As a product specialist for several national bow hunting magazines I see a boat-load of new products every year, and get to field-test a fair share of them. Others, I study and follow their progress. For several years I’ve been following the progress of one company, because they’re from my home state, and because I thought they might be on to something. I had the opportunity to try out some of their products and was quite impressed.
    The company is Extreme Dimension Wildlife Calls of Hampden, Maine. Their product, The Phantom Call is a digital, electronic game calling system featuring both movement sounds and vocalizations of a range of game species including deer, turkeys, moose, geese, predators and elk. The system consists of both a hand-held transmitter and a speaker.     With 60 feet of speaker cable (included) the user can distance themselves from the sound, increasing safety and decreasing chance of detection by animals. With the simple press of a button, you can play one of 12 distinct sounds. You can also play two sounds simultaneously to create a more authentic scenario.
    With the Phantom Call you don’t have to worry about the tone, cadence or authenticity of your calls. Even more important for the bow hunter, with the cable, the animal’s attention is drawn not to you, but to the speaker, which you can place as far away from you as you feel is necessary. Volume controls also let you adjust how far the sound will travel.
    Even if you consider yourself an accomplished game caller, the Phantom Call has advantages. I used the turkey model and found the owl, coyote and gobble calls invaluable for roosting birds. By cranking up the volume I could be heard farther than if I were using my voice or a mouth-blown call. And I can’t wait to try the deer call. Several times in the past, while using mouth calls, I called bucks right to my stand – a little closer than I would have liked. Now, I can call them within bow range, but divert their attention away from me. The same holds true for the predator call.
    Whether you lack confidence in your calling, can’t call loud enough for distant game, or merely want to bring them into bow range, but no closer, the Phantom Call is worth serious consideration.

Bob Humphrey, New Products Researcher, Petersen’s Bowhunting