Locator calls

[turkaholic]

When I started turkey hunting in 1987 you could be pretty be assured that around any corner you could bellow out an owl hoot or a crow call and be shocked by a booming gobble. I would carry a nice assortment of locator calls to complement my numerous turkey calls. Some of these would be of course my natural voice owl, my Hadels crow, hawk screamer, pileated woodpecker, at one point I even fell for the Primos dead silence dog whistle. I don't carry all that crap now but it did all work well for me years ago. I can't remember the last time a shock gobble was reliable. I still on occasion have faith in the owl and the crow but they just don't seem to be dependable. Birds have evolved and I my opinion don't respond to things the way they used to for a few reasons. One is the fact that there are no where as many turkeys as the 90's and two birds aren't quick to give away their locations do to predation. Predation meaning human or natural. If every morning you got up someone was waiting for you to make just one mistake, you would be very cautious. This is a turkeys whole life. Just makes sense to me. Wondering what you guys see out there and if locator calls are still performing ?

[MK M GOBL]

Been at the game for a quite while and have been using locator calls and still do, some days they work better than others...just a part of turkey hunting. Of course when bird numbers are up you get more responses, I have narrowed it down to my four favorites that work and its that some work better at different times of the day. I even fell for the Dead Silence Whistle (M.A.D. Calls) this was one of my first lessons about learning "Not" to believe what those guys are "Selling" on those "hunting" shows... At least I didn't fall for the H.S. Screaming Hen Call LOL.

MK M GOBL

[Happy]

I don't use them much at all. Not that I don't believe they will work sometimes but because I like to keep a low profile. I like to let them gobble on their own and go from there. I remember hunting a hard pressured chunk of ground once and hear in a fellow coming up the trail with his owl hooter. Every hundred yards he would stop and cut loose with that thing. As he got close I just stepped off the trail and leaned against a tree. This poor fellow went walking by and I had to resist the urge to reach out and grab his arm. Pretty sure there would have been instant bowel evacuation if had. Anyways I let him go and he kept blasting away with his hooter. He did the whole loop and headed back to his truck. I moved forward another hundred yards and quietly waited. A tom started gobbling on his own not 15 minutes after Mc mchooter left. An hour later the tom left with me. Now I am not saying locators do not work. I just seem to do better without them.

[GobbleNut]

I have said this many times before,...the proper use of locator calls for locating gobblers on the roost is an art in itself, not unlike learning the proper use of turkey calls.

Should someone use a locator call in all situations?  Absolutely not.  If you hunt somewhere that you are going to reliably hear turkeys gobble on the roost, then there is no reason to use a locator.  On the other hand, there are places around the country where (properly) using a locator call can mean the difference between having a great turkey hunt and finding birds to hunt or having your hunt turn into a dismal failure. 

It's all about knowing the "art" and learning what locator tactics will make an otherwise silent gobbler tell you he is out there versus hunting a silent woods not having a clue as to whether there is a gobbler within five miles. 

Again, my perspective is based on hunting public land areas that are tens of thousands of acres (or larger), many of which have widely scattered turkey flocks where it is pretty much absolutely necessary to find a gobbling turkey before you start hunting.  If you are hunting under those conditions, and not finding birds to hunt, learn the "art" of proper locator call use.  Personally, I have yet to hunt anywhere that the proper locator used at the right time has failed to find a gobbler to hunt. 

What is "proper" locator call use?  Perhaps we can delve into that at another time (again),...but I can tell you what it is not,...and that is wandering around the woods blowing a crow or owl call every thirty seconds trying to sound like every other crow or owl that is out there doing the same thing. Simply and perhaps "harshly" put, that is in most instances a total waste of time.   

[LaLongbeard]

"Turkeys have evolved " I agree 100% with that. There are places out West or North were the hunting pressure hasn't been steadily increasing for the last 30 years were locators still work well. The places I hunt get hammered and the same old 1980 tactics of squalling on a crow call and riding the roads and jumping out with the boxcall and getting a gobble are over. Hunting tactics have to change to keep up.
I have an old Turkey hunting magazine were Jim Spencer talks about this. He goes on about how it was in Arkansas in the mid 80's and striking 5 or 6 gobblers from the road in one morning and then boogering them up somehow and then driving down the road a half mile and find another. That was fine when you might be the only one in that section of NF doing that but now there are literally hundreds of people on any given day pulling into every turnoff on NF land and doing the same thing. The gobblers that answer get shot or someone runs in on them. How many times does this have to happen before a gobbler either dies or quits responding? Jim Spencer wrote a more recent article about how things have changed on public land and the old tactics don't work anymore. I wish things were like they once were and there were 20 gobblers to one hunter I never saw those days and don't think I ever will.
And it all depends on the location I'm not saying locators never work I'm saying they don't work were I hunt I'm sure there are some places even in La that are behind locked gates and have little pressure were the 1980 tactics work but people need to consider the location and pressure were they hunt.
And we've all heard the same line about a turkey being dumb and doesn't know he's on public land and can't learn blah blah ....I've never seen these experts with a pile of dead turkeys either so.......

[GobbleNut]

   Wow,...here we go again,...must be deja vu.   

I'm not going to get into the pissin' match again on this.  In summary, if you don't need to use a locator call to find gobblers to hunt, then don't do it.  If you are having trouble finding gobblers to hunt,...as some here have indicated they have,...learn the art of locator call use and you will greatly enhance your chances of solving your problem.  Either way, the choice is yours to make.  Do your own thang!   

[Treerooster]

I have used locators since the 90's and still use them now. I agree with Gobblenut that they need to be used in the right manner.

I have never thought of a locator as "dependable". My view was if I blew a locator and heard something, then I got so good information. If I hear nothing then I know nothing, never thought a turkey would or should respond to a locator everytime.

I hunt mostly public and have been in areas where I have heard a ton of owl hooting by other hunters. That tells me owl locators are not going to work very well in that particular area. I have used locators many times where they told me some great info and have lead me to many gobblers over the years.

I mostly use owl and coyote howlers as locators with the crow call used a little bit by me. I also consider a turkey call a locator, but realize that in some instances a turkey could come in very quickly. I will use cutts and gobbles mostly to locate, along with yelping.

[TauntoHawk]

Man the crow is really reliable for me and owl works well in the mornings too

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[old3toe]

 I haven't carried locator calls in a long time. I hunt heavily pressured birds and the best way to shut them up is to start blowing locator calls. I don't know how many times I've been moving on or working a bird that's gobbling good when the unmistakable sound of multiple crow, owl, peacock etc calls start sounding off, closing in, and the bird goes silent. Many guys even blow every single call they have over and over one after another. Nine times out of ten after the bird goes completely silent for while and all is quiet and calm he'll start back up. Long after everyone else is gone. They do work in certain instances and places however turkeys are smart enough to distinguish a poorly sounding list of calls sounding off along with slamming car doors and tromping through the woods from the real thing.

[g8rvet]

I have killed a few birds I may have not known were there thanks to locator calls, but not very many.   I think the above posts all have some keen insight for where and how they hunt. 

A farm I hunt, when I first started, I had no clue if there were birds there.  I blew a crow call (after I heard the first crows calling) and nothing gobbled.  20 minutes later a red shoulder hawk squealed and one gobbled.  I have learned since that nearly every morning, 20-30 crows will fly over that farm and they are so used to hearing crows, they don't shock gobble to them.  I have heard them respond to hawks, woodies and a live peacock one time (farm across the creek had some).  Never to a crow, even when they are gobbling at everything. 

I like the comment that if one responds, you have info, if not you have no info.  One could still be there, just not responding.  I almost never use one as I have better success at calling in a bird that gobbles on his own. May just be because I suck and need him to be fired up.  I know I have killed more sneaking in that never said a word than I have locating one with a call and then calling him in.  But I have done that too.  Just not as often.

[GobbleNut]

We call that repeated locator use that shuts a gobbler down as "burning" a bird.  Even in places where gobblers are very willing to gobble at locator calls, that will happen.  That falls into the category of "improper" locator call use.  Anybody that does that should stop.  In short, hunters that do that sort of stuff just do not understand the "art" of locator call use. 

Good locator tactics are about eliciting a true, instinctive "shock" response from a gobbler.  Anything short of that will often, but not always, fail.  Get the right sound at the right time and even the most reluctant gobbler will respond,...because it is an INVOLUNTARY, INSTINCTIVE reaction to the sound.  Once a hunter understands that, and adjusts his locator tactics, his success level in locating roosted gobblers will probably go way up.

[Gooserbat]

Less is usually more.  Match the locator to the environment and go kill the turkey.  It's only hard if you make it so.

[Happy]

I do like the fact that I can keep track of 95% of the hunters on a chunk of public ground in the predawn darkness. That's pretty considerate of them.

[GobbleNut]

I do like the fact that I can keep track of 95% of the hunters on a chunk of public ground in the predawn darkness. That's pretty considerate of them.

Not only that, but if they know what they are doing, they will make your bird gobble for you so you can get in on him while it's dark!  ....an added bonus!   
...Now if they will just realize you are there and not come in on your bird, all will be well...

[Happy]

Unfortunately they don't get many to sound off. Call it not doing it right or burning them out or whatever. By the time turkey season rolls around the turkeys have been listening to it for a month with a bunch of fellows blundering through the woods trying to "pinpoint"roost trees. I just smile as I listen to them behind me and below me. If I don't kill one back there and have time I may wander back to their stomping grounds around 10:00 or so. They don't handle it to well when they realize they have gone an 1.5 hoursbwithout food and have been carrying 30lb worth of extra weight in their vests not to mention the extra 50 lbs around their midsection.
It's high level entertainment that I heartily recommend. Turkeys may not be the brightest candle in the woods but they still have a wick.