Locating Calls

[Popere]

Do you guys use owl, or crow calls for locating? Are they worth it?

[VP]

Both are excellent locaters, I carry both myself along with several others- My preference is a crow call when it comes down to locaters- Others that work well are wood pecker, Hawk, Yote.
Some birds in public areas that are exposed to constant pressure tend to shut up when using some of these locaters so try something that everybody else isnt-

Good Luck to ya

[RIStrutStopper]

I prefer a crow call, my owl hoot tube has yet to produce a response. I just bought a Primos Camp Owl though, I'll give that a whirl this year.

[Popere]

I just got my hoot owl call yesterday and it was broken in the box. I've got to send it back today. I think that I'll have them send me a crow call as well.

[Champlain Islander]

I use them both with good results. Like VP said you have to be careful that the birds don't wize up to the locators. Up here everyone uses an owl call so if that doesn't work I try something else. I even bought a peacock call once but never had a bird answer. I guess the store saw me coming. I try owl calls in the late evening to put the roosting birds to bed. If I didn't get one to answer at night I try the owl again in the dark next morning. If still no answer I try the crow once the sun starts to rise. After that I only call with a hen call to get a gobbler to answer. For me the locators work about half the time. If they dion't I figure that other hunters have probably messed with the birds so I often try another area. I hate crowds in the turkey woods.

[maineac]

I think locator calls and bird responce vary a great deal by region. Around here I have a lot of luck in the morning with owl calls. When I have hunted in Georgia you could nnot buy a response to an owl call. I have limited success with crow calls, but carry one anny way. The peacock/ woodpecker has worked well for me, better than the crow. I t seems to vary day to day sometimes. Like all turkey calling, it helps to have a variety and see what works.

[Rick James]

I have used locators in the morning, with very little success. I typically get into the area I know they are roosting in, and simply sit from an hour before sunrise waiting to hear them gobble on their own, or simply the sound of their wings. They birds I hunt are pressured quite a bit though, and have heard every locator in the books....but the hunters that use them rarely leave the edge of the field and won't hike up the mountain to where the birds go when they are pressured. Last year I worked a pair of mature gobblers only 200 yards up the mountain from a field where there were 2 hunters listening to me work them......I heard their textbook owl hooters at first light and box call yelping as I was working these birds but they never got up to move on these gobblers. The birds never gobbled till half an hour after light once these guys put the hooters away. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I walked out by the field half an hour later with a 18lb 10 1/2 inch bird over my shoulder.

[ELKINMTCWB]

As a few guys have said on public ground it is some times hard to get an responce.

I moved to montana not many birds here,but when I went back to KS to hunt with my dad I used an ELK BUGLE worked very very good on public land :}

[Popere]

So, what I think I'm hearing is that locating calls are kinda hit and miss. I guess I just have to see what works in my area. I really do appreciate all of your replies.

[wv singleshot]

I use a Owl hooter the most. I also use a Hawk call in mid morning.