6 Best Goose Brant Calls For Coastal Hunting That Defy Salty Winds
Coastal Brant hunting demands calls that cut through wind and resist salt. This guide reviews the top 6 models built for harsh, salty conditions.
The salt spray stings your face as a 30-knot wind rips across the bay, turning the decoys into a chaotic dance. A distant line of brant materializes, flying low and fast against the grey sky, but the roar of the wind and surf swallows all sound. This is the moment where your gear either works or it doesn’t, and nothing is more critical than a call that can slice through the gale.
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Why Coastal Brant Hunting Demands a Tougher Call
Hunting brant along the coast isn’t like sitting in a calm, protected field. You’re fighting a constant battle against wind, moisture, and corrosive salt. These elements don’t just make you uncomfortable; they actively work against your call’s ability to produce sound and reach the birds. The wind can literally steal the notes from your call before they travel more than a few yards, and the constant drone of waves creates a wall of background noise you have to overcome.
This is why material choice is paramount. Traditional wood calls, while beautiful and tonally rich, can swell, warp, or crack when repeatedly exposed to saltwater and drastic temperature changes. A swollen barrel or tone board can completely alter the sound of a call or render it useless. For the harsh coastal environment, non-porous materials like acrylic and Delrin are king. They are impervious to moisture, won’t swell, and provide a sharp, loud sound that helps cut through the wind. Durable polycarbonate is another excellent, budget-friendly choice that can take a beating in the boat or on the rocky shoreline.
Beyond durability, the call must be designed for auditory penetration. Brant are vocal birds, but their guttural purrs and rolling "cr-r-onk" calls are relatively low-frequency. In a high-wind environment, you need a call with enough volume and a sharp enough tone to get above the noise of the surf. This often means a call with more built-in back pressure and a design that rewards a strong, forceful puff of air to get the attention of distant, fast-moving flocks.
Zink Power Brant PB-1: Maximum Volume for High Winds
Imagine the wind is so strong it’s hard to stand, and you spot a flock of brant trading a quarter-mile out. This is not a time for subtle clucks. You need a foghorn, and the Zink Power Brant PB-1 is arguably the loudest, most powerful brant call on the market, designed specifically for these brutal conditions.
Built from tough acrylic, the PB-1 is engineered from the ground up for pure, unadulterated volume. Its design allows a hunter to put a tremendous amount of air into the call to produce a loud, sharp, and ringing "cr-r-onk" that carries an incredible distance. In a howling nor’easter, this call gives you the ability to reach out and get the attention of birds that would never hear a lesser call. The acrylic construction also ensures that its performance is unaffected by rain, sleet, or salt spray.
The tradeoff for this immense power is a lack of subtlety. This is a specialized tool, not a finesse instrument. On calm days or when birds are working close, the sheer volume can be overwhelming and might even flare wary brant. But for the hunter who frequently faces high winds and needs to command attention over long distances, the Power Brant is an indispensable piece of equipment.
Mick Lacy Black Brant: Classic, Realistic Brant Tones
Now picture a different scene: a crisp, calm morning on the tide flat. The birds are circling, but they’re cautious. In this situation, hyper-realistic sound is more important than raw volume. The Mick Lacy Black Brant call is a classic for a reason—it excels at producing the lifelike, throaty sounds that convince wary birds to commit.
This call is renowned for its incredibly accurate brant vocabulary, from soft purrs and feeding chatter to the signature rolling growl. It’s generally easier to blow than the high-volume power calls, requiring less air pressure to get on the reed and produce a clean sound. This makes it an excellent choice for both beginners learning the ropes and seasoned hunters who value realism for finishing birds at close range.
Often constructed from durable Delrin or a tough polycarbonate, the Mick Lacy call is built to handle the coastal environment without the premium price of a full acrylic custom. It’s a reliable workhorse that has earned its place on lanyards up and down the coasts. It may not have the extreme top-end volume for the windiest days, but for 80% of hunting situations, its realism is a deadly advantage.
Haydel’s B-81: The Durable, All-Weather Specialist
You’ve been soaked by spray crossing the bay, and now a steady drizzle has set in. Everything is wet, including the inside of your call. This is where many calls fail, their reeds sticking to the tone board, but it’s precisely where the Haydel’s B-81 Brant call proves its worth.
Haydel’s Game Calls has built its reputation on one key principle: their calls must blow wet. The B-81 is the embodiment of this philosophy. Its internal design is specifically crafted to prevent the reed from sticking due to moisture, whether from rain, salt spray, or condensation from your breath on a cold morning. This reliability is its defining feature.
While it may not win awards for the loudest call or the most intricate custom finish, the B-81 is an incredibly tough and affordable specialist. It’s made from a durable polymer that can be dropped, stepped on, and frozen without issue. For the hunter who needs a call that is guaranteed to work no matter how miserable the conditions get, the B-81 is the ultimate security blanket. It’s a perfect first call for a new hunter or a must-have backup on any serious coastal hunter’s lanyard.
Sean Mann Eastern Shoreman for Long-Range Power
When you’re hunting a massive expanse of open water, your call needs to do more than just make noise—it needs to project that sound with authority. The Sean Mann Eastern Shoreman is a legendary call in the goose hunting world, and its design translates perfectly to the demands of reaching brant across wide-open bays. It’s a master of long-range communication.
The genius of the Eastern Shoreman lies in its ability to generate incredible volume without demanding lung-busting effort from the caller. Sean Mann’s designs are known for being "easy blowing," allowing hunters to produce loud, crisp, and ringing notes that carry exceptionally well. This means you can effectively hail distant flocks without exhausting yourself, saving your breath for the critical moments when birds are working in close.
This call is not a one-trick pony, however. While it has the top-end power to cut a stiff wind, it also has enough finesse on the low end to produce convincing clucks and murmurs for finishing. This versatility makes it a fantastic all-around option. Mastering its full range takes practice, but for the hunter who wants one call that can do it all—from hailing distant birds to coaxing them into the decoys—the Eastern Shoreman is a top-tier choice.
RCC Acrylic Brant: Custom Quality for Salty Air
For the hunter who views their gear as a collection of finely tuned instruments, a custom call is the ultimate choice. Red-Cock-Calls (RCC) produces acrylic brant calls that represent the pinnacle of craftsmanship, sound quality, and durability for the saltwater environment. This is the call for the waterfowler who leaves nothing to chance.
The primary advantage of a hand-tuned acrylic call is consistency and precision. High-quality, polished acrylic is completely inert to the effects of moisture and temperature, so the call sounds the same on a warm, bluebird day as it does in a freezing squall. Each RCC call is meticulously assembled and tuned by hand to ensure it has the perfect combination of volume, rasp, and ease of use. The sound is exceptionally crisp and clean.
Of course, this level of quality comes at a premium price. A custom call is an investment. However, for the dedicated brant hunter, the cost is justified by flawless performance and the confidence that comes from using a tool built to the highest possible standard. It’s a "buy once, cry once" piece of gear that will last a lifetime.
Tim Grounds G Overhauler: A Versatile Powerhouse
Sometimes the best tool for a specific job wasn’t originally designed for it. The Tim Grounds G Overhauler is a short-reed Canada goose call that has found a devoted following among brant hunters for its unique sound and incredible versatility. It’s a powerhouse that speaks their language fluently.
The secret to the G Overhauler’s success on brant is its "Triple Crown" gut system, which comes "worn-in" from the factory. This makes the call remarkably easy to blow and gives it a deep, raspy, and guttural tone that perfectly mimics the rolling growls of a flock of brant. It has plenty of top-end volume to handle windy days but also allows for the soft, subtle clucks and purrs needed to finish birds over the decoys.
For the waterfowler who hunts both geese and brant, the G Overhauler offers tremendous value. It’s one call that can effectively pull double duty, saving space on the lanyard and money in the wallet. While it may take a little practice to dial in the specific brant sounds, its unique combination of power, rasp, and user-friendliness makes it a formidable and highly effective choice for the coast.
Maintaining Your Call in Corrosive Saltwater Areas
Buying a top-tier, salt-resistant call is only half the battle; proper maintenance is what ensures it performs hunt after hunt. Saltwater is relentlessly corrosive. It leaves behind abrasive salt crystals that can ruin a reed, clog a tone channel, and seize up moving parts. A simple cleaning routine is the most important thing you can do for your gear.
The single most critical step is to rinse your call with fresh, clean water after every single trip. Don’t just give it a quick splash. Take the call apart completely—barrel, insert, reed, and wedge—and rinse each component thoroughly. This prevents salt from crystallizing inside the call where you can’t see it. Let every piece air dry completely before you even think about putting it back together.
For long-term care, periodically inspect the reed for any nicks, chips, or signs of wear. Check the cork or rubber O-rings that create a seal between the insert and barrel; salt can dry them out and cause them to crack, leading to air leaks that affect the call’s sound. Storing your calls in a dry, climate-controlled place instead of a damp, salty gear bag will dramatically extend their life and ensure they’re ready to perform when that next flock of brant appears on the horizon.
Ultimately, the best call is the one you have on your lanyard and know how to use with confidence. Whether it’s a high-dollar custom acrylic or a budget-friendly polycarbonate, practice is what fills the strap. Don’t let the pursuit of perfect gear keep you indoors—get out there, learn the sounds, and enjoy the wild, beautiful chaos of the coast.
