[OkieDavid]

I just got started on my latest "project" and have a couple of questions. I'm making a device that I don't know the proper name of so I'll call it a "bugger call". The actual one I'm trying to replicate is basically a stretched buckskin over an old open ended nail keg. Attached to the center of the hide and running through the keg is a piece of rawhide. A well rosined glove is used to lightly stroke the rawhide string between two fingers. The resulting scream/call/sound is something to cause your hair to stand on end and send small children and dogs running for the house.....Living in "Big Foot" country, I can think of dozens of evil pranks with this thing. The prototype I saw had dogs barking from as far away as you could hear on a still night.
I soaked my hide in wood ashes/water and stripped the hair although there are a few places the diameter of a quarter where the hair didn't slip. Won't be a problem as I can probably position them out when I cut the hide to a round shape. I've got it drying now and will conduct final fleshing over the next few days as it drys. I will then resoak it overnight to soften for final fitting. I cannot imagine finding a nail keg so I'm thinking of using a plastic 5 gal bucket- Problems? Would you recommend using the narrow (bottom) end of the bucket or wider (top) end? I'm thinking of drilling a series of holes around the circumference to string it up- Problems? Any advice/tips appreciated.

David

 

[EDDIE BUCK]

It ought to open some eyes How about some pictures? I used to make a flat piece of wood,tie to a string and a handle.Twirled over head would make every dog that could hear it houl and all the mules and horses would run around the pastures. Eddie

 

[3ravens]

EDDIE, that's a bullroarer..... David, I have no idea what yours is called. But I would take the bottom end out of the bucket, the log is open at both ends.

 

[foxfiredidit]

Yep, as 3ravens said, the other end needs to be open for sure.
We call them "Dumbbulls" around here. I've only seen 2 in my lifetime.
One was made from a small barrel, and the other was made from a hallow tree trunk.
A 5 gal. bucket should work okay, but every different material you use will give it a different sound. Not to say there's any recommended way one should sound, but whatever you come up with........will scare men and boys alike late at night around a campfire!! Don't use it within rifle range of some folks, it drives 'em mad!!!!

 

[Ed Norman]

My dad called it a panther call. A fast cheap version is a coffee can with a hole in the bottom and a rosined string.

The big end of the bucket has that lip that might help you hold the drying buckskin on with.

I've also seen a thin wooden lath with a hole at the end, shoved in the side of a window frame, then the rosined string running parallel the house out to the trees. You can be far away and stroke the string and the roar is right at the window. Hopefully you hide behind a big tree to stop most of the gunfire.

 

[foxfiredidit]

I hate gunfire when it's directed in my direction!!!

 

[OkieDavid]

Thanks for the feedback. I made one of the coffee can ones 30 years ago (also called a panther call). The pitch and tone of my buddie's made from a nail keg (the one I am trying to mimic) is very deep and brings chill bumps to the back of your neck. I agree that every material has a different sound. My first attempt was simply drilling a small hole in the bottom of a plastic 5 gal bucket and attaching the sting to it but the tone/pitch was too high. A hollow log would be perfect, but some of "our plans" involve walking some distance and that monster would be too heavy...Hopefully the buckskin will provide a better/deeper tone. I agree that the lip/edges at the top end of the bucket would provide more support than the bottom so I'll start by trying that end. If it doesn't work I'll resoak and try the bottom.

 

[Grits57]

Okiedavid.........since you mentioned it...What are your thoughts on Bigfoot? Do you think they are out there? Living in Oklahoma... you are in prime territory. Ever had any or heard stories about BF? Just curious....

 

[OkieDavid]

I view them the same as I view Alien spacecraft......many reputable and decent folks claim to have seen them, but until I see one myself I will remain the eternal skeptic. I've seen and heard many strange things that are hard to identify in the woods of S.E. Oklahoma, but I have yet to see/hear ANYTHING I would describe as the result of a Bigfoot. Too many folks running around these hills armed to the teeth and decent shots at running/walking/long distance shooting.....Law of averages says it's too much of a coincidence that the only people who ever see one don't have a gun with them......Everyone I know would love to bag the first one and get their picture in the paper LOL.

 

[Oldcountryboy]

nor, a camera on their cell phone!!!

 

[EDDIE BUCK]

Makes me want to be a kid again Eddie
http://www.bettecox.com/familymemories/dumbbull.html

 

[OkieDavid]

That is what I'm after Eddie......Thanks for posting the article. The co-worker who showed me his quoted a very old article he read as a kid that prompted him to make his some thirty/forty years ago.
I'm too old to tote a nail keg (even IF I could find one) around through the woods. That's why I'm going with a plastic bucket. Keep an ear out next time you're in the woods.....No telling what monster/creature is lurking around.

 

[poorboy]

When i was a child I used to listen to the old timers talk of "dumbbulls" and such. Most favored a groundhog hide, greencured with the hair off and moistened an stretched over a nail keg or holler log.


Then their was the gray haired lady (not all that old) that used to wander the countryside in her white nightgown and scare the hell outa everyone..;-)

 

[tallpaul]

There are quite a few guys who have seen BF with thier guns available. The guys that are serious seem to believe that there is usually more than one lone animal in any given area. I would want back up and some serious footpounds of energy available to be tryin ta take one or more of them. I have also read accounts of not just fear and wisdom keeping them from shooting but compassion for the humanlike qualities of some when seen through a scope.


I believe but will not be surprised if they are found or proved not to exist... I think however that there have been to many reputable sightings and foot prints for them all to be false.