iDoHunting.com: An IN-DEPTH Look at... "How to use Slate Calls"

Great points Brad, esp. about that sweet spot which exists on every call. The best calls have a large sweet spot, and are easy to find when it's still a bit dark out and you're out hunting.

As for strikers, I'll do my best to share my experiences, but again, everyone please chime in with your own personal findings!

First, I'd like to say that any slate or pot call is only as good as the striker you match it with, and vice versa. I have calls today that at first I hated when tried with the striker that came packaged with it. I think hunters often times are afraid to mix/match strikers to different calls, but I heartily encourage it. You wouldn't believe the number of calls that can be brought back from the dead with a good striker.

Strikers or pegs can have an endless variety of shapes, sizes, tips, bells, and other identifying characteristics. However, more than anything else, the material in which the striker is made from will dictate sound characteristics.

Wood - This group makes up by far the largest component of all strikers, mostly because different wood species can sound so dramatically different on the same call. I've tried wooden pegs made of maple, walnut, oak, elm, persimmon, osage orange, apple, cherry, hickory, bubinga, purple heart, tigerwood, and mahogany. This dizzying array of wood species can be difficult to sort through, but as a general rule, the harder/tighter the grain of the wood, the higher-pitched sound and frequency you'll get from the call. There's always exceptions to each rule, but some of my favorites are maple, walnut, persimmon, and purple heart for these very reasons. At the same time having some of the softer wood strikers around for tree yelping is worth the hassle IMO.
Metal - Undoubtedly, metal strikers produce some of the highest frequencies possible from a pot/peg call. This however, comes at the expense of ease of use. I have only found one or two metal striker/pot call combos that I can use reliably to consistently produce good sound without an "oops" here or there. I think general consumer ease-of-use is a concern so you don't see them around as much as you used to.
Carbon/Graphite - Carbon strikers have gained some popularity in the past few years, often found packaged with a slate and other all-wood striker. Carbon, on many surfaces, can work well when wet. Another benefit of carbon is the rasp that you get when using it as opposed to the mellow/smoother sounding wood. Again, this can come at a small cost in consistency with most calls I've used.
Acrylic/Other Plastic - To my ear, these strikers don't do as well as the above others, with the exception of metal. Most sound too low-pitched for my own personal liking, but I've seen a few do good clucks and tree calls. The upside to these is durability. I've snapped several wooden strikers, but never a plastic one.

So, there you have it. The wide variety of available pegs out there makes me want to sit at some of the retailers that have them available to play with, and spend hours testing each striker with its own call, and each striker with different calls.

One last thing, I'm a bit partial to the flared-tips on certain strikers as I think they're easier to use. At the same time, I've got plenty of standard, rounded-tip strikers that I like and use each year.

More than you wanted to hear I'm sure. Let's hear your own experiences!

Joel

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Joel Nelson
IDO Hunting Pro-Staff
Quaker Boy Game Calls Pro-Staff