locator calls

[REN]

First rule if you hunt like I do with zero locator calls, and locating birds either with patience or up in the day with hen calls, ALWAYS be in a place where you can sit straight down and be ready to kill in a second. In other words don't walk cluelessly through the woods, use woodsmanship and forethought when hunting, and you won't get caught in a pickle.

Second, there is zero thrill for me in shooting some sneaky silent slip in bird. The thrill is in the chess game, the gobbling, and the anticipation of the bird responding vocally to a call and marching to his death. I have deer season to satisfy the sniper side of me, and turkey season is a time to duel.

sure YOU do this but the original post is obviously coming from someone that is not a seasoned turkey hunter at this point so is OBVIOUSLY not necessarily the best advise for a novice. 2nd how is shooting a SILENT bird a sniper session??? i mean if you call the bird in and he is silent you still called him in correct? still the game correct? just because he may have a sore throat it is no longer a game???

again to each his own and your way and ideas work for you but IMO walking around cutting and yelping is not really the best advice for a novice to start with. Let a novice learn how to hunt the easiest way first with the least amount of risk first then move on from there.

hey its your opinion and i am not downing that as the above is just mine...

 

[ohio state]

Don't kow nuttin 'bout it.
It seems that sum times it works, an sum time it don't!
I'm readin and tryin to learn! you and me both.. like to get and shot my bow?? WORM

 

[Setterman]

First rule if you hunt like I do with zero locator calls, and locating birds either with patience or up in the day with hen calls, ALWAYS be in a place where you can sit straight down and be ready to kill in a second. In other words don't walk cluelessly through the woods, use woodsmanship and forethought when hunting, and you won't get caught in a pickle.

Second, there is zero thrill for me in shooting some sneaky silent slip in bird. The thrill is in the chess game, the gobbling, and the anticipation of the bird responding vocally to a call and marching to his death. I have deer season to satisfy the sniper side of me, and turkey season is a time to duel.

sure YOU do this but the original post is obviously coming from someone that is not a seasoned turkey hunter at this point so is OBVIOUSLY not necessarily the best advise for a novice. 2nd how is shooting a SILENT bird a sniper session??? i mean if you call the bird in and he is silent you still called him in correct? still the game correct? just because he may have a sore throat it is no longer a game???

again to each his own and your way and ideas work for you but IMO walking around cutting and yelping is not really the best advice for a novice to start with. Let a novice learn how to hunt the easiest way first with the least amount of risk first then move on from there.

hey its your opinion and i am not downing that as the above is just mine...

It is just my personal preference on silent birds. There is no thrill to me, 20 years ago I would happily ace one, but now, it isn't the kill to me as much as the whole charade.

When I was cutting my teeth, I hunted dang near as I do now, sure I tried the locator calls, but found a system which worked with great success for me each season. In the Miss river bottoms there was no shortage of owls to get things started early.

I guess each must find a system which works for them and go with it, I was just offering an opinion on something which has worked with dramatic success for me over the years.

 

[Setterman]

what do you use as a locator?? need to find one that is easy to use.. got a coyote call.. never did sound like a coyote to me.. thanks WORM

Easiest question ever. The best locator call is patience and silence. No need to buy one, no reason to blow one. Just get to a place you can hear, and be quiet. Up in the day cruise and locate birds by cutting, or plain yelping.

thats not good advice.turkey will gobble to cutts and yelps but they will also come to those.Also for some reason I have heard turkey ignore hen talk but gobble to a crow right after the hen.Trying to move on a turkey and set up without him moving on you is a good reason to use locator calls.

Yep it is crappy advice, the 100+ longbeards over the years might beg to differ.

99% of the time, in my experience (for what its worth), a bird that hammers back will stand his ground, usually waiting for the hen to come to him. That is how the natural game is played. However, on the occasion when a bird bolts in, the whole woodsmanship and forethought thing done prior to calling has a huge positive impact and negative for the turkey.

I listen to guys cranking on locator calls all freaking season, the ride and blow or walk and blow. I bet 4 out of 5 times when I am working a bird or around birds which are vocal, they never respond to a locator call. No matter how hot they are and how willing they are to die.

If killing turkeys is the main goal, there is much better ways to spend ones time then cruising with locator calls. Many times, a gobbler will not gobble period, until one of his hens fires back aggressively at me calling to her. And one thing that is a pretty sure fire guarantee, hens don't generally yelp back at a crow or owl call.

If repositioning on a bird, be patient, if a bird is in a mood to die, many times they will gobble on their own, or at a natural sound.

Patience is huge in racking up kills in any given season. Locator calls are a way of trying to speed up a process which is better served and more successful IMO when patience and thought is employed.

So are you saying your right just because you killed a lot of turkey?Bet if i didn't have to work much and got to hunt 3 or more states a year my number would be even higher than that. Guess all the turkey i killed thought those owls and crows were sick sounding turkey.crow calls can work great at times and have helped me kill several turkey that I would not have known were anywhere around.But I'm sure you will disagree and tell me how I'm wrong by using them so it doesn't matter.

Question: Does the person who has fixed more transmissions know more then the person who has fixed a handful? You betcha.

Second question: If you had been patient when things went silent, and just took a knee a listened for 10-15 minutes would those same birds not have fired right back at you?

Third question: How many birds have been spooked by the crow call or owl call, which you never knew were there?

I was offering opinions formed over 20 years of chasing these things pretty much every day from March 15th- Mid May, and having the opportunity to hunt along the way with some of the best turkey hunters in the country as well. Sure I hunt 5 or 6 states each year, but that doesn't make this game any easier, turkeys are turkeys, and short of setting a full strut decoy in a field, nothing comes automatically. However, there are things which do work and work consistently which experience and time in the woods exemplify.

 

[splitter]

i have an old donkey that i ride into the turkey woods, when i get ready to listen i smack him in the booty and then listen works like a charm

 

[TurkeyBurd]

Sounds like Ive heard all of this before.

Lets all hunt the way we want to hunt.

 

[Setterman]

Answer #1 yes but turkey hunting ain't transmission work so just because you have killed more doesn't mean you have learned more than me.Just means you got to hunt more and some of us have to work for a living while some get to hunt because they were born into money.

Are you serious? I mean really bsl, reread what you wrote and ask yourself how infantile and bizarre that statement is and how laughable your logic is at its core. Born into money, that is a good one, glad you know all about me and my life. I hunt more then most because I chose a career path which allows me to enjoy the things in life I enjoy, not for the money and not to be stuck in an office 5 days a week. That comes at a cost, no wife and far from being wealthy. However, I do what I want, when I want for the most part, and life to me isn't about work, it is about getting out and killing/catching things. Sorry it didn't work out for you, but that is your problem not mine.

You have real issues, I witnessed how you acted with others recently in the deer forum, and it is something inherently bitter with you and your views of people who disagree, or are more successful then you. No matter how you spin it, the guy who has aced 30 birds has more experience then the guy who has killed 5. According to your twisted logic, you know as much about killing turkeys as people like Will Primos, Preston Pittman, and Eddie Salter to name a few. Somehow I am not seeing your point.

#2 most of those I described I had been in the area for well more than your 15 min rule and they didn't make a sound so the crow call got them to gobble.

Okay, that works.

#3 I don't believe that many turkey have been spooked by me calling with locators at them.They either respond to them or they don't.had them ignore it but gobble to a yelp 5 seconds later.But to be honest I can't answer it fair because I don't know.Same as you don't know how many you have walked by because you were afraid to use one thinking it would spook one.

You are partly right, but hunting 100% of the time on public land here, I can promise you that I see at least a dozen birds a year get spooked by some dilbert blowing on a crow/owl call over the course of each season.

BTw don't start that crap again about the full strut decoy being a sure kill.lol We all heard you last year saying it wasn't hunting or fair.

It isn't hunting, but it is fair.

you really changed in the deer hunting forums but you are the same old hook over here.

You need a tissue?

I am not arguing anymore about this, if you all wish to toot on your locators then by all means it is not my place to tell anyone what to do. Like I said, just trying to offer up some advice.

 

[richmanbarbeque]

Setterman, Post more on turkey hunting and less on debating bsl. I think I am actually learning something from your posts, that was a compliment. :grin:

 

[Setterman]

Setterman, Post more on turkey hunting and less on debating bsl. I think I am actually learning something from your posts, that was a compliment. :grin:

Holy schnikes, is the world coming to an end

 

[bvoss]

...like always in turkey hunting NO ONE has the answers and there is a time and place for everything.

Very true. Dont get stuck in a rut using the same old locator calls. Turkeys can be conditioned too. Mix it up. That's what makes it so much fun. You never know what will or wont work.

 

[VolDoug]

Like Yogi Berra said, "It's deja vu, all over again" !

I asked for locator advice a few years ago from a gentleman that I feel is one of the best turkey hunters I have encountered via message boards over the years. He uses locator calls religiously, and his success speaks for itself. Here was his response:

You ask for my opinion and here it is.

Some birds are very acclimated to road calling and just will not respond to the combination of tires crunching on gravel followed by a crow call. If you get back there and off the roads and discover some "honest " birds " they will hammer locators IMO, all day. Be it crows, owls or whatever. Some things I try to do: get over the side of the hill before hitting locator so you are not calling off the flat tops of benches but rather down in the hollers. If they respond once; move that way and do it again after a good distance. Use two locators real close together if you do not get a response to the first one immediately. Give them five minutes for a response as sometimes it takes a few minutes to get the response.

It is not all pure immediate "shock gobbling" IN THE REPONSES; on the other hand sometimes the responses are so immediate they will cut off the locator call and those are sometimes hard to pinpoint for direction. Sometimes birds will only answer each locator call one time and that is it, although they will answer other locators. I have had birds gobble to a locator from a mile away. Across big mountain valleys etc., and do it repeatedly. I have gotten in the truck and driven over to the other mtn and ended up killing birds that were thus located. Not a brag, just a statement that locators are often more important than turkey calls etc. I usually try to avoid blowing the locator call straight at the location of the bird. ...blow it the other way, and turn back quickly to listen .

This works on cow pastures too btw, assuming birds have not heard poor crow calls and other stuff all day every day. The best test for your locators is whether the thing you are imitating comes back to you with flying in to trees around you. If you use crow call and you are not drawing crows immediately to you every time you use it , then you are not using it right. Same with owls (although they sometimes do not fly in to trees around you , but early they will very often do that. Practice your locators like you would your turkey calls. All this is just my opinion; p/s an owl through the day is one of the most effective locators I have used in Scott Co. fwiw. :>)

 

[bvoss]

i have an old donkey that i ride into the turkey woods, when i get ready to listen i smack him in the booty and then listen works like a charm

 

[Setterman]

Like Yogi Berra said, "It's deja vu, all over again" !

I asked for locator advice a few years ago from a gentleman that I feel is one of the best turkey hunters I have encountered via message boards over the years. He uses locator calls religiously, and his success speaks for itself. Here was his response:

You ask for my opinion and here it is.

Some birds are very acclimated to road calling and just will not respond to the combination of tires crunching on gravel followed by a crow call. If you get back there and off the roads and discover some "honest " birds " they will hammer locators IMO, all day. Be it crows, owls or whatever. Some things I try to do: get over the side of the hill before hitting locator so you are not calling off the flat tops of benches but rather down in the hollers. If they respond once; move that way and do it again after a good distance. Use two locators real close together if you do not get a response to the first one immediately. Give them five minutes for a response as sometimes it takes a few minutes to get the response.

It is not all pure immediate "shock gobbling" IN THE REPONSES; on the other hand sometimes the responses are so immediate they will cut off the locator call and those are sometimes hard to pinpoint for direction. Sometimes birds will only answer each locator call one time and that is it, although they will answer other locators. I have had birds gobble to a locator from a mile away. Across big mountain valleys etc., and do it repeatedly. I have gotten in the truck and driven over to the other mtn and ended up killing birds that were thus located. Not a brag, just a statement that locators are often more important than turkey calls etc. I usually try to avoid blowing the locator call straight at the location of the bird. ...blow it the other way, and turn back quickly to listen .

This works on cow pastures too btw, assuming birds have not heard poor crow calls and other stuff all day every day. The best test for your locators is whether the thing you are imitating comes back to you with flying in to trees around you. If you use crow call and you are not drawing crows immediately to you every time you use it , then you are not using it right. Same with owls (although they sometimes do not fly in to trees around you , but early they will very often do that. Practice your locators like you would your turkey calls. All this is just my opinion; p/s an owl through the day is one of the most effective locators I have used in Scott Co. fwiw. :>)

Doug, I know this guy very very well, that is if it is the same person. Does he go by gobblenow? If so he and scn (member/TWRA guy here) are close friends as well.

 

[bvoss]

I will have to say that the majority of my birds killed have been without the aid of locator calls. Out of 30 or so birds, probably 2 or 3 have been killed by locating them with something other than a turkey call. BUT, I'm always open to anything that just might possibly, maybe, could sorta, kinda, in some small, or large way, work in the turkey woods.

 

[REN]

also just to throw it out there....the PLACE you hunt has a big impact on a locator call.

1 place i hunt has roosters and a damn peacock so locater calls really dont work there due to all the noise already there. Plus in that area i dont need one because nature/farmer has some there for me. In another area i hunt it is close to the interstate (which makes it almost impossible to hear so i dont hunt there much) but due to all the road noise a locater call is useless.

However my main spot is WAY back off the road and a large track with not much noise around it. An owl or crow from time to time works well out there. I try to only use it 1 or 2 times though especially the Owl call in the morning. I actually dont want him to keep gobbling and attack any hens nearby. I would NOT use any on public land though. the less the bird gobbles the better on public spots IMO (keeps other folks from easing in on you)

again hook I am not saying you are wrong or your way is wrong, just not my way i guess. Personally i would recommend a novice to try them out until they get a few hunts and seasons under their belt. Man i got TONS of stories of the STUPID things i did when i first started hahaha (some are VERY funny)

If you want to try one try it, it may not help but I would say it VERY RARELY hurts. The main this is know your areas, if you know those birds you really wont need one very often. I can get withing 100yds of birds on my spots most mornings without making a sound just because i know where they spend most nights. Now killing them is a whole different story lol.

 

[TurkeyBurd]

If the boy wants to use a locator call, then let him.

Let folks do it their way.

Wish I was as awesome in the woods as some claim to be.

Same ole crapp each spring.

 

[Setterman]

also just to throw it out there....the PLACE you hunt has a big impact on a locator call.

1 place i hunt has roosters and a damn peacock so locater calls really dont work there due to all the noise already there. Plus in that area i dont need one because nature/farmer has some there for me. In another area i hunt it is close to the interstate (which makes it almost impossible to hear so i dont hunt there much) but due to all the road noise a locater call is useless.

However my main spot is WAY back off the road and a large track with not much noise around it. An owl or crow from time to time works well out there. I try to only use it 1 or 2 times though especially the Owl call in the morning. I actually dont want him to keep gobbling and attack any hens nearby. I would NOT use any on public land though. the less the bird gobbles the better on public spots IMO (keeps other folks from easing in on you)

again hook I am not saying you are wrong or your way is wrong, just not my way i guess. Personally i would recommend a novice to try them out until they get a few hunts and seasons under their belt. Man i got TONS of stories of the STUPID things i did when i first started hahaha (some are VERY funny)

If you want to try one try it, it may not help but I would say it VERY RARELY hurts. The main this is know your areas, if you know those birds you really wont need one very often. I can get withing 100yds of birds on my spots most mornings without making a sound just because i know where they spend most nights. Now killing them is a whole different story lol.

I have no problem agreeing with your take above.

 

[Setterman]

But I just hate to see someone give advice telling a new hunter not to use them.

Why?

Dude asked for opinions, and I gave him mine. You and turkeyburd pitched a childish fit, because I did not march through the woods trumpeting on an array of locator calls as you all like to.

I clearly said, if it is your deal, then go for it, at the end of the day, we are not competing, and it is your hunt and certainly not mine. Enjoy.

 

[TLRanger]

The man asked for advise.
The Captain gave him good advise.
Nothing wrong with that.

If you want to spend money on these gadgets, that is fine. They are not necessary. They may help, they may not.
I personally don't think they help.

This advise will cost you $15.......about the cost of a locator call.

K

 

[Anonymous]

I like to keep a crow call in my vest. Never know when it might come in handy.