Locator calls... Do they help or hurt.

[appalachianassassin]

I've used every locator call you can think of from a plain crow to a coon squaller. Each and every one of them works, no doubt about it. However, a shock gobble isn't the end game for me. I have kept records of every hunt be it success or failure for 20 years and now hunt by my own statistics. I have found that if I find a bird using only turkey calls I am successful over 60% of the time. If using locators it drops below 25%. I'm in the turkey killin bidness and strongly believe that locators decrease your odds with the exception of an owl hoot with my voice, with a hooter my odds once again decrease significantly I have found. I think it may be because I can't hoot nearly as loud with my voice but could be the tone. So, if your only successful on 1 of every 4 hunts, consider ditching the locators and see if it helps your odds. I did not post this to be a smarty butt, I just believe it will add % to success.

[Bowguy]

Ok for starters locators can be a big advantage. Imo you're not thinking this through. Pre season. You can sit on a hill top and "wait for the woods to wake". Maybe the birds will gobble maybe not. If you shock em they will almost definitely gobble many times. Trying to locate gobblers which is what locators do is paramount to season success. The more birds located the more areas to try. You can stick n move quicker and cover way more area often by vehicle locating
During the season locating can take on dif forms. Say the morning hunt didn't pan out. Now you need to run and gun. How exactly you go about this can change your success ratio. Imagine you walk around yelping, cutting, etc but in general making turkey sounds to elicit a gobble. Who's to say a bird won't either come in quiet, come running in and catch you off guard or see you without you seeing it and become suspicious for days. I know I know, birds are stupid right? They won't remember if every time they come running to a turkey sound a hunter is there. What about areas w lots of guys pre season calling,  are the birds easy or harder?
I can see the post where someone said crows scare gobblers cause everyone over uses those. So why would anything be different? Now say crow calls were over used can't you use a goose call? A woodpecker? Etc etc
Imagine each time a crow sounded off the whole flock just stopped gobbling. That doesn't even make sense.
Now imagine you have 2 days to hunt your wife's in laws farm. You can walk around n learn the lay of the land scouting one morning but in the process booger up the birds. You can try glassing but what would you not see or you can move along n try locating them audibly.
How bout roosting birds. Say a fly up cackle is used successfully is that not "locating" for tomo? I'd personally rely on an owl first but a fly up is a def option.,
You mention owl hooting w your voice. I've done it successfully. In fact it's often louder it seems but oftentimes it's not only the volume though that is important, it's the roll or laugh that sets birds off. You can't do that by mouth very easily.
Check my you tube link in locators to watch a Harrison hooter in action. Easy to run as well.
Locators if they aren't helping you, perhaps you need to learn proper usage. Take that as no disrespect.
A favorite saying of mine is we don't know what we don't know. That goes for everything in life.
Your success, if you walk to the same blind and plan on camping out there for the morning ,may def reflect your thoughts. In that case a locator is useless imo.

[Happy]

Use one once in a while. However I tend to let them gobble on their own. I have seen owl and crow calls shut birds down as well and I ain't big on making a bunch of noise blundering through the woods. I won't say they don't work. I will say I won't use them much.

[MK M GOBL]

I can relate a lot of my success % to locating birds, now what I am doing may be different than your approach. My "locating" is a lot more of " Learning a Bird(s)"

Our season opens mid April here in WI, I normally start locating birds pre-season in the first week or so of March dependent of weather, how spring is coming in and where we are in the "Winter Breakup Stage". Now a lot of this consists of driving the truck to some key areas and hitting the locator and starting to mark birds, I do this frequently on the farms I hunt and somewhat on the public areas I hunt. Any more my public land hunts are Run & Guns and use a locator more during the actual hunt instead of pre-season and pretty limited.

I do usually "locate" the night before on the next days planned hunt, after a mornings set if things haven't worked out I am back to plan B, C, D... And will "locate" again before I move in to my next set.

I will have 20-25 birds located each year and go from there throughout the season knowing where I have killed birds, I "locate" continually, but not much during a hunt, I also like to identify what bird was killed in the age/social structure of that flock (farm), being on private ground allows for this and have been doing this for the past 18 years or so and having great success with this.

I would guess everyones "ritual" is different, When I travel for a hunt I rely on locating to find birds then the boots hit the ground, simply do have the time/opportunity I do at home for learning birds.


MK M GOBL

[Bowguy]

I can relate a lot of my success % to locating birds, now what I am doing may be different than your approach. My "locating" is a lot more of " Learning a Bird(s)"

Our season opens mid April here in WI, I normally start locating birds pre-season in the first week or so of March dependent of weather, how spring is coming in and where we are in the "Winter Breakup Stage". Now a lot of this consists of driving the truck to some key areas and hitting the locator and starting to mark birds, I do this frequently on the farms I hunt and somewhat on the public areas I hunt. Any more my public land hunts are Run & Guns and use a locator more during the actual hunt instead of pre-season and pretty limited.

I do usually "locate" the night before on the next days planned hunt, after a mornings set if things haven't worked out I am back to plan B, C, D... And will "locate" again before I move in to my next set.

I will have 20-25 birds located each year and go from there throughout the season knowing where I have killed birds, I "locate" continually, but not much during a hunt, I also like to identify what bird was killed in the age/social structure of that flock (farm), being on private ground allows for this and have been doing this for the past 18 years or so and having great success with this.

I would guess everyones "ritual" is different, When I travel for a hunt I rely on locating to find birds then the boots hit the ground, simply do have the time/opportunity I do at home for learning birds.


MK M GOBL

Much better spoken than what I said but relatively the same intent. Well put

[dublelung]

If that's what works for you then keep on keeping on. I personally disagree and use a locator call for the exact purpose as the name implies, locating a gobbler. Once I locate him then I put the locator away and go into kill mode. That's when any one of the turkey calls I carry comes out and I carry on with trying to seduce him to the gun barrel. For those who walk or drive aimlessly down a road blowing on a owl, crow, hawk, coyote, coon, or whatever call numerous times while struggling to catch a breath in between then yes I can see where that would decrease one's chance of killing a turkey and shutting down his gobbling.

[shaman]

Do they hurt?  I'm not sure, but I do not think so.  I've just stopped using them.  Instead, I've substituted patience.

I used to go out and owl, and then about mid-morning I'd switch to a crow call.  It got results, but not in a big way.  Over time I realized there were enough natural triggers in the environment that the gobs were sounding off.  All I had to do was wait for it.  I've got 200 acres. When I'm at the back of my property, I'm about a mile from the nearest road in all directions.  There is still quite a bit of human activity and noise-- doors slamming, engines starting, etc.  There are also cows, donkeys, the occasional peacock-- you get the idea.  I get a bonus on weekdays because the school bus turns around at the end of our road, and that's almost a certain trigger.

Does not using a locator call help or hurt?  I can't say.  It probably helps in my case, because I'm prone to picking one of only a few setups.  It would probably tip the gobblers off if there was always an angry crow sounding off from just those locations.

The other thing in my case is that whether the gobs sound off or not, I'm fairly certain of where they will be.  If it is a dead quiet morning, I can just go to one of my setups, wait until 0900 or so and probably get a gobbler to sound off.

One other thing:  Crows do a really good job of locating turkeys for me.  If I suddenly hear the crows go off at certain times of the morning, it's often because they have spotted turkeys coming out into the field. 

[guesswho]

I'll go the entire season and may use one on a couple of hunts.   And then it's an owl hoot with my voice.   And usually when I do it's because I have a Kid with me and its more for their entertainment.   I guess the reason I don't use one is I was brought up not knowing about locators.   I was always bobcat'n around as quietly as possible, and continue to do so to this day.   

[hush]

I've stopped using them too. When I started turkey hunting, I also didn't know about them. Didn't even call. Just sat where i regularly saw them and hoped they came through, close enough. Then I learned about calls. Got real then!Then came locators. I had more locators on me than hen sounds for a while. It was part of every hunt. Get to the woods and open up with owls. Then crows. Then peacocks. Woodpeckers, coons, coyotes! If Primos or Quaker Boy came out with a big copper kettle that you beat with a wooden spoon and called it a locator, I would have used it. Right morning, right bird, that kettle would work! They could call it the "Copper Whopper Knocker". (Call me for the rights to this one). Then came public land. Guess what? I found a ton of people just like me! Running through the woods showing off their locator call skills! Realized what locators are good for on the public land I hunt... locating other hunters. Ditched the locator calls and changed my strategy. Do not have a single one in my vest now. I can appreciate those that use them successfully.

[tha bugman]

If I'm feeling frisky I may let out an owl hoot, but most of the time there are plenty of real and artificial owls in the woods already.  I do use a crow call when I am hunting mid morning most of the time. 

[Greg Massey]

Don't care for them at all , never use a Owl hoot , i do sometime's use a cow call on up in the day .. I don't believe in walking around of a morning screaming on Owl hooter's or whatever else you want to use . I don't care to give my location away to the gobblers from the ground , how many OWL'S have you heard screaming from the ground ?  I just let the woods wake up with good old mother nature ...

[Vaughnrp2]

If you are killing 6 out of 10 birds than you are doing something right. May want to write a book someday. LOL

[TauntoHawk]

The variance in your percentages could be explained as a bird that is not readily gobbling on his own or in response to turkey calls might in fact shock gobble to a locator call but that doesn't mean he's in the mood but merely revealed his current location. Maybe that helps maybe it doesn't get you anywhere it's a start but the chances of success are still lower then if a bird is responding to every Yelp and cluck thrown his way.


You can spook a bird with about anything done too much or too loud but I firmly believe a turkey isn't deducting that a owl or crow is really a hunter seeking their where abouts.

Generally you are using locator calls on days where nothing is happening or nothing is working.


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[Fullfan]

Been chasing them for 30+ years, only locator I use it loud sharp cuts.  Many times I have been working birds to have old Crow call Bob show up blow his calls, and the bird will not answer him. Crow call Bob moves off and the bird I'm working will start gobbling again.   Long time ago I used a portable air horn, worked great. But dang thing was so loud I could never tell where the bird was, always had to have a partner standing 20 yds away when I used it.

[Uncle Nicky]

If you have some knowledge of what you are doing, a locator call can help.

The problem I see is too many guys, especially on some of the public land I hunt, really don't know much about turkey hunting. Sure, they have every right to be there that I do, so there's no point in bellyaching about that. But what I hear is guys walking back and forth, well after flydown, with their owl hooters....the turkeys catch on. Most of the spots I hunt there are plenty of other noises that will make a gobbler respond (IF THEY ARE IN THE MOOD THAT DAY) gun shots, airplanes, crows, red-tail hawks, cows, sheep, chickens, car horns....so I don't bother anymore, why let them know you are there until you want to sound like a hen? But turkeys don't gobble all day long where I hunt, at least not like they used to.

If I am getting desperate and not hearing any gobbling on the roost, I'll probably try a coyote call or owl hoot once or twice, but that's it. And I may use a locator call at dusk to see if I can roost a bird for the next day.