If you've ever sat in on a championship duck- or goose-calling contest you've no doubt marveled at the dazzling array of honks, quacks and other sounds that the pros use to impress the judges.

But then, with all that showmanship in mind, walk out to a local pond to listen to the birds themselves. You won't hear the wide range of sounds typical of a competition among humans, but rather the real thing as made by ducks and geese in the wild.

When you've got to convince a flock of mallards or a pair of Canadas to bail into your decoy spread, you want to sound as natural as possible. Do as live birds do, and when live birds do it.

IT'S YOUR CALL
The first thing a good caller needs to do is to sort through the hundreds of offerings at the local sporting goods store to find something that works for him. You've got to be comfortable with the call you blow before you have any chance of convincing birds to land. If you can, ask to try out a sample of the call in the store to see if it feels right for you. If that's not possible, ask your hunting buddies to let you try out their calls until you find something you like. Choosing the right call can be a difficult process, with a variety of types to select from: double-reed or single-reed in wood or acrylic.

Novice duck callers may assume that the only difference between single- and double-reed models is the number of reeds, but there's more to it than that. The most important aspect of the double-reed call is its superior user-friendliness: The user need only bring air up from the diaphragm and shut the notes off with a "T" sound (what phonologists call the "voiceless alveolar plosive"). Also, the double reed will have one tone that can be either loud or soft.

Each waterfowler needs and wants a call to fit the quarry and the environment. If you're hunting big open water or a giant field of goose decoys, the louder you can call, the better. Remember that ducks and geese can see for miles from the air, and your field or decoy spread is just one of a hundred places they can see and could potentially land in. If it's a windy day and the birds are upwind, reaching them with a call is even tougher. Most double-reed models put out a lot of volume and so are highly suitable for this kind of attention-getting calling.

Timber-style calls are better for close-in situations, such as flooded timber or small marsh areas. Timber calls are a great addition to your lanyard, because even in expansive open-water situations they can be used as finishing calls, producing a mellow sound when the birds are on that final pass and you don't want to blast them out with something larger.

Most novices start out with a double-reed call, because that type is easier to blow, but if you really want to sound natural, you'll need to graduate at some point to single-reed calls. What you hear at duck- and goose-calling competitions are mostly single-reed calls.