How to Blow a Short Reed Goose Call

Quick steps

1. Wrap both hands around the call's exhaust end.
2. Form a tunnel with your fingers to hold back pressure.
3. Push fast air, like blowing out birthday candles.
4. Say "ga-wick," tongue tip behind your bottom front teeth.
5. Speed the word up for a cluck; stretch it out for a honk.
6. Practice 10 to 15 minutes a day before hunting with it.

Hand position and back pressure

Unlike a duck call, a short reed goose call is run with both hands. Per Ducks Unlimited's short-reed calling guide, your hands provide the back pressure needed to make the reed break and also shape the call's tone and pitch; one common grip wraps your thumb and forefinger around the exhaust end while your other fingers form a tunnel, with your second hand adding pressure over the end. There's no single correct grip: the guide is explicit that you need to experiment with how much your fingers constrict the exhaust to find what works for you.

Air speed and tongue placement

Short reeds need fast air, not loud air. Ducks Unlimited compares the push to blowing out candles on a birthday cake, and describes the diaphragm push as needing to "shake that bottle" every time you blow, the same pressurized-burst feeling as a shaken soda bottle rather than a puff from your cheeks. Keep the tip of your tongue anchored behind your bottom front teeth; the middle of your tongue does the actual work, rising to dam the air and dropping to release it.

The cluck, the honk and the moan

Say the two-syllable word "ga-wick" with fast air and the tongue placement above, and you have the basic Canada goose honk. Per Ducks Unlimited's guide to goose calling, speeding that same word up into "gwick" produces the cluck, which the guide calls the sound a novice caller should master first, since it's the foundation for most other calls. Stretch the cluck out instead and you get a long, loud honk for getting the attention of distant, passing birds. From there, DU notes you can gradually increase the speed and pitch of the cluck to sound excited and pull geese the last distance in, or slow and soften it into the low moan that finishes geese already committed to the decoys.

Per Ducks Unlimited's guide to the moan, the moan is a different shape of sound entirely: "a cluck is high and low notes close together", while "a moan is a low note only," dragged out rather than clipped. Where a cluck and honk get attention, a moan is meant to close the deal on birds already working your spread: "if geese are not buying your calling, a moan can be used to draw them in and finish." Between the cluck, the honk and the moan, callers quoted by Ducks Unlimited say the cluck and moan alone account for most of what actually brings geese into range.

Ducks Unlimited's most practical tip for a new caller may be the simplest: practice, even if only for 10 to 15 minutes a day, before you take a call into the field.

Common mistakes

• Blowing from your cheeks instead of your diaphragm. Ducks Unlimited's short-reed guide describes the correct push as needing to "shake that bottle" every time, not puff your cheeks.
• Using only one hand. A short reed is designed to be run with two hands; your hands, not just your air, create the back pressure that makes the reed break.
• Locking your hand position and never adjusting it. Per Ducks Unlimited, you need to experiment with how much your fingers constrict the exhaust to find what works for your call and your grip.
• Skipping the cluck to jump straight to advanced sounds. Ducks Unlimited calls the cluck the foundation novice callers should master first, since it modifies into most other sounds.

What to practice on

An easy-blowing short reed lowers the bar while you build the hand and air technique above. Two calls in our best goose calls roundup carry an explicit ease-of-use claim from their makers, and both are worth starting on.