I never used to think much of Open reed calls when I lived in michigan. I always found it much easier to use closed reed calls and never had any problems with them. I moved to alaska about a year and a half ago and this winter has been my first opportunity to get out and do any calling here. On two occasions I have had my closed reed calls freeze up on my after only a series of calls, as soon as I stopped blowing they would freeze up. I have know found myself forced to start using the open reed calls because they don't freeze up. I will admit they are a little harder to use but once you get the hang of them they sound really good and are a lot more versatile than closed reed calls. You have to have at least a couple closed reed calls in your call bag. I have tried the critr call and it worked nicely.