# Red Hat Cow Horn



## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Monday I received a package from Itzdirty and Red Hat Calls that made me stand back and appreciate the beauty of cow horn. I've seen quite a few through the years and most of them are pretty nice and each of them is different. Most of them sound pretty good and virtually all of them are loud, some clearly louder and more clear than others. Rick (Itzdirty) has asked me to review his.

I'll start by saying I've never owned a cow horn howler before, I've used a few through the years on occasion and I do own a Buffalo horn howler as well as a limited edition custom made juice bottle howler. Don't laugh , it works, and was made for me by someone I truly admire and view as a hero.

For starters this howler has the same basic tone board as the Red Hats standard howler( a 5/8ths wide tone board with a 15/64ths air channel) Each one is individually tuned to match it's horn. He has chosen to mount the tone board in an olive wood sleeve that is then inserted into the horn itself He then adds a distinctive leather wrap around the tip end of the horn just below the tone board./olive wood . The horn itself is well colored with a little burnt red , some speckles of yellow that at first I thought were paint or the like (it's not but is actually natural) , some white mottling with the majority of it an olive green. It's about 7 1/4" long and 2 1/4" in diameter at the wide end. All in all a very distinctive looking horn that has obviously been worked on for quite some time resulting in a very smooth polished look. Let me say here that for those of you not familiar with cow horn, they are all different colors with no two being the same

I did notice that the walls of the horn are a bit thicker than many of them I see offered, but I like the heft of this one. It seems as though you could drop it in the rocks and not break it.(not recommended) I was very easily able to produce a wide variety of howls, ki-yi's, and distress calls that sounded as clear realistic as any I've heard in the wild. This call blows and handles easily and needs to be in your arsenal of tools.


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## Ruger (Jan 22, 2011)

Great write-up Don. Sounds like Itzdirty is producing some quality calls.


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## Antlerz22 (Apr 18, 2011)

Ok Don, you're violating one of your rules. Figure it out and correct it LOL


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Ruger said:


> Great write-up Don. Sounds like Itzdirty is producing some quality calls.


He really is. He's gone through several prototypes of each call making changes,sometimes very subtle, until they meet his standards.


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## prairiewolf (Feb 19, 2012)

I am with Ralph, Where is the pictures?


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## Rick Howard (Feb 25, 2012)

Thanks Don! I am very happy you liked the call. These are extremely fun to make. As soon as I get some more cow horns I will make some more. I listed one last night but it is already gone. I have one horn left but it will be a few days before it is complete and ready for sale. I will list it as soon as it is ready.

I would like to add. Each horn is different in wall thickness, length and coloration. Sometimes there is no telling what it will look like until it is finished. I will list them with a quick description of what they look like. At some point I will have a sound setup so I will add some recordings of the call also. That being said each toneboard and reed will be a little different as per the horn it is going into. This toneboard happens to be pretty similar to the one in my small howlers. That will not always be the case. I have made several that are different. It all just depends on the horn they are going into.

Whew......... I hope I spit that in a sensible way.


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## Rick Howard (Feb 25, 2012)

Don has been sleep deprived. LOL

Here are some photos.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

What are you zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz talking about !


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## Antlerz22 (Apr 18, 2011)

Thar she blows!!! Now I can see by Dons description exactly what he was talking about. It certainly has characters unique to itself, I presume the leather is for a more secure grip as well as cosmetic practicality? Very nice looking call, I personally have yet to venture into the "howling" waters as I am not familiar with all the different vocalizations and their meanings. More precisely on sounding real vs man made...but I'm working on it, and as of yet I havent convinced myself--so how can I fool the master!!!


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## Weasel (Jun 18, 2012)

That's a nice looking howler for sure.


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## Rick Howard (Feb 25, 2012)

Honestly...... I put the leather on for look and to help hold the lanyard loop.


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

Great looking howler Rick!

Very good write up Don, I see pictures with the write up.....??????


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## Rick Howard (Feb 25, 2012)

Don cheated and went back and add them later. LOL Thanks Mike. these are really fun to make. I am going to post some sound files right now of Rugers horn in that thread.


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## 220swift (Mar 2, 2011)

I'll check out the sounds for sure..........


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