Home Grown Archery/Tackle, Spring Turkey's 2007

[Bowspirit]

ttt

[KyleAllen]

come on you lazy bum! WE ARE WAITING  :p

[Osagetree]

Hang in there guy's,,, I'm on vacation this week muzzleloader hunting for Ohio whitetails.

And, I got till spring before turkey season comes in!

I did manage to get he wingbones boiled up! Pics later this week.

[the Ferret]

Glutton for punishment aren't ya Joe? Well ya done good during deer season so I'm laying my money on the table AGAINST the turkeys!  

[KyleAllen]

Muzzleloader? Who makes that bow? JK! Good luck, i suppose we can wait.
kyle

[Hunter John]

Allright Joseph thanks for taking us along and good luck with the smokepole.

John

[Pasty Face]

Cant wait for more.

[Osagetree]

Well, muzzle loader season is gone. Saw plenty of deer, even a couple small bucks. It was just to warm outside to shoot one.
The wife almost shot a nicer buck. But, it was on a dead run and she did the ethical thing and let him go. She's a good'n!

Most of the week was spent dreaming of turkey season and my projects I wanted to get to in my little building.

A good example of how thrilled I am to be hunting at almost 70 degrees.
 
Dreaming of Spring Turkeys!

As you can tell by the rainbow, it sure seemed like spring.
 

As I drempt of drawing my longbow on a wild Tom,,, I still had my eagle eye's trained on the woods.
 

   

[Osagetree]

Okay,,, had some time today so I went out to the building to get started.

I've boiled the wing bones and they turned out pretty clean. I have my box call material cut and marked, ready to shape and glue up. The copperhead skin cured out nicely. I just wish I could find me two big enough for a bow.
 

Here I have the 6" Walnut base, and 9" Cherry paddle, both 1/4" thick.
Two blocks 3/4 bottom and a 1" top, about 1 1/4" tall.
Two 6" sound boards walnut and poplar 1/8" thick, marking it rounded over with the middle of the board at the highest point being marked 1 7/8" high and the ends of the sound boards being 1 3/4" high.
And, the copper head skin.
 

Using a table saw cut two opposing 6 degree slots in the base for the sound boards 3/4" apart. Ant shap the handle end of the paddle with the belt sander. Any shape will do!

I rounded the 1/4" paddle so that the thickest point in the middle was 1/4" thick out to the edge being 1/8" thick.
I also use the sander to round over the tops of the sound boards to my pencil lines.
 

Glue up the sound boards into the base grooves and clamp it with the end block in place.
 

The glue and clamp the other end in the same fashion.
 

[Osagetree]

I lay the paddle on top of the snakeskin and mark the outline with a pencil, then cut it out. I rinse the skin well in warm water and dawn dish liquid to remove the salt and oils in the skin.
 

Glue the skin to the paddle with titebond II. Press out all the air bubbles and let it dry well.
 

With a belt sander I sand the edges of the paddle to remove any overhanging skin and trim off my error in measure while marking the pieces for the box.
 

This makes for a nice clean end with no gaps or rough edges.
 

I'll give the skin on the paddle a couple coats of super glur for a finish.
 

And a little linseed oil to weather proof the box. Never get the oil on top of the rails of the sound boards.
 

Mark the paddle about a 1/4" back from the front and in the middle and drill a hole. I use a small brass wood screw, a brass finish washer and a 3/4" small guage spring to mount the paddle to the end block of the box call.
 

Sand the contact points at the sound boards and the paddle, chaulk it all up and sand to tune it where I want it.

Wish I knew how to create and attach a WAV. file so you could hear them,
 

[Osagetree]

 

[TimBow2]

neat calls...........awesome job

[KyleAllen]

Never seen snake skin on a box call before but I LOVE IT!!!!

keep up the good work

[Osagetree]

KyleAllen,

Here is one I made last year!        Western Rattler, Osage & Cherry!

   

   

[knife river]

       

[4runr]

Lookin good Joe. Keep it comin.

[MW]

Thank you for taking the time to share.  That was sweet.

[Osagetree]

MW, there is more, so check back till I get a bird flop'n on the ground in the spring.

Adding to the calls I'll show you how I make my wingbone calls from the turkeys wing bones.

Here are the wings after boiling and cleaning
 

The bones avarage in size from bird to bird and my wingbone calls vary from call to call. I need not measure anything, I just do it by fit and feel of the bones. As you can see they are each about 5" long for now
 

After boiling the bones the marrow is blown out, and here I am taking a pocket knife to remove the hard honeycomb interior of the bone
 

Using the bigger end of the big bone, I remove about an inch from the smaller end with my coping saw. And then use the round file to smooth out the inside of the bone
 

Then I cut the midsized bone of to fit in the bigger bone. I get a nice tight fit if I use sand paper to bevel the bones that is to be inserted
 

Now I cut the midsized bone at the opposite end and I cut the smallest bone to fit into the middle bone.
 

When pressed together, most of the time you can get them to fit you'll wonder if you need glue on it. These fit so well I will not be glueing them but wrapping them with camo serving string
 

[Osagetree]

Wingbone calls are great locator calls because they are really loud if you want them to be. Good to have on windy days as well.

Here is the call with the two joints wrapped with the camouflafed serving materials. I will soak the wrapping with a little supper glue to make hem hard and permanent.
 

[Osagetree]

An OWL HOOTER,,,, I need an OWL HOOTER!

This is what I call my "OLD SCHOOL OWL HOOTER"

First I glue together some 1/8" thick cedar and Wild cherry. Making the box about 2 1/2" wide x 4" tall x 3 /12" deep.
 

I drill a 1/4" hole through a block of osage and shape a barrel out of the sage at about 2" long
 

Taking them to the belt sander I round off everything. Rounding it off makes the joints look cut to fit, and the square edges won't catch anything on your turkey vest, while pulling it or putting it, in and out of the pockets of your vest or jacket.
Now I drill a 1/2' hole in the cherry side of the box.
 

I then glue on the osage barrel shaped stem.
 

 

Any shape or size will work, but the one I discribe sounds more like an owl. If you play around you can make a good mourning dove coup.

Add a little linseed oil and walla! Old school owl hooters!