Turkey locator calls?

[Blindstitch]

Do you think turkey locator calls are worth using. And if so what are you generating the best response from?

Any call recommendations for locating or bringing in birds?

[tedthorn]

Bard Owl, peacock, barnyard rooster crow

All work very good.....all with your own vocals....no store bought call

But then again I call turkeys with no call.....just my mouth and the vocals God gave me

I will never forget my calls at home

[Ifishsum]

I can even honk the horn of my truck at dusk and often get them to gobble if they're within earshot. Helps to locate their approximate whereabouts for a morning hunt. Crow call, coyote howl, owl hoot - when they are hot they will gobble at just about any loud noise. Doesn't call them in though, that is a different deal altogether.

[Blindstitch]

I bought one of those Knight and Hale Hawk/Woodpecker, Crow, and Barred Owl call along with the Primos and H.S. Strut crow calls and a Quaker boy Owl call. So far in the past two years I have just accumulated a drawer full of turkey stuff.

The best actual turkey call I have is a Knight and Hale Wet Willy box call. It's the only one that seems to always make the call i'm trying to make. The cheaper slate calls I have area a mixed bag of working and not.

Right now I'm doing trial and error and elimination of the calls that don't work for me.

[bamaranger]

As far as locator calls go, I have best luck with a crow call, bought it as a kid, all wood except for the reed. Raspy and very natural sounding. Sounds far better than most of the plastic calls of today. I think it may be an old Olt.

Its certainly true that a tom will shock gobble at a loud noise, almost any loud noise. Truck tail gate, dogs in the distance, train horn....everybody's got their stories. I've got an old coon dog horn that I use pre-season now and again.

But I also believe that there's a "thing" between gobblers, owls and crows. Crows especially will harass a turkey in the open. Often times, multiple owls, or crows, will be carrying on, and finally, a turkey will gobble, as it to say "that's enough of that"! That is not a shock gobble, or it would have occurred early in the racket. It's as if the gobbler is annoyed. For that the crow or owl call needs to sound "right".

I think there's tricks to blowing a crow call correctly. You've got to blow from your belly, and add your own growl to it......or the call sounds tinny. If you just blow into it like a whistle, it sounds unnatural. And the cadence and tone of the call need to sound like a real crow, not just "Caw caw caw."

Further, I believe that most guys misuse their locators, calling from the same spots as everybody else (high points, hollow tops, etc) calling to close or two soon after arriving by vehicle. There's been many a time where I've been on a bird, roosted him the night before,and am in place way before daylight. At dawn, a truck rolls in, you can hear gravel crunching for half a mile, and the bubba truck rumble......then, not 30 sec after shutting off the veh, ....hooty, hooty, hoot. Nothing. Repeat...notta. Slam (door) vrooom....off to somewhere else. Ten minutes later the tom gobbles on his own. He knows owls don't drive 4wd's.

I'm lucky enough to be able to owl on my own w/o a call. And owling early and late is another way to locate gobblers. I carry an old squealing rabbit, call, which I use to imitate a woodpecker, on up in the day, but I have not had too many hits on it. I also carry a gobble tube, which I am very careful with, but has proved useful in striking a gobbler, or moving a stubborn one. Sometimes.

So to sum up, I use 4 locator call, 3 in my vest and my own vocal owl. I've had best luck with the crow call. I wouldn't hunt with out them. I try to sound as natural as possible, and do not try and strike birds from the same points as every other fella in the woods. I try and not over do it, especially later in the season when surviving toms have heard lots of Walmart owls and crows. , or any time there is not a lot of natural crow or owl activity.

Now, as far as "bringing them in", that's another post.

[Blindstitch]

It might be me but I don't think any of my crow calls sound like a crow. I tried using them to hunt crows in crow heavy places and nothing. I really wish we could use electronic calls here but we can't. Well we can for crow and coyote but not turkeys.

[Mobuck]

Here's my opinion: I'd NEVER use a coyote howl from anywhere near the spot I intended to sit. Owl maybe OK but crows don't normally make noise at the time I'd be trying to locate a roosted gobbler.
Best I can tell, the gobblers are far less vocal than the ones 20 years back. Too many predators hearing those mouthy gobblers have taken some of that out of the gene pool.
During the mid-80's to early 90's, I ran a turkey guiding business. I got a lot of experience with gobblers and their habits/quirks. The current birds have evolved to the point of not coming to the call unless they see a decoy vs those of 30 years ago that would run to any sort of hen sound before you could put the call down and pick up your gun.

[Erno86]

My wooden crow call {that I bought at a gun store just east of Morgantown, West Virginia} has sometimes made gobblers shock gobble too it.

You want to sound like a crow who has just discovered a hawk or an owl --- That is a fight call that will also bring in other crows --- You want to limit the call cadence to 3 or 4 calls, because you don't want to call while the gobbler is shock gobbling to your call; or you'd never hear it.

You hum with your vocal chords when you crow call: Cauuuuurll (growl} caw caw!!! {rally cry} --- Wait and listen for 30 seconds....if nothing happens --- Do the growl again, followed by three {fast cadence} caws this time.

Gobblers sometime shock gobble to overhead flying planes or helicopters.

[buck460XVR]

Anything that makes a loud sharp noise will make a Turkey "shock" gobble...kinda why it's called a shock gobble. I've heard Toms shock gobble to most every available commercially made locator call along with just about every other loud noise in nature, even cows mooing, car doors slamming, dogs barking and bunk feeders turned on. Unlike hen calls tho, Toms will not always respond to locator calls. Midway thru the morning when crows have been calling all day, Toms have quit responding to them. If you need to locate a distant bird, it doesn't matter what the noise is, I've used those air powered boat horns with good success later in the day. I've had Toms shock gobble to me shooting a coyote that came into hen calls, only for the Toms to come in a few minutes later. The same noise from the same spot is not always effective. If there are two of you hunting, have one go ahead 10-15 yards and listen before you use a locator call. Sometimes they gobble before you are done with the call and the caller never hears them.

[Toney]

I use a owl call

[Erno86]

I've had mild success with a Pileated Woodpecker call. Some gobblers also shock gobble too goose calls.

[turkeestalker]

I believe that most guys misuse their locator's

There's a lot of wisdom in bamaranger's post and I could not agree more with that particular statement, most tend to do so simply by using them.

Turkeys aren't all that bright in all honesty, they're really somewhat stupid. They do however have 10x binoculars for eyes as compared to our own, and they're deathly afraid of absolutely everything. Those two facts lend to making them seem pretty difficult to hunt. I'm thinking a more fitting description would be that they are very frustrating to hunt, not necessarily difficult.

Saying that they are afraid of everything is no exaggeration, and it doesn't stop with just their bionic vision, they have exceptional hearing as well. Noises that are not natural in their normal day to day lives can be just as frightening to them as a flash of movement that doesn't belong. A crow or owl call executed flawlessly, still may not seem natural to them and set them on edge. Set one on edge and you'll be hard pressed to get him to respond positively to your other calls that day.
That said, locater calls in my belief tend to scare them silent, more than they coerce them into giving up their location. Especially when the one using the call isn't using it properly or doesn't sound natural, be it the call, the cadence, or what ever, if it doesn't fit it doesn't fit, and turkeys know it.

I mean after all the story goes that a bird can identify another specific individual bird by it's voice. I've tested that theory on the local birds behind my home in my own unscientific way and I believe that they can not only identify individuals, but remember that voice and associated identification from one year to the next... and the next.

I do have a crow, owl, hawk, predator, and a couple of other calls in my locator call pocket in my vest, but they seldom see the light of day outside that pocket. I tend to do my homework first and figure out the areas that the birds are roosting, then position myself to listen to them start to talk on their own without ever making a sound before them. There are days that the toms just will not talk, even then I'll not tend to use locators, and trust me I've spent a lot of unsuccessful days in the spring turkey woods, but most springs since I began stalking them I've been blessed by harvesting two but that second harvest is usually very hard won.
Once they do get vocal, I'll lend myself more to a few soft tree yelps, then mimicking fly down sounds with a wing or even a hat against my thigh, followed with landing sounds in the leaves to give a more believable impression of a hen in the area getting out of bed. The clucks and yelps come later, sometimes much later, and sometimes aren't all that useful beyond.
I can recall one tom who almost landed in my lap when I started clearing leaves from the base of a tree that I chose as a set up just for him, he thought I was the hen he just heard fly down.

Mobuck is right too, the birds do seem far less vocal these days compared to 20 years ago. More often than not these days they gobble a few times on the roost, then tend to go hush-mouth once they hit the ground. Assault one with a loud, abrasive, and especially a poorly executed locator call and he'll gladly remain hush-mouth on the roost too. You'll leave the woods convinced that there were no birds in the area, when what you probably did was simply let him know that you too were in the area and he stayed below your radar.

IF you're going to use locator calls, practice with them religiously and use them sparingly. Maybe even save them as a last resort if you use them at all. Try thinking outside the box before you grab them.
In example, one thing that I've done on up in the morning when they're not very vocal, is use a small cotton camo pouch that I've filled with crumpled up Mylar and sewn shut. It can sound just like leaves on the ground when manipulated properly and takes very little movement to do so. I make the softer sounds of a walking and feeding hen who is clucking and purring softly to herself as she moves along. You'd be surprised by the number of wary toms that have fallen prey to that tactic, some scaring the begeezus out of me when they explode with a gobble fairly close by, but most creeping in silent and not making their presence known until they're in my view and practically in my lap.

[Pahoo]

I use to use an owl call with mixed success but have to say it works. ...

It might be me but I don't think any of my crow calls sound like a crow.

I also hunt crows and of course I have to say I sound like a crow or at least it brings them in. Then I accidently found out that the crow call also worked on Turkeys. I mostly use that call, in the evening in order to roost them. .....

Be Safe !!!

[buck460XVR]

I tend to do my homework first and figure out the areas that the birds are roosting, then position myself to listen to them start to talk on their own without ever making a sound before them.

This is when a locator call is not needed at all. There are places I have hunted for 30 years. I know the birds are there, know where roost, know where they will fly down to, where they like to strut and at what time of they day they will show up. I know the birds are there even if they are silent and don't respond to my hen calls. I don't have to locate them, I already know anything on those farms/in that area, can and will hear my hen calls. I just have to be patient, sit still and wait. No locator call needed, ever.

I believe that most guys misuse their locator's

On that I agree. Most folks have not done their homework and rely on locator calls to confirm to them that there are birds within calling range. Many times when a vocal Tom goes silent(many times, this tells me the Tom is coming), they use a loud locator call to confirm the bird is still there and blast out a loud locator call when the bird is 40 yards behind them strutting. The bird leaves the area without the hunter ever knowing it was that close. Many times it's not the call itself that made the bird leave, but the movement made to either get the call outta a pocket/vest or from it's use(like a shaker gobble call). If you get a Tom to respond and you know he is coming, there is no reason to locate him until you hear him gobble off, farther away. Most Toms that respond will tell you they are leaving, unless they got spooked by something. If they were attracted to your calls thinking they were hens, they will try and get you to come to them and where they are going, when they move away. Hunters need to remember, this is usually how it works in the wild with real birds.

The only times I feel it is necessary to use locator calls is.
A). When running and gunning large tracts of land that either you do not know or are too large to pattern. This will give you active birds to move to and hunt, and not waste time setting up and calling outside the earshot of active Toms. You do not set up where you use the locator call from. Thus birds responding to the locator call do not identify your hen calls with the locator call. While birds may not respond to hen calls from the same area they heard a car door slam 10 minutes ago, they may respond to them from a completely different direction.

B). When moving, especially in areas that you do not know. Even on the farms I regularly hunt, I will always use a crow/goose/sandhill crane locator call before I get up from a set-up and move. Far too many times I have gotten up and taken two or three steps only to see a Tom coming outta strut or with a harem of hens coming in from a direction I could not see them. Many times that locator call before moving saved the day and told me to sit a while longer before moving. I feel I have nuttin' to lose using a locator call, since moving is goin' to scare any birds in the area anyway. I also use a locator call when moving, when I get to areas I cannot see ahead or have no cover to move in. Before cresting the top of a grassy knoll or moving from one patch of woods over a open field to another. Again, I have nuttin' to lose and everything to gain as spooking the birds because they saw me means no chance of calling them. Getting a Tom to shock gobble before I spook them means I have a good chance.

Again, locator calls are just that....for locating. While locating Toms when moving with hen calls may get a response, if the bird is close and hot, you may not have time to find a good set-up before they are there. With a locator, you know where they are, which direction they are coming from(if they come) and have time to pick a god place to sit, make sure you can get a clean shot, and relax a little. Locator calls are tools and like any tool can be used properly or misused. As for locator calls spooking the birds, most of the time, if they are not already spooked, they will not be overly alarmed and run off. If they have been educated by hunters using locator calls from the same spot all season long, they probably will leave the area without a reply. I've shot Toms and before I could go out and get the flopping bird, had other Toms gobble off a short distance away and come in to the same fate. I've shot coyotes that came into my decoys, drug them off and shot Toms coming into the same decoy only a few moments later. I also have had birds that came in a tad wary because of previous hunting pressure, spook at the sound of a squirrel in the tree behind me and take off never to be seen again. Each hunt is always a new experience. Kinda why I enjoy the sport so much.

[Erno86]

I had a gobbler shock gobble to my peacock call once --- But anytime I use a peacock or woodpecker call {unless I'm wearing amplified hearing protection}, I have to plug my ears with my fingertips, so as not to destroy my hearing.

You can sometimes make a gobbler shock gobble...by performing a blood curdling scream.

A lot of times...I just crow call with my voice, with no benefit of a store bought crow call.

[NCBrass]

Honk your horn or hit a crow call.