Drake Mallard Whistle???

B

brian ziegler

Member
HEy all,
I got a sweet deal on one of those 5-in-1 calls and for the most part i'm impressed. Its easy to reinact pintail, widgeon and teal. The wood duck sound is so-so but i dont mind because i have a different call for them. I'm trying to get the mallard whistle down but i can't find any sound bytes to compare it to. I have never heard a drake mallard make the high pitch sound this whistle is making. Do any of you know a good website that would have a sample of what it should sound like? I'm used to calling hens but i've read more and more of the benifits of calling in the drakes. I'd love to have something to compare to and all i can find is mallard hen sounds. Yeah I know there are a ton of dvds and cds to buy, and if it comes to that i will. But free is so much better. And I know everyone has an opinion on the BEST calls. I'm not interested in a debate, just a sound byte or two. Or maybe some insite as to how you use your mallard whistle.

Thanks in advance for your response.
 
where i hunt that is the main call i use to pull in mallards and blacks.. u have to make a low vvvvrrrrrr sound so it sounds like a mallard quack
 
You do not blow in it as much as use it like a kazoo. You growl or hum into it to get the sound of a mallard drake
 
thanks for the link mitch,
no matter how i blow into this damn thing, the pitch wont go that low. its stays high pitched. do drakes ever make a high pitch noise, that sound byte sounded more like a grumble than a whistle
 
I have never heard a drake mallard make a sound that was like 95% of the "whistles" I've heard on tv or in ads. This one isn't bad but still a little high to me. You have to almost grunt a quack into the call. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/content/community/inthefield/fieldguides_v02/images/media/mallard_whistle.wav?cmCat=netcon&cm_ven=netcon&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=drake%20mallard%20wav&cm_ite=netcon&rid=2146251080
It's hard to find a real drake "whistle" because it is not easily identified with a bunch of hens quacking in the background.

I think the predominant reason drake whistles work is because they are quiet and hard to hear from a distance. That might say more about our calling then what the ducks are attracted to. I include myself in that group.

If you have the pintail and wigeon calls down I think you have the two most important whistles down. Teal will come to a kazoo and wood ducks will only come if they want to.

Tim
 
You actually have to hum into it. Use your voice instead of just blowing.

Hum as low of a bass note as you can get. Say "VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT". Do it without the call until you get the hang of it.

It's a deadly call when the birds are close or it's quiet out.
 
Ksherbine hit it on the head....
Don't blow with your lungs. Just hum into it with a mouthful of air.
Don't worry, it took me a while to figure it out. Its a great call. Up north here its all I use some mornings.
Keep trying.
 
I bite the call between my teeth and just say or speak the word "buuurrrrp" as low as I can. If you are trying to make the sound break thru high winds or reach out across the marsh or cove..........you are doing it wrong. This is a very effective call when used, but it is a very close in call. I use it when birds are call shy, to coax nervous birds down after several circles over the blind, and to get birds that land too far out to swim in. If you pay attention to the real birds, it is rare that you hear a drake unless they are very close and it is pretty quiet. They are NOT the loudmouths of the marsh....that's the hen. dc
 
I get a better drake sound plugging the hole with my index finger and using my voice compared to blowing into the whistle.
 
I have used the Duck Commander Drake call(yeah i bought it Steve) Had great success with it this year. I feel that it has truly made the difference in working those spooky birds.
 
on having to wear taht green turd around your neck when you can make the same sound in a dog whistle, or any "normal" duck call.....just another example of the "magic of marketing" and convincing the "sheeple" that they need some specialized piece of equipment to do somwthing that can be done on any call made.......

Annnnnnnndddddddddd iilo a smiley devil here I'll just say...."'yep..I fell for it too and have a couple of em"....(fortunately not the "green turd" variety)......

Steve
 
with a regular call....nope.....but you can get really close....close enough.....

My opinion is that its not duplication of the call that convinces those wary, "call shy", ducks to decoy....rather its the fact taht someone, or someone(s), aren't blowing the ten millioneth, screaming, screeching, 27 note highball that they've heard that morning, much less that season........it works because its a quiet, soft, sound that they don't hear except when things are safe......not because its an "exact" duplication of that perfect lisping drake quack....

Don't get me wrong...I like that little quiet quack...think it works....use it lots....buit I also beleive that its success is due more to the lack of other noise as much as it is to the use of it.....

Steve
 
I was "GOT" too ... i bought two of them. First one didn't have enough volume to my liking so I bought another one. Only time I have had big success with them is when birds land wide of the decoys, and grunt them into range, flush and shoot. As far as calling birds while in the air. Just read what the birds are telling you, and go from there. Later in the season or on land that is pounded hard (I first try to avoid ... LOL). But if there are birds there I'll hunt them. But instead of the whistle calls I'll rely on single quacks, and/or tone it down alot. Instead of hitting them with hail calls, I'll do a few quacks, like a bird getting up, or muffled calls like birds on the water pushing one another around. Then as the birds approach, I'll shut up. On the pass I'll try to turn them with some feed chatter and/or single quacks. This is'nt set in stone as to what I do. As I mix it up. Which is what you need to do on the late season birds and birds hunted alot (in my opinion). The thing set in stone is, I very rarely use my whistle anymore, other than teaching people how to make the various calls, or while I'm calling to Teal, Pintails, Wigeon. Even then most of the time I'll get their attention with the Mallard call, then whistle to em if need be. Take it for what it is ....just my 2 cents worth.
 
I use a regular duck call , if there is such a thing. I listened to ducks in a park by the corn feeder when they allowed such a thing. The drakes have a distinctive call. Low in volume and high in pitch. Almost a quuaaK I have uses this instead of a feeding chuckle

View attachment _IGP7721ee.jpg

I took this today. The Mallards are feeding in shallow water. I wished I had a tape recorder with me.The sound they were making is unlike any feeding chuckle that duck callers use. This picture was at ten in the morning.I am about a hundred yards away. The migration North has started. I saw about fifty ducks nearby also the first geese in two months.
 
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