Back then, my first call was a Bill Harper mouth call, which is no longer produced. Other favorites included a three-pack of Penn's Woods mouth calls, which accounted for several birds, as well as a cheesy, little slate/owl hooter combo from the same company.

The slate never produced a decent sound, and although it scared more gobblers away than it ever hoped to call in, I still couldn't bring myself to part with it when we had a garage sale a few years ago. Such is nostalgia.

Modern calls feature space age materials and ultra-realism. While the calls of two decades prior were adequate, we could have only hoped to get the life-like sounds from them that today's calls produce.

Turkey sounds

Before we get into a discussion of this year's new calls, let's have a quick review of the basic turkey sounds emanated in spring to lure gobblers.

* Yelp The hallmark of all things turkey. It's a greeting, a challenge, a plea, and an invitation. It's used by both hens and toms, but mostly hens. This is the sound most often imitated by turkey hunters.

* Cluck Another bread and butter call. Depending on its tone and inflection, it can be a friendly, contented greeting or a loud, sharp warning. Used softly, simple clucks can prove deadly on wary, old, over-yelped-at gobblers.

* Purr Either a contented call or challenge call, depending on its presentation. Soft purrs, used in combination with a few soft clucks or yelps, are the finisher sounds that draw toms in those last few, crucial yards.

* Cackles and cutts These are riotous sounds used to incite excitement in a longbeard. Cackles are a sharp, fast series of sounds that fall somewhere between a yelp and a cluck. Cutts, are a sharp series of short clucks or putts that, like UB40, sing to a gobbler, "Here I am, baby, come and take me by the hand!"

Turkey calls

Hunters use a variety of calls to imitate the above sounds. These instruments fall into three basic categories - box, slate, and mouth calls.

Boxes are probably the simplest calls to use. Just grab the handle of the lid or "paddle" and scrape it across the top of the sound chamber. Nearly every turkey sound imaginable can be made with a box. They are loud, making them ideal for windy days or long distance calling.

I've called in numerous gobblers to both the gun and bow using a pair of Lohman boxes. I also called in a dandy longbeard this past spring on a windy morning using a little Lynch box purchased down in Kansas for only five bucks.

This year, I've added a couple new boxes to my arsenal. One is a Quaker Boy Raspy Shorty, with a cherry wood lid and sassafras box chamber. Like a typical box call, chalk is used on the lid to provide friction, which creates turkey sounds. For this reason, boxes are notorious for their intolerance of moisture.

While I seldom hunt in rain, heavy dew is often a reality in early spring. Setting a box call on the ground can soak it. That's why I added another box to my repertoire.

One afternoon several years ago, as I sat at work staring out the window, watching the downpour outside, I suddenly blurted out in an inspired moment, "It's raining like a banshee out there!"

My coworker, Andrea, got it and burst out laughing. Quaker Boy must have caught wind of my analogy, because this year they introduced the A' Banshee waterproof box call, which doesn't use chalk, yet produces realistic, hen-sounding yelps. Now, even if it's raining like a banshee in the woods, you can still call turkeys.

Another waterproof "box" call from Quaker Boy is the Cyclone push-pin call. The beauty of a push-pin call is in its one-hand operation, which is unlike other box or slate calls that require two hands.

Speaking of slate, for soft purrs, you can't beat a slate call. I always have one in my vest. Sounds are made by dragging a wood or synthetic striker across the slate's surface, much like running your fingernails across a chalkboard.

In the last decade, a host of friction surfaces to replace slate have been developed. M.A.D. calls was one of the first innovators, using aluminum, then glass and other materials, instead of slate. With these new materials, volume and range is greatly increased. Even so, I still stick with a natural slate call.

Mouth or diaphragm calls are the last category. Nearly every turkey sound can be made on a diaphragm, which is placed inside one's mouth and, unlike the aforementioned calls, is a truly hands free call. Calls produced by diaphragms are often the last sounds many gobblers ever hear.

Mouth calls consist of a latex rubber reed or reeds stretched tight over an aluminum, horseshoe-shaped frame covered with surgical tape. However, latex quickly deteriorates. For this reason, H.S. Strut introduced a line of Infinity Latex calls this year, with moisture resistant latex and tape that increases the call's durability and life span.

Also introduced this spring, Quaker Boy Foam Fit Mini-Mag mouth calls use foam instead of surgical tape, for improved comfort.

While there's always a "gag factor" involved with any diaphragm, the foam is more palatable than tape, and dries out quicker after use. They're also 20% smaller than standard mouth calls, so as with any diaphragm be careful not to swallow them. Realism from these calls is light-years beyond anything expected from the previous generation of diaphragms.

This spring, arm yourself with a wide assortment of calls and lots of preseason practice. Many calls even come with instructional mini-DVD's to help you along. Then, when the moment of truth arrives, you'll be ready.

Next week: More turkey tips.