whistles

[plainsman]

Gardner vs. Primos. Is there actually much difference between the 2 as far as tone or ease of use?

[Rick]

I have both of the Primos 6-in-1 whistle models and a few of Gardner's version and suspect most folks wouldn't find the few dollars worth of difference between them. But the little hard plastic standard-size Primos 6-in-1 I found behind a levee plow (along with a wrecked DR-85 and a Faulk-squeakered Big River speck call that should have been) bumped the Haydel MP-90 I liked better than Duck Commander and Gardner's 6-in-1s and led me to the louder Primos Power Drake I hunt with.

I'm hooked on the crispness of Primos's harder polymer, which many, if not most, others might not even notice. To my ear, the only sound in nature that can compete with the quiet small talk of a bob white covey is the ringing whistle chorus of a mess of drake green-wings. And the Power Drakes lets me come as close to that as I know how while advertising our location in the fog or dim light of LST, which are about the only times I still use a 6-in-1 whistle.

But I keep Buck Gardner 6-in-1s (which are the cheapest of their kind) and lanyards in the blind to give to the kids passing through it who are still too young to shoot, so they can "help me call" and be part of the hunt without much hurting our chances:

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[Ricky Spanish]

The one I found the quickest says Gardner on it.
Have the primos around too.
Having a pair of guys whistling to back you up is damn good in timber.
Flocks of wood ducks will buzz your spread.
It takes the excitement level way up when it's working.

[Ricky Spanish]

If you walk into DNW Outdoors in Jonesboro, Arkansas, stand there and look to the left, there is a call rack as the end cap on the decoys aisle.
Every whistle you can think of except them wooden California ones is there.
They got yuh...bam..

I can't hardly go there without spending at least $300.

[Rick]

That Wingert fellow is who's got the whistle thing goin' on: a waiting list for $80 and up whistles that are beautifully made but just sound "OK" and can't be stuck in the corner of your mouth and visited around like a cheap 6-in-1. But it's not my money, and folks are proud of their ownership, so good on him.

Closest I've come to one like that is a double-ended Calcutta cane whistle a carver friend gave me. He used to sell the hell out of them to the New Orleans fat cats who bought his decoys, and you ain't shit in a high rolling N.O. duck club without one. Mine is spot on the birds, just not nearly so handy as a 6-in-1.