Crow and Owl calls

[Franco]

I saw a turkey calling pack that included these, Owl and Crow.
 
I am curious when to use these and why it works. I would think an Owl is predator that can take them off the roost or on the ground, so why would they gobble for a predator anymore than they would a human or a dog?
 
Crow is just another bird, so why does this get them going?
 
Is it limited to just a Crow and an owl?

[kenturkey89]

Owl and crow calls are known as locator calls. They are often used in the spring time when you're trying to get a gobbler to give away his position. For example, if you hunted all morning and haven't heard anything, many hunters will get up and move to another area of the property. As they move a long the farm many times they'll stop and use a locator call to see if they can get a bird to shock gobble, that way they can set up on the bird and try to call him in with hen talk.

Owl and crow calls are not the only things that will get a bird to gobble. Others include geese honking, loud woodpeckers, coyotes howling, roosters crowing, dogs barking, doors slamming, gun shots, thunder/lightening and many other sporadic loud noises. I'm not sure exactly why they gobble at these noises but I've heard it has to do with the rise in sex hormones during their breeding season. At that time of year they're trying to impress their hens 24/7, so when something else makes a loud noise they just gobble back to show they're the loudest, largest, most dominant thing around.

Many people use owl calls at dusk and dawn, because that's the time when owls will make a little noise. Many people use crow calls in the morning and afternoon because that's when crows typically make noise. My rule of thumb when using a locator call, is let mother nature tell you when to use that call. Don't blow a crow call 30 minutes before daylight and expect to get a response, even though sometimes something like that may work, I don't know. But I like to keep things as normal as possible. Same thing with a coyote howler. I would use one of those at dawn and dusk because that's when I hear most of my coyotes where I hunt. Also, just like any other call, they don't work every time. I seldom have luck with a crow call where I hunt because crows are making racket all day long in the spring where I hunt, so I'll let them be my locator call if possible. Good luck this season and I hope some of this helps!

[shaman]

I'd go even further than that.  I've almost stopped using locator calls completely.
 
In my neighborhood, there is usually enough natural noise out there that if the turkeys are going to sound off, they sound off without any prodding.  All it takes is a little patience. Usually the barred owls, hawks, and the crows do the majority of the work, but there's also quite a bit of other stuff.  Somebody will start up a truck engine, a school bus starts backing up,   somebody slams a door.  Just about anything will set off a turkey when the mood's right.  For a number of years I had a neighbor that had a donkey that would bray at sunrise-- that was particularly good.  Lately it's been another neighbor's dogs chained up in front of the trailer and his guinea fowl.

[TeocTom]

I am lucky that where I hunt there are a lot of owls that live around the area.
There is nice sized lake on the place and I set up on top of a hill right above it and use my owl call. That sound just echoes through the woods. I had about 3 owls chattering one morning so loud that it was unreal.

One morning one of the owls was hooting and a gobbler was gobbling his head off!


That was fun!

[arrowsonly]

I use a train whistel at one of my hot spots, I see birds standing on the tracks there all the time...

[SpurHuntinHillbilly]

Agreed. I quit using locator calls and let the birds wake up all on their own. When the crows start flying or if you have owls in the area it will get them cranking. Birds will quickly associate locators calls with hunting pressure as well.

ORIGINAL: shaman

I'd go even further than that.  I've almost stopped using locator calls completely.

In my neighborhood, there is usually enough natural noise out there that if the turkeys are going to sound off, they sound off without any prodding.  All it takes is a little patience. Usually the barred owls, hawks, and the crows do the majority of the work, but there's also quite a bit of other stuff.  Somebody will start up a truck engine, a school bus starts backing up,   somebody slams a door.  Just about anything will set off a turkey when the mood's right.  For a number of years I had a neighbor that had a donkey that would bray at sunrise-- that was particularly good.  Lately it's been another neighbor's dogs chained up in front of the trailer and his guinea fowl.

[icdedturkes]

The folks that do not believe in locators have not found the right ones.. I have used a ton of crow calls and have only found two readily available calls that work.. When I say work, I mean that you are quite confident upon hitting the call that if a gobbler was in the proximity it would gobble.. I would say while cutting and running only about 20 percent of the time do I draw a gobble from a turkey call after hitting the crow..

The advantages of having a bird gobble before the first turkey call is made is huge..

As for hooting in the morning.. When I go in blind, I hoot early.. You can draw a gobble at any time and buying yourself 5-10-15 minutes before the woods would normally wakes up is crucial considering light and your ability to sneak in tight.

[shaman]

ORIGINAL: icdedturkes

The folks that do not believe in locators have not found the right ones.. I have used a ton of crow calls and have only found two readily available calls that work.. When I say work, I mean that you are quite confident upon hitting the call that if a gobbler was in the proximity it would gobble.. I would say while cutting and running only about 20 percent of the time do I draw a gobble from a turkey call after hitting the crow..

The advantages of having a bird gobble before the first turkey call is made is huge..

As for hooting in the morning.. When I go in blind, I hoot early.. You can draw a gobble at any time and buying yourself 5-10-15 minutes before the woods would normally wakes up is crucial considering light and your ability to sneak in tight.

 
For me, it's more a matter of confidence that I  don't have to use a locator call.  What  I mean is that a good part of the time, I can go out and set up in the dark and be fairly certain I'm in the right spot, because I know the birds and I know that a gobbler's close by.
 
Of course, I'm hunting my own 200 acre patch and I've been doing it for a decade.   The problem I have is getting the gobs too wise to me and my calling.  I have to be far less aggressive in showing the turkeys my stuff-- including locators-- because I know that at some point in the season they'll figure out it's me.  On the other hand, I have plenty of natural sources of noise for the gobblers to key on.  I have 3 species of owl, crows, hawks, and assorted other stuff.  If I just sit back and wait, the gobs sound off with plenty of time to spare.

[TeocTom]

I have never heard a gobbler shock gobble at a live crow. I personally have not had any luck using a crow call. For some reason that owl makes that gobbler loose his mind.
I don't know if it is because they hear crows all day long or what.

I use a Primos Hoot Flute, and I try to stir up the local owls. Once I get them going they do the dirty work for me.