There is a scientific study being done at this time, to determine what takes place inside a duck call. We should learn how the sound is produced and possibly information that will contribute to how to improve duck call sounds.

This study came about because several Call Makers came together in a small private forum to share call making ideas and methods.

At the time the study Data becomes available, I will be posting an addition to this page with what we have learned from this study.

Doc Calls No-Stick Design

Duck calls have been affected by the “sticking” problems for as long as I can remember. Some calls are subject to sticking more than others and there are now several calls that claim to be stick resistant or stick proof.

We know that all calls will fail to operate if the temperature is low enough to cause actual freezing of the call.

We also know that impediments (weeds, food particles, etc.) that get into the call and can block the reed from oscillating and will cause calls to fail to operate.

Most of the modern calls are made with very little space between the edges of the insert and the interior wall of the call barrel. A few call makers use the Glodo style of barrel that provides a larger internal space in the barrel and therefore more space for moisture to get away from the surface of the insert and reed.

The “Sticking” problem we are discussing here is caused by the collection and retention of moisture, under and around the reed and sound surface of the insert in the duck call. This moisture is a combination of saliva from the operator’s mouth and condensation moisture which collects inside the call barrel, due to the temperature differential between the air introduced into the call and the surface temperature of the call parts.

The idea that “all men are created equal” sounds good for some things, but it is not true as to some physical qualities for many of us. My many years as a Dentist gives me an insight as to how much individuals will vary as to the production of saliva and the very different quality of saliva from one person to another. This leads us to understand why some call operators will not be able to blow dry air or limit how much moisture they put into a call. Therefore the advice to blow dry or hot air just won’t help people who have little or no control over the amount of saliva they generate while blowing a duck call.

Now that we have an understanding that moisture is always going to be a problem for many duck hunters and call operators, I need to provide a call that will continue to operate functionally, even in a high moisture situation. I don’t think many hunters would use a shotgun that would regularly fail to operate during a hunt and those same hunters should not tolerate a failure of their call during the hunt.

Surface tension between the moisture on the sound surface and the reed is the primary cause of the sticking problem. Therefore if the surface area is reduced, so is the surface tension reduced. Two ways to reduce surface area is to make the reed smaller or the sound surface smaller. I have explored both methods mentioned and both work well enough to be useful in limiting a call sticking problem.

There are other ways to limit surface tension including the use of Rain-X and lip balm but these are only very short term fixes and of questionable effectiveness.

I did the first work in my attempt to fix this problem in about 1996 by cutting down the width of the reed and used this method for a couple of years. Sometime during this period I came up with the idea to try cutting down the surface of the insert.

The first generation of stick resistant inserts, the cutout modification, was short and close to the wedge cork. This worked fairly well but some sticking persisted for some callers. After a time I increased the length of the cutouts and the sticking was effectively eliminated for most if not all users. At the time of making this change I noticed a distinct improvement in the low end “Duck” in every insert that was modified this way. The latest change in the design occurred when I shared this information with a small private forum made up of a few very good duck call makers who came to the same general conclusion regarding the effectiveness of the design and improvement of the sound.