Advice on Owl hooting with Mouth?

[C.j.]

Can anyone give some advice on owl hooting with your mouth? Do you try and pull the air from your diaphragm? is it better with a hand over your mouth?

Thanks

[J Hook Max]

 I have use mine for 25 + years , but I don't think I can descibe exactly how. Just try until it begins to sound right. One tip I would give is to start with low volume until it sounds right. Then slowly ramp up the volume. If you attempt to get too loud , it sometimes doesn't sound as good.
Accentuate the very last part of the hoot and you will get better response. At least that works for me.

[jblackburn]

I have use mine for 25 + years , but I don't think I can descibe exactly how. Just try until it begins to sound right. One tip I would give is to start with low volume until it sounds right. Then slowly ramp up the volume. If you attempt to get too loud , it sometimes doesn't sound as good.
Accentuate the very last part of the hoot and you will get better response. At least that works for me.

Good advice, it's hard to explain.  Good advice with the last note, I try to "gargle" to get a more real sound.  It does seem to help.

[FullChoke]

"Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you allllll." Not the words, but the cadence. All syllables are from the diaphragm. Drop your jaw to increase the volume of your mouth and get a hollow tone. Practice to do the "allllll" syllable with a gutteral purring. Match the rhythm and pitch of real owls.

If you will ignore the humans, this video is a good pattern for the owl calls. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYTkZ8PZ3EU

[bamagtrdude]

The only time I carry an owl call is during pre-season; during the season when I'm hunting, I always use my natural voice.  To answer your specific questions, I might cup my hands over my mouth if I'm fairly certain I'm close to a gobbler roosted in a tree or already on the ground; no hands over my mouth if I'm fairly certain I'm a ways away from one.

To shock a gobble out around here (easterns, AL), I like to wait until it's fairly quiet in the woods, and then give it the ole, "WHOOOOOOOOO-aaaahhhhh", one good time (and I gargle the last "aaaaahhh" to give it a little rolling sound owls do).  Wait, and then listen for a little bit.  Then, if that doesn't do it, then I do "who who WHO; WHO--WHOOOOOOO-aahhhhhh".  Then wait & listen for a little bit longer.

This typically accomplishes 2 things: 1) shock gobbles a turkey, and 2) gets other owls "into the game" so I then can shut up & maneuver on a bird.  I don't want him thinking I'm an owl; I want him thinking I'm a hen!  So, I try to do as little "locating" with other bird sounds as possible.  This includes crow calls.

[J Hook Max]

 That was good advice. Once you get the owls started , you can concentrate on listening.

[Bigspurs68]

Many times a bird will gobble in the middle of your "who cooks for you, who cooks for you all". If I need to hoot in the morning it is usually one loud sharp note unless I think they may be close. In that case I'll tone it down.

[ShortSpurs]

yup, works good. Its either an easy thing for the caller to do  ... or it ain't! Been doing it for 45-50 years. Can call Canadian geese as a natural voice caller also.