The whistle call is a critical piece of equipment when hunting in Texas. I would say that I use the whistle call for Widgeon, Teal and Pintail 80% of the time when I hunt. I usually only call when ducks are moving away from me. I take a minimal approach to calling, because I believe that if you have ducks working the spread, calling only gives them one more thing to find wrong with the set-up.

Try calling when they are circling your spread and they are moving away from you. On public land, you get a lot of Yahoos that call constantly. Nothing irritates me more than hunting with someone that calls constantly.

Keep yer eyes peeled!

I've been hunting with Duckwacker for about 4 years now and trust me he knows what he's talking about.  (Especially by the looks of his profile picture). One piece of advise I can give is that its a process and could take some time.  You may not have immediate success right of the bat.  Learn from your mistakes and keep at it.  I am still trying to get good sound. 

That whistle is your best friend if you are hunting public on the coast. If you want to learn how to call with the regular duck call just keep working on it. Another thing you can do is go to Bass Pro during the hunting classic and listen to the "Meat Calling contest". The regular duck calling contest is for calling judges not ducks. Alot of those guys are more than willing to give you some pointers after the contest. What brand of call are you using and what part of Houston are you in. I may be able to give yall some pointers.

Oh yeah, like Duckwhacker said keep it to a minimum. Call enough to get thier attention and get softer as they approach and quit calling altogether when they are close in and locked up. Learn how to soft quack and only call loud for an attention getter or if they flare at a distance to get em to come back. A 4 note come back is deadly when done right. As the season goes on call less and less and depend almost solely on the whistle. Learn the pintail trill(sp) and the mallard drake whistle. Both are easy to learn and very effective late in the season.

I am located on the NE side of Houston right now.  However, I will be moving to Midtown soon.  I am a school teacher so after May 25th I am free for a few months.  If you do not mind meeting up, maybe we could do so after then?

Sounds good to me. Let me know.

If you are really serious about learning trying calling one of the many guides/outfitters that are in the Houston area and ask them to help you. Worse case senario they take you on a hunt and show you how its done ; )

Teal......TAKE ' EM ! ! ! What have you done for the Ducks today ?