To Hoot, or not to Hoot

[TrackeySauresRex]

That is the question...

  So what are your thoughts on this? When do you? Or.. when don't you?

A day I was out last week resulted in, I wish I didn't. The birds decided to sleep in late and it was unfortunate they changed the roost location, not for the better.  We put out a Hoot only to have one gobble right on top of us. Long story short. You know the ending. We didn't get him.
 

[Greg Massey]

For myself I just let nature wake the woods up ... I don't carry a hooter. I do sometimes carry a crow call but I very seldom use it ...

[joey46]

Only in the pre-dawn after setting up in a pre-selected spot.  Nice to know if there is one around.  Usually enough real owls have already taken care of it.

[Spring Creek Calls]

I like to let it happen naturally, but if it doesn't I'm hootin' or crow callin'.

[Ranman]

I usually hoot once, and that starts up the real ones answering back.

[RutnNStrutn]

I let nature do her thing. If that doesn't work, I hoot. And if that doesn't work, I crow call.
The other morning I did exactly that. Nothing from Mother Nature or my hoot, so I hit the crow call and !!

[WLT III]

I let nature do her thing. If that doesn't work, I hoot. And if that doesn't work, I crow call.
The other morning I did exactly that. Nothing from Mother Nature or my hoot, so I hit the crow call and !!

Where I hunt, everyone else hoots. I try to be less like everyone else as possible.

[joey46]

Good idea. I have used a pileated woodpecker call on occasion when everyone was owl hooting.  If nothing else it's a surprise.

[The Lung]

Turkeys around here get real tight-lipped. I think they here dozens and dozens of guys blowing away on the hooter. Very, very seldom do I get a response. I carry mine because it's a nice call and it looks cool, lol.
Generally if I'm in the right spot these Rios get fired up without help from me.

[Tail Feathers]

I don't carry a hoot call.  I sometimes do it natural voice.  Not well, but it occasionally works.
But if I'm hearing others in the area, I don't hoot.  Done well, I don't think it hurts your chances whether the tom responds or not.

[RutnNStrutn]

Where I hunt, everyone else hoots. I try to be less like everyone else as possible.

That's an excellent plan..... IF you are hunting public land. I learned to turkey hunt on pressured public land in Florida.
These days I avoid those situations like the plague. Where I hunt these days, I'm not one of a hundred guys hooting. I'm just another owl.

[Brillo]

I recently was after a specific bird but not really sure where in a 300 yard line he was roosting so I hooted.  I Got three responses from a much wider zone but not him.  I had heard him previously from the other side of a river so I knew he was roosting nearby but not exactly where.  I did know he was between two other birds so that gave me a clue about where to set up.  Did not see or hear him that day until around noon when he gobbled on his own.  When I go back after him again I will stay quiet until it is time for tree talking and I will do very little of that. 

[zelmo1]

For myself I just let nature wake the woods up ... I don't carry a hooter. I do sometimes carry a crow call but I very seldom use it ...

x2

[Lcmacd 58]

For myself I just let nature wake the woods up ... I don't carry a hooter. I do sometimes carry a crow call but I very seldom use it ...

x3

[Sixes]

Personally, I don't use one and I rarely hear a gobble with a real owl hoot. I don't use any locator calls and mainly rely on real crows to get them going in the mornings.

If I were to use a locator call, I would probably use a goose call. I hear more gobbles after a goose call then any other shock call.

It might just be the birds that I hunt