Ideal sound??

[fargobox]

We all have our opinions about the best sound in a turkey call, for the spring season, however, tell us your criteria and sound characteristics (hunters and callmakers both), that you believe offers the ideal/best sound from a turkey call and what type of call is it?  What is it about the call you prefer makes the sound the "best" sound?

[GR8CALLS]

Not sure it's "ideal" everywhere, but I've always been a fan of the raspy old hen. Where I hunt, you find hens that just never get bred and for the most part, they tend to be late hatch birds that will hang around an old gobbler all Spring. Many times, late in the Spring season, I've been lucky enough to call an old gobbler up with these young hens in tow.

Bill

[West Augusta]

In a Box call I like a high front end with a raspy finish.
Pot call I like a high front end with a lot of break.  

The "ideal" sound is whatever calls in the old longbeard.

[ol bob]

The sound that the call buyer wants to hear is the only sound that matters almost any call will kill a turkey in the right hands.

[silvestris]

 Call softly, my friend.

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

The sound that the call buyer wants to hear is the only sound that matters. Almost any call will kill a turkey in the right hands.

I like this answer. 

[jmck]

that's almost like which came first--the chicken or the egg ole friend 
A box that work like magic one day--can get totally ignored at others. I don't want to be like Porter and carry a suitcase of calls into the woods... . but I usually have a number of different sounds in calls when I go into the turkey woods....from higher young hens to lower pitched nasty raspy hens...ya never know what will trigger an ole tom to respond. I always have pots, mouth calls, trumpets and boxes in tow

[silvestris]

Thirty or forty years ago, my answer would be a flydown cackle with a Morgan Caller.  Today I have more confidence in soft clear yelps with clucks and purrs.  Go figure.

[GR8CALLS]

The sound that the call buyer wants to hear is the only sound that matters almost any call will kill a turkey in the right hands.

Now we know why they call you old Bob. Years of selling calls has proved you right. It is all in the ears of the buyer!

Bill

[longbeard48]

If the gobbler is quiet, I like a cluck or purr, and MAYBE a low yelp.
But if he's going nuts, I want to be able to feed his fever.
Most any call will do that in the right hands.
Make mine a scratch box!

[Jake St. John]

Early in the season, birds can be worked with a number of different calls, and a lot of calling.  Later, PRESURE  on birds determines best calls in the woods. I have seen 100,000 acre public forests go silent to mouth calls because the birds have been hammered with mouth calls.  Pull out a homemade raspy hen box call and the birds trip over their beards, gobbling every step to you.  I have seen private clubs have gobblers that have flown down and are gobbling good go silent and refuse to work to any hen yelps on any call. They will work and are killed wth Jake gobbling though! A lot of tricks for these pressured birds require different tactics.  Arm yourself with different calls to accomplish this.  Mr. E

[Blackfalcon]

I've been pondering your question while working in the shop for that last couple of days. For me, the most important call I can make is one that is as realistic as possible. I think cadence is just as critical as sound, whether I'm trying to sound like a hen, jake or gobbler. Like Bill I like a raspy old hen sound for a couple of reasons, normally the boss hens are the first to breed so it makes sense to sound like one. By slowing the cadence you can sound like another gobbler or jake, and sometimes depending on the staging of the breeding cycle, they seem to prefer the company of other gobblers. As the breeding season progresses the flock begins to break up as the boss hens start to nest, the younger hens become receptive and the gobblers seem to be more responsive to a younger hen sound, as Silvestris noted soft clear yelps with clucks and purrs. This can also be a more natural sound as they become wary of not only hunters, they don't want to mess with the boss hen.
Hunting pressure can be a major factor especially if the gobblers have seen their buddies get smoked or have had a narrow escape themselves. As John mentioned they can become quite shut mouthed and wary after associating turkey calls (and poor calling) with hunters. The ones that won't answer are probably the hardest ones to kill, and I can think of a few around here that are like that. Last spring early season we found using fall calling tactics worked best for us,jake yelps, gobbler clucks on a tube call etc as they weren't responding well to any hen yelping I think due to the weather, humidity, stage of the breeding cycle. But then it seemed to change as the season progressed. I pretty much carry a box or two, couple of friction calls, tube, wing bone and trumpet, like Jeff says you never know what will trigger a response from day to day or area to area and I like finding birds that want to play.
Take my thoughts for what they're worth, every time I get too full of myself and think I'm a seasoned veteran turkey hunter, the turkeys find a way to humble me