Do former band geeks make the best elk callers?

[William Sublette]

Band geeks Hunt ??

I'm pretty sure they're where the term Puffy came from.

 

[Poser]

I played the drums and happen to be a very good caller.

As a (person with a background as a) drummer, I find it difficult to just randomly bash a tree with no sense of time.

 

[Poser]

Band geeks Hunt ??

I went to HS with an extremely studious French Horn player. He went to a conservatory and then on to a tenured position in a major orchestra. He was also an extremely serious whitetail hunter, once broke his arm after falling out of a treestand and was back in the tree the next day shooting left handed because his right arm was in a cast.

 

[gobears870]

I played trombone through high school and college orchestra. I think it’s been a little easier for me to learn different game calls because of my ears more than anything else. Most serious musicians are trained to hear nuances in tone and pitch that most people don’t, and I’m able to correct and improve my calling quickly based off that. It seems when I’m teaching a hunting partner to call they just never hear the things I’m describing to them.

 

[TR909]

-Attack Sustain Decay Release are sound-shaping basics of subtractive east-coast analog synthesis that play into my calling every time. What would Robert Moog thing of this?

 

[Crowmangler]

Well, they did have all that extra practice time sitting at home by themselves on the weekends.

 

[Holocene]

A fun question from the OP. I definitely think that trained wind musicians have a leg up on calling with most diaphragms and open reeds.

I was an all state French horn player and played seriously through college and a few years in amateur orchestras afterward. Gave it up to focus more on hunting and other pursuits.

The mechanics of calling came very, very easily to me. From turkey to elk and ducks, I can figure out how to make about any sound -- except good purring, which has always stumped me. Years of training proper diaphragm breathing, breath control, and strength and subtlety with my embouchure and all sorts of small muscles in the mouth translate to elk, turkey, and duck calling.

One thing that music didn't help with was learning natural cadences and scenarios that play out in the woods. Critter's don't keep regular time at all, and you've got to learn the emotion and animal behavior behind all your calling.

 

[TaperPin]

I'm a fairly decent caller but I play guitar. Does that count.

Only play guitar on the drive to elk camp, and to start a fire.

 

[Banded_spooney]

I played the baritone and the tuba through JV. Varsity football caused a conflict so I quit after sophomore year. To be sure, I'm no master caller but I can hold my own in most circles with almost any type of call. Getting controlled air pressure from your diaphragm comes very naturally after playing a bass instrument. -- I'm in my office working right now and within arms reach, I have elk and turkey diaphragms, a speck call, and a honker call. I practice while I work.

 

[tkhuntsman]

I've never played a note in a band but I've been told I'm a great sounding caller. I've called in literally hundreds of elk. Hunting them for the last 30 years and guiding professionally for 18. Maybe there's something to it Idk but I can't say that it applies to all cases. I have one high school son in band and the other is a wrestler and they both call well. My wife was in band and is now in a professional quire and she sounds like a dying cat on an elk call. I have heard a lot of bad callers out in the woods the last several years.

 

[tkhuntsman]

As a (person with a background as a) drummer, I find it difficult to just randomly bash a tree with no sense of time.

Nobody says you can't take in tune hell stomp your feet and throw stuff while your at it. Most time that would be way more effective than trying to orally assault a bugle tube.