Can you make him gobble before sunrise?

[tha bugman]

I keep my mouth shut and let him do all the talking the less he knows the better

[Dr Juice]

Owl hoot is the way to go! 

[beakbuster10]

How do you make him gobble 5 minutes early?

Not trying to be rude, but if you have to ask this question a few months before the season the answer is don't try it all. Locator calls work both ways IMO you know where he is and he knows where you are. Watch the NWTF owl calling contests. Unless you sound like that, let him do his thing on his own.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jblackburn]

I try if they won't set my clock back  5 Min. and try again. But really easterns are funny can usually get one going  early but never seen the need unless I suspect I'm far away and have to book it to close distance.  Rios and Mrriams will gobble real early pitch black dark

I've had Rios gobbling at 10:00 pm and 4:00 am, they'll gobble when/where ever they feel like it

[Satellitehunter]

Had Rios gobble at us setting a blind up that went "pop" 4:00am in the mountains


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[GobbleNut]

There are always two trains of thought on locator call use in these discussions.  Some of us say we use them and think others should know how to.  And some of us say we never use them and don't believe they are of any real use,...and even suggest they can be detrimental in turkey hunting.

Both trains of thought are correct,...depending on where you are hunting.  There are places where using locators to find birds is absolutely essential if you expect to have a reasonable chance of finding and killing a gobbler.  There are also places where they are of very little value and are not at all necessary. 

If you are hunting unfamiliar territory, especially areas of any size, I will state without any hesitation that you should know the basics of locator call use.  You may not need to use them in a given situation, but rest assured, there are times and places where they can be the difference between you killing a gobbler,...or not.

[WyoHunter]

I tend to let them start on their own. I usually am pretty close to them and fine tune my setup from there. Around here the birds will roost in the same general area but I usually can't peg them to an exact tree so I plan on being flexible in the morning.

Exactly what I do. 

[paboxcall]

I've had success with them, I use a Harrison hooter and crow call.  One bird last year gobbled every time I hit the crow call for over hour while I was getting re-positioned.  I stress less about using them when hunting huge tracts of public ground.

[Flounder]

This farm is holding some nice birds and it would give me a little advantage in getting setup.
The other 10 or so I can roost and setup and don't have to worry bout coyote moving in quick.Just needed some ideas how you would try to do this if needed.
Thanks a lot.

[silvestris]

I have a Harrison hoot stick but I've never had a bird gobble to it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Killerstump, I used my natural voice with great success until I had my stroke in 2012 and lost the ability to owl.  I was forced to get an owl caller and I chose the Harrison.  I am quite happy with it with the exception of having to carry something else with me and having to dig it out of my pocket.  I don't know how experienced you are at owling, so I will risk thinking not too experienced.  Forgive me, if otherwise.

Unless the turkeys in the areas you hunt have been owled to death, they will respond to a well-delivered owl.  You really only need two calls, the traditional "who cooks for you all" and the two note "oooooh-ahh".  I prefer the two note as a distant gobbler may gobble in the middle of the longer eight note sequence and you could miss it.

Go to You Tube and listen to Harrison and some of the other expert owlers.  Many are very good.  Ignore the fancy stuff and concentrate on the two calls I mentioned.  Hand placement is very important.  You want to choke the call down and just open your hand a little bit when more volume is desired.  You need to practice so that when you use the caller, you can do so with little thought.  Don't overdo it when hunting as you only need to know two things, where you are and where he is.  Once he gobbles, put the caller away and gain position to call the gobbler.

I hunted an area once where there was a hunter across the river each of the four mornings that I hunted the area who I named "Ole Four Hoot".  He never raised a gobble with his owling.  It was a pretty steep decline into the river bottom and on the last morning I decided that I was not going to make the effort if "Ole Four Hoot" was down there.  He was, so I decided to give him a thrill by gobbling at his owl.  When I did, a nice gobbler answered my gobble somewhat to the east on my side of the river so I went to him.  He never gobbled on his own, nor did he respect my calling.  He did, however answer a real owl once.  The object of this discourse is to learn to owl realistically and don't overdo it.

[paboxcall]

I have a Harrison hoot stick but I've never had a bird gobble to it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Killerstump, I used my natural voice with great success until I had my stroke in 2012 and lost the ability to owl.  I was forced to get an owl caller and I chose the Harrison.  I am quite happy with it with the exception of having to carry something else with me and having to dig it out of my pocket.  I don't know how experienced you are at owling, so I will risk thinking not too experienced.  Forgive me, if otherwise.

Unless the turkeys in the areas you hunt have been owled to death, they will respond to a well-delivered owl.  You really only need two calls, the traditional "who cooks for you all" and the two note "oooooh-ahh".  I prefer the two note as a distant gobbler may gobble in the middle of the longer eight note sequence and you could miss it.

Go to You Tube and listen to Harrison and some of the other expert owlers.  Many are very good.  Ignore the fancy stuff and concentrate on the two calls I mentioned.  Hand placement is very important.  You want to choke the call down and just open your hand a little bit when more volume is desired.  You need to practice so that when you use the caller, you can do so with little thought.  Don't overdo it when hunting as you only need to know two things, where you are and where he is.  Once he gobbles, put the caller away and gain position to call the gobbler.

I hunted an area once where there was a hunter across the river each of the four mornings that I hunted the area who I named "Ole Four Hoot".  He never raised a gobble with his owling.  It was a pretty steep decline into the river bottom and on the last morning I decided that I was not going to make the effort if "Ole Four Hoot" was down there.  He was, so I decided to give him a thrill by gobbling at his owl.  When I did, a nice gobbler answered my gobble somewhat to the east on my side of the river so I went to him.  He never gobbled on his own, nor did he respect my calling.  He did, however answer a real owl once.  The object of this discourse is to learn to owl realistically and don't overdo it.

That right there is some of the best advice I've read on a forum about locating a turkey.  Well done.

[Marc]

Unless the turkeys in the areas you hunt have been owled to death, they will respond to a well-delivered owl.  You really only need two calls, the traditional "who cooks for you all" and the two note "oooooh-ahh".  I prefer the two note as a distant gobbler may gobble in the middle of the longer eight note sequence and you could miss it.

I hunt an area with plenty of owls, and there is plenty of owl commotion in the morning...  I rarely hear a bird sound off to an actual owl...

Also have lots of crows in the area, and I cannot recall every hearing a tom sound off to real crow calls...

There are also Canada geese in the area...  Now, the birds light up to them...  Interestingly, the geese will land in the foothills and graze on grass in some of the same preferred areas as the turkeys.  If the honkers are there, the turkeys will go nowhere near them (as those geese are really aggressive).  So I hesitate to use a goose call as a locator, but will do so, if I know I am not going to set up from where I use the goose call.  (Also I am probably more proficient on a goose call than a turkey call).

I have had much better luck getting a bird to respond to an owl call when owls are not so common or vocal...  I think the turkeys get used to sounds that are extremely prevelant (or that would be my guess).

[owlhoot]

Owl hoot is the way to go! 

Ya!    Using your own voice,  seems to work alot better than with calls friends will use.                      Just watch out for the owls!

[GobbleNut]

Perhaps there are places where the realism of the locator call is important, but from my experience, loudness and abruptness of the sound is the key factor in whether a gobbler responds to the noise it hears, or not. 

Gobblers are "wired" to gobble in the springtime to gobble at other gobblers.  That is why, if you watch a group of gobblers together, they will often appear to be gobbling simultaneously when, in fact, one gobbles first and the other come back and gobble immediately afterward, so close in fact that it almost seems like some supernatural occurrence inspired all of them to gobble at once.  The use of locator calls is, in essence, just a tactic to take advantage of that gobbling instinct.

Others here have mentioned tactics such as honking the car horn, or banging on the side of the door, etc.  I know a guy who used a CO2-operated blow horn in the spring.  The point being that gobblers are responding, not to any sort of "realism" in the sound, but to the abruptness and loudness of the sound itself which causes them to, often times, involuntarily gobble.

Bottom line for me is:  all other conditions being equal, give me the guy who has the loudest, most abrupt sounding call of whatever type you like over the guy who is realistic, but not loud enough, for getting gobblers to respond,...in any location you choose.

[Flounder]

When you get one to gobble you think he remembers what made him gobble? Oh, that was a truck horn or he says to himself, not going to fly down over there that was a coyote howling, heck he might even think that some kind of "Red Headed Swamp Monster"http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/Smileys/classic/character0029.gif is blowing a Harrisons Hooten Stick and he sounds like a "Sick Calf in a Hail Storm".