Field vocabulary
Hunting call glossary
The same word can describe different sounds in different species. These definitions explain how terms are used across this guide without pretending that a label is a universal biological category.
- Assembly call
- A flock or family-group sound used to regroup separated birds or young, such as a fall turkey kee-kee or bobwhite covey call.
- Bark-howl
- A coyote sequence that combines warning barks with a howl and often indicates suspicion or territorial pressure.
- Bleat
- A nasal deer contact, breeding, or distress sound; meaning changes with pitch, length, age, and season.
- Bugle
- A bull elk's long rut-associated call used for advertisement, location, and challenge.
- Cadence
- The timing, spacing, grouping, and pace that turn separate notes into a recognizable message.
- Call shy
- A field description for animals that avoid or react cautiously to familiar calling setups; it is not a fixed personality trait.
- Cluck
- A short turkey or goose note whose meaning depends on volume, spacing, and the surrounding sequence.
- Comeback call
- A duck-calling routine intended to regain the attention of birds that are moving away; usually built from natural quacks.
- Contact call
- A sound that helps animals locate or maintain connection with members of a pair, herd, flock, or family group.
- Cutt
- Fast, sharp turkey clucks that communicate excitement or urgency and are stronger than a plain cluck.
- Decrescendo
- A mallard hen quack series that generally becomes shorter or softer through the run; often called a greeting call.
- Distress call
- A cry suggesting injury, capture, separation, or extreme pressure. It can attract predators and other non-target animals.
- Downwind check
- An approach that lets a scent-oriented animal test the source from the side receiving the caller's odor.
- Electronic call
- A device that plays, amplifies, or remotely projects recorded or synthesized sound. Legal definitions and rules vary.
- Finishing call
- A quiet or restrained sound used after an animal has shown interest and moved close enough that louder calling is unnecessary.
- Glunk
- A low, hollow sound made by a rutting bull elk, often at close range around cows.
- Greeting call
- A hunter label for a social series used to create flock or group interest, especially in waterfowl calling.
- Grunt
- A short low mammal note used in contact, breeding, movement, or competition; common in deer, elk, moose, hogs, and other species.
- Hail call
- A high-volume long-range waterfowl routine used to gain the attention of distant birds.
- Locator call
- A call used mainly to make an animal answer so its position can be estimated, not necessarily to bring it all the way in.
- Mew
- A short elk or cat-family contact note; species context is essential because the same word describes different sounds.
- Moan
- A drawn-out low note used in several species, including moose, geese, and squirrels, with different meanings in each.
- Purr
- A soft turkey contentment or close-contact sound; not the same as a cat purr in structure or use.
- Rattling
- A nonvocal deer cue made by antlers during sparring or fighting and imitated with antlers or a mechanical device.
- Snort-wheeze
- An aggressive deer challenge that can draw a dominant animal or push a subordinate one away.
- Source location
- The place where an animal expects the caller, speaker, or sound-producing animal to be.
- Tending grunt
- A series of short buck grunts associated with following or tending a doe during the rut.
- Yelp
- A repeated two-part wild-turkey call used in social contact; rhythm and intensity change the message.