Do you use an owl call at all? Good to have in your bag of tricks?

I do early when on roost. Before they are gobbling on roost and I don't want to hit the hen call to give out location

Yes but I’m kind of off the wall I’ll squawk the crow call in the dark , if these don’t work I’ve also cackled aggressively in the dark and will often light them up but may not be smart but it works especially when you’re not sure of the bird’s location

Owl and crow call with my voice,,,,, I’ve got a booming owl hoot

Lots of practice. You don’t need a commercial owl call

Owl obviously at first light, but sometimes thru out the day. And at last light roosting birds

As stated above,,, locate the Turkey without using a hen call

Good to have make them shock gobble any time of the day if you are close. I have a knight and hale

Any loud noise can get a shock gobble. Owl, crow, peacock, coyote, woodpecker, car door, shotgun, etc… I just want a call thats cheap, light/easy to carry, and loud. Exactly what sound it makes isn’t a big deal.

I have an owl, crow, and coyote howler.
Mainly use the crow call. For some reason this year they haven’t really hit the owl.
The coyote howler I use out west and it always produces. I did happen to get a few gobbles out of the crow and owl out there last year even though I heard very very few crows or owls.

I don’t walk around using a turkey call to locate turkeys unless I see them before hand and near a possible set up and call spot. Locate them with a locator, then get position on them and then call to them.

I used to use owl, crow, a silent dog whistle, and believe it or not a Redtail Hawk call. All worked. I then just used my voice for an owl call.
I also used to roost birds.
I do none of those things anymore.
Extensive scouting is all I do now. I scout everyday for about 30 days prior to season.
I don’t concern myself with locating toms or roosting them for the morning.
I set up where I know they will be. To me that’s much better. They already want to be where you are.
I call very very little. A few soft yelps and purrs about every 15 minutes. That’s it.
Killed lots of birds that never gobble with this method.
Killed a 24lb., 9 1/2” bearded tom Tuesday morning that came in silent. Not one gobble.
Turkeys are my passion. Period.
Of course if you cannot scout extensively then shock calling or roosting is very profitable.

If he comes in silent and you’re where he wants to be anyways, what enjoyment is that? And I would t have asked but you said “turkeys are my passion”. To me that means you want the show! The entire theatrical performance…the gobbling, strutting, hunting that hen he heard.

Where do you hunt that turkeys show up in the same spot daily? Heck ours don’t even roost within 50yds of the same tree nightly.

Emergency air horn works I was told. Haven't tried it. Owl I have it works.

I've seen turkeys quite frequently in the same strut zone daily. It's private land and I can't hunt it though.

Owl call and coyote howl works here before sun up the crow call after sunrise never short on crows it seems like. If he’s sounding off nothing then until I set up and start with clucks just clucks go a long ways often.

Picked up this Eastern in WI this morning not very hot yet just starting to drag his wing tips. It took about 45 minutes to work him off one ridge to the ridge I was sitting next to on a trail. I had to stop calling for long periods then soft call to get him to budge in my direction.

[quote=Wanna Be]If he comes in silent and you’re where he wants to be anyways, what enjoyment is that? And I would t have asked but you said “turkeys are my passion”. To me that means you want the show! The entire theatrical performance…the gobbling, strutting, hunting that hen he heard.

WB
You must hunt a lot of private ground, The public ground here gets lots of pressure, one or two gobbles after full light on the roost,a single hand full of gobbles on the ground then silence, only if they fall for you, except for the last 60 - 70 yards or so then it's spit and drum maybe some wing dragging.them fellows there with razor sharp spurs are the real deal,if that doesn't excite you there's something wrong . Just my opinion though!!

I seem to be the minority, but I hardly ever carry a locator call. It has been my experience that if they aren’t gobbling on their own then they aren’t gonna do a bunch of gobbling with a locator. If they do want to gobble on their own then we have enough crows and owls that I generally don’t have to worry about it. A locator rarely, if ever has gotten a gobble from me. But like Nate alluded to, the wmas I hunt sound like a crow/owl convention starting opening day so they may just catch on to them

Crow call can be a great tool if your running and gunning to set up properly. You can fire up birds you did not even know were there sometimes or get a few responses from a bird that went cold or is starting to.

My saying is try it until it works if you never tried it before, not much I have not tried in the woods.

Nice one Jerry. Windy day here in Wisconsin but saw a few birds in the fields today when I was out working.
Glad you had some luck.

Zim

No shortage of birds this year seen a bunch just many were not that interested they seemed to be reaching the dispersal stage with gobblers together, some with hens, mixed groups and lone birds.

Very good to have.

Nice job Law!!!!!

Ok, you got the gobbles and the strutting…that’s the show. And yeah I hunt private and public. But NO, I will not shoot a turkey that doesn’t play the game my way whether it’s public or private. I’m not theare to just shoot a turkey, I’m there to hunt turkeys my way and expect the turkeys to react.