Realistic sound and locating gobblers.

[deerbasshunter3]

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How realistic does an owl hoot have to sound to get a bird to gobble? I have heard/read that it does not have to be that realistic (at least somewhere in the ballpark).

[Bowguy]

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Realism is always going to be better. As a kid though I used the plastic 8 hooter. Thing was like a toy. Eventually I learned to hoot better w just my voice and I could hoot louder. I still do it trying to locate in giant areas, but if I'm in the woods, I'm using Harrison's Hootin Stick. It sounds pretty real. There's times, they'll gobble at anything. Car doors, horns, truck hitting a pot hole, trains, etc. An owl hoot is a short lived call daywise, least in the states I've hunted. Goose calls are a good one believe it or not, same for traditional locators, crow, coyote, hawk, woodpecker and none need to be perfect though that would certainly never hurt. That's the idea in any turkey hunting, striving for realism in calling but don't panic over being perfect. Lots of dead birds by imperfect calls, and lots of imperfect animals masking imperfect sounds so don't sweat a learning curve, just keep practicing

[mgm1955]

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Realism is always going to be better. As a kid though I used the plastic 8 hooter. Thing was like a toy. Eventually I learned to hoot better w just my voice and I could hoot louder. I still do it trying to locate in giant areas, but if I'm in the woods, I'm using Harrison's Hootin Stick. It sounds pretty real. There's times, they'll gobble at anything. Car doors, horns, truck hitting a pot hole, trains, etc. An owl hoot is a short lived call daywise, least in the states I've hunted. Goose calls are a good one believe it or not, same for traditional locators, crow, coyote, hawk, woodpecker and none need to be perfect though that would certainly never hurt. That's the idea in any turkey hunting, striving for realism in calling but don't panic over being perfect. Lots of dead birds by imperfect calls, and lots of imperfect animals masking imperfect sounds so don't sweat a learning curve, just keep practicing

Great advice.

[deerbasshunter3]

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I can get a fairly decent "who cooks for you, who cooks for you..." but I cannot get the "y'all" with a roll.

I am using a Boogeyman owl call.

[Bowguy]

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It depends on the hooter you use how possible that roll is. The Hootin stick makes it easy. Harrison rolls w his throat. Some guys roll with their tongue like a feed chuckle in a duck call. You can you tube James Harrison. As stated the laugh gets em most up here.  That being said that cheap plastic hooter I used as a kid did not roll n still found birds w ease.

[ScottS]

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Glad you asked the question cause I can not roll my tongue so creating that last note is difficult. I use my throat and basically gargle but it still doesn't sound good to me. I use a knight n hale plastic hooter and I was hesitant in buying a better quality wood hooter as I didn't think I would be able to produce any better sound but now I've got something else I wanna spend money on. To answer your question though I have gotten plenty of responses from my below average hoot so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[pappy]

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I can get a fairly decent "who cooks for you, who cooks for you..." but I cannot get the "y'all" with a roll.

I am using a Boogeyman owl call.

try ending your call with a rolling "caw" like you would a crow call see if that will work for you.