Sunday coyote howler project

[Creamer]

So I had this call, an E.L.K. Power Howler. I like it, it sounds pretty good, but it didn't have a lot of volume. Yesterday, I spent portions of the day working on boosting the volume by adding a horn to the barrel. Here's where the day started.

This horn I could tell had some color, but it also had a lot of defects which means a LOT of sanding. But first, the handy dandy hacksaw needed to slice off the flared end of the call to give me something to work a tenon into to make this work.

I turned a simple tenon on the lathe with a spare chunk of maple I had in the drawer.

That's when the fun begins. Sanding. Lots and lots of it. I use mechanical help (benchtop belt sander and a palm detail sander) when I can, but a lot of this I do by hand. I worked it from 80 grit down to 600.

After that, it was polishing paste from 5 micron down to .5 micron.

The magic of epoxy holds it all together.

It still sounds great but does seem to have a lot more volume now. One downside, it's a huge call. I considered taking an inch off of the open end of the horn, and I may still do that. That modification can be made whenever at this point. This call makes good howling vocals, but what I really like it for is pup distress and fighting sounds. It's time to shine will be later this spring once the pups are born.

 

[giles]

Jeff, I just thought if this and feel like I'd get sidetracked looking for your hunting log. So feel free to move this if you want.

How loud are you calling? I am starting to wonder if your calls are so loud that it scares the dogs off. Hill hunting dogs is a different game than wide open field calling. It could sound great but if it is too loud, it aint helping.

 

[Creamer]

Jeff, I just thought if this and feel like I'd get sidetracked looking for your hunting log. So feel free to move this if you want.

How loud are you calling? I am starting to wonder if your calls are so loud that it scares the dogs off. Hill hunting dogs is a different game than wide open field calling. It could sound great but if it is too loud, it aint helping.

I start off low volume every sit unless the wind is really bad. My last outing we had high gusty winds and the woods were really loud. It's pretty easy with cupping your hands over the call, or with the diaphragms just not using the amp horn to start off, to moderate the volume. It's easy to make a loud call quieter, it's a lot more of a problem to get more volume from a call that doesn't have a lot to begin with. When it comes to distress sounds, I'm usually starting off with a bird/pecker which is pretty low volume and progressing up to cottontail and/or jackrabbit.

 

[giles]

I start off low volume every sit unless the wind is really bad. My last outing we had high gusty winds and the woods were really loud. It's pretty easy with cupping your hands over the call, or with the diaphragms just not using the amp horn to start off, to moderate the volume. It's easy to make a loud call quieter, it's a lot more of a problem to get more volume from a call that doesn't have a lot to begin with. When it comes to distress sounds, I'm usually starting off with a bird/pecker which is pretty low volume and progressing up to cottontail and/or jackrabbit.

Awesome. I have a buddy that is horrible about calling with a caller on high. Wonders why he never sees any dogs.

 

[Creamer]

I took a little over an inch off the end. I like the size a lot better now.