If you’ve done your share of pre-season scouting, it’s likely that by the time hunting season rolls around, you’ve got your turkey spots dialed in, and you know their general location. Sometimes, you get thrown a curveball and have to make some last minute adjustments so you’re just wingin’ it on a new spot! Regardless of where you may fall in this spectrum, being able to locate a tom is critical. Here are a few tips and tricks for locating turkeys.
Why Turkeys Respond to Locator Sounds
Some attribute gobblers responding to non-turkey sounds to their heightened testosterone levels. They are raging males, eager to mate and looking for a fight. Others attribute it to their desire to simply be louder than anything else in the woods. Whatever the case may be as to why turkeys respond to other bird calls, the important thing is that turkeys do respond. Here’s some more info on three effective locator calls.
Barred Owl Locator
This is a great locator call to use when wanting to know a gobbler’s location, without turkeys coming in to soon to your hen calls. You might be trying to locate where the turkeys are to know where and how to set up on them. It would be problematic to have them come into your setup before you are ready. Owls are often mating in the springtime, and their calls can be heard frequently in the woods, and it is a great way to get a tom to speak up.
Crow Locator
Much like the barred owl locator, the crow locator is beneficial in getting a response from the gobbler, without him coming into your calls. The crow locator can be used anytime throughout the day and is another tool to have in the bag, especially when trying to mix up your calling. There are many different variations to the crow locator, so be sure to check out the Turkey Tech mobile app to perfect them.
Cutting
Cutting is a great turkey sound to use to elicit a response from a tom because it plays on his emotions. It helps get him excited. While there are many different scenarios in which cutting is beneficial, it is an effective locator call. The hunter should beware, however, that the tom responding might very well be on his way to check out the hen he just heard, so make sure you’re in a set up (or close to one) conducive to that!
As mentioned above, knowing when and how to use these sounds—along with their different variations—is an essential skill turkey callers must develop. The Turkey Tech mobile app outlines these sounds and variations in a way that is simple and easy to understand, teaching hunters how to make the sound, when to use it, and how a turkey may respond to it. The Turkey Tech mobile app is a must for any turkey hunter wanting to improve his or her knowledge of turkey hunting and calling. Indeed, it’s important to not just understand the sound you are making, but also when and how the turkeys will respond. All of this can be accomplished with one app, conveniently located on your cell phone. Best of luck this year to all turkey hunters in their pursuit of their own trophy toms!
This article was written by Got Game Technologies staffer, Jedd Tibbitts, an avid outdoorsman and marketing intern for Got Game Technologies. If you have comments or questions for Jedd about this post, he can be reached at jedd@gotgametech.com.
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