I am headed to south Florida for the first time in March, what is the best locator calls for them? Owl? Crow? Coyote? Thanks
Owl and crow work fine. I've had luck with hawk scream when the winds pick up. Good luck in South Florida!
Had owl and crow work there for me too. I hit south Florida at least every other year and they are always gobbling good that middle week of March.
OWL!!
OWL
Now that I think about it, I don't know that I've ever heard an owl in Florida but they nest in a corner of the barn on my place. So many strange noises in Florida in the dark, especially if you're sitting near alligator infested water. I think I've been too scared to do any locator noise!
Take it from a south FL native, when they don't wanna gobble they don't lol. Most of the time that owl call will only get em goin on the roost n then it still only works like a third of the time maybe
Thanks for all the advice!
If you are on public land and do get one to gobble... expect some company, other hunters will move in.
Quote from: Wvdanimal on February 02, 2022, 07:06:01 PM
Now that I think about it, I don't know that I've ever heard an owl in Florida but they nest in a corner of the barn on my place. So many strange noises in Florida in the dark, especially if you're sitting near alligator infested water. I think I've been too scared to do any locator noise!
Interesting, where I hunted last year the owls were on fire! I do agree about the strange noises though. Swamps are spooky.
I always had excellent success making Osceolas gobble to owl calls. Plus there are so many owls in Florida, that they fly in to your calling and take over.
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Quote from: Oljamo on February 03, 2022, 08:41:05 AM
Take it from a south FL native, when they don't wanna gobble they don't lol. Most of the time that owl call will only get em goin on the roost n then it still only works like a third of the time maybe.
THIS EXACTLY. Don't know how many times I've not heard a single gobble but had multiple longbeards show up totally silent. I'm somewhat good with this even though I'm on private ground. Those black wings are a valued item. Less noise they make, the better.
Cows, Sandhill cranes and airboats.
I'm certainly from very southern Florida , I've won the state owl calling championship way back in the day quite a few times ...with that said I don't even know where my owl call is , I almost never use it ...when I'm elsewhere in the country then I use it .... There is like all things exceptions to that experience , crow calls same deal , but I've seen go blers fire off to a crow call when they wouldn't respond to turkey calls
The reason is we have so many owls it only seems to get a response only when the gobblers are going absolutely bezerk at the peak and at that time they will gobble at trucks going over cattle gates thunder strikes etc...
For public hunting don't even dream about it , you get a bird to gobble in the dark and every hunter within hearing distance will close on on your location and ruin your hunt that
Quote from: guesswho on February 03, 2022, 08:21:16 PM
Cows, Sandhill cranes and airboats.
Really? In all my years of hunting Osceolas on public and private land, I've never had a turkey gobble to cows, only had 1 ever gobble at a sandhill and never once at an airboat. The sandhills really amaze me that they didn't gobble to. They shared the same habitat, and were very loud.
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Gobble at all three on a place just South of Arcadia. I've heard them gobble many times Sand Hill cranes that were close by on the BR. And on Duette road they used to go crazy at the cows. Last time I was by there they had turned that place into some kind of WMA.
First several we killed didn't gobble on the roost period. I did my homework and cameras don't lie so I knew they were there. I could've believe it, only got fired up well after hitting the ground. As said, although I'm on private, I was good with the lack of noise to draw attention to my area from neighbor hunters.
Oldgobbler knows the drill, he's another South FL boy that hunts our awesome overran public land, the least you can get that bird to gobble before you kill him the better, damg sure dot wanna start calling em on the roost