Owl hooting...

[Scottyb]

Just  curiosity...

Do you find that owls respond better to a hoot tube or to a natural voice owl hoot ( if it is realistic)...

The reason I ask is, I have never tried a hoot tube, and the one my dad has ( palmers I think) is not nearly as loud as my voice....

Just curious if anyone has noticed a difference in response...

Thanks..

[StruttinGobbler3]

I've always hooted with my voice, and its always done very well for me, as far as recieving shock gobbles and responses from other owls. Usually in the evenings whenever I hear an owl, I'll hoot at him to get him answering me. In some cases the owl will get more and more animated in his responses, and that is a great learning tool. Listen hard to the owl's cadence, pitch, and timing of his hooting and do your best to replicate those sounds perfectly. After a lot of practice doing just that you can reach a new level of realism with your natural voice that matches or exceeds the realism of a production owl hooter. You'll find you also get more responses from gobblers and owls alike.

[Scottyb]

Thank you for the reply..

I hoot with my own voice, and very very realistically and loudly. My question was more geared towards getting a response with a hoot tube compared to the voice, which I prefer. I was just wondering if anyone who was good with their voice had tried a hoot tube and what the reults were.. thanks again

[StruttinGobbler3]

My mistake. Time to time I get off on a tangent of my own. As far as your question, I have tried one or two production hooters and actually drew fewer responses. One case in particular, walking along a ridge at daylight I hit a production hooter. Nothing. No gobble, no answering owl. Few seconds later, I gave a loud booming hoot with my voice, immediately two gobblers fired off. Gave the hooter to a friend of mine later that morning. Just food for thought.

[hobbes]

response from owls or turkeys?  Either way, I hunt with two guys that will hoot with their natural voice.  Honestly, they both sound awful, and I crack up every time they do it.  I'm usually hoping no one is near us to hear their terrible hooting.  However, the turkeys will shock gobble at it.  I think its because they are so loud.  The owls............run from it.  I can sound decent with my voice on a good day, but I can't get enough volume, so I stick to a tube.  

I've never had issues with getting birds to gobble at a tube.  If they didn't shock for the tube, I never felt like they would have gobbled at their "hooting" (yelling).  Unless its been really windy, I've never had an issue with the volume of a tube.  At daybreak it carries really far and I've had birds gobble far enough that I could barely hear them.  As far as owls go......I've called in multiple owls and in several places all that I need to do is get them started and they'll do the rest for me.

Turkeys aren't gobbling at either because they are thinking......"hey.....an owl".  Its a shock gobble, nothing more, nothing less.  Volume or pitch alone would be the deciding factor, although the human voice scares the heck out of all game animals.

[Skeeterbait]

A loud sudden WHOOAH!  Usually evokes a gobble better than the full 8 note call.  Also the gobble is less likely to come in the middle of your calling giving you a better chance to hear and locate it.

[hookedspur]

A loud sudden WHOOAH!  Usually evokes a gobble better than the full 8 note call.  Also the gobble is less likely to come in the middle of your calling giving you a better chance to hear and locate it.

[Jay]

I lost my hooter, but I could always do a Loon call with my hands, so I played with it, till it resembled an Owl. Surprising to me, it got the Owls answering to me in the mornings, which then fired up the Turkeys. Never went and bought a Owl Hooter again.

[chatterbox]

I picked up an owl hooter form Bobby Vanover in the off season, and I can't wait to see how it works this spring!

[tomdown#4]

I have had owls fly up to me after using an old wooden owl hooter and it has made a lot of gobblers give away their locations a well. At the same time I have also used my voice and with the same results (short of calling up owls). Because of this I will usually try both if which ever one I try first does not get a response.

[bnew17]

I called in 2 owls with my Harrisons Hootn stick this past weekend scouting. They flew to a tree about 30 yards away and i mimicked every soudn they made. The turkeys were going nuts.

To answer your question. The call sounds better than a natural voice.

[Hootowl]

hobbes
             I had to laugh at your Comment, as I can see you hiding when they do this? And for you to not just bust out laughing when they do this.. I would have to laugh, To funny...

 
Hoot

[mountman62]

I get a better response when using my natural voice over the hooter, maybe because i suck with the hooter, but I have had people want me to owl for them just to watch my movements & expressions, you got to move your neck and stand up on your toes to get the full effect of an owl