mind and heart, than that thing tends to find more time in my vest. It becomes more beautiful to me because it's more meaningful. I would say all of my boxes can draw in a gobbler, most of them have. As most of you know, in the right hands, at the right moment, most quality box calls are highly effective, so for me it's 50/50 sound/sentimentality(beauty)

Only calls that have proven themselves capable of bringing longbeards to the gun are going to the woods with me on a regular basis. I admire looks and craftmanship in a call but if it won't call "old tom" then leave it at home in the cabinet to admire and play with on rainy days. I want a call in the woods with me that works and I have confidence in and I really don't care who made it, who gave it to me or how long I've had it, how much I paid for it or how I think it sounds. How "old tom" thinks it sounds is all that matters.

99% sound, the turkey doesn't care what it looks like, neither do I. 
I will give 1% sentimental value at this time, that is subject to increase upon future circumstances. 

Don't believe I ever kill one because of the looks of the call, hundred percent sound.

Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and the sound into the ear of the beard wearer, the best sounding boxes hit the woods. They are all beauties.  Funny how sound can make a call even better looking.  Lol

"sound goggles" ??  :TooFunny:

100% SOUND

I don't use box calls but

Unless I figure out how Looks or sentiment can bring them to me I am going to stick to sound 100%


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Quote from: ChesterCopperpot on February 09, 2022, 10:48:43 AM
I'm probably 70-75 sound, 25-30 sentiment or story. Looks don't really play a factor because I don't buy ugly calls to begin with. Everything in my collection is sexy as hell


I second this, the visual appeal is what gets me to pick up a call in the first place.

Quote from: packmule on February 14, 2022, 04:54:11 PM
"sound goggles" ??  :TooFunny:

:drool:

She's beauuuuuutiful !!!!!