Toobrokeforthis
Active Member
Best decoy for Turkeys
I am told that the jake and hen combo that has come out in the last couple of years work great ! I can't think of the name of them, but every time that I have tried decoys in the past, it scared them ! I got rid of all the ones that I had, burned them ! Swore I would never use them again ! I do great without them, by using good woodsmanship !Best decoy for Turkeys
I quit using them several years ago, and burned the ones that I had ! So after hearing all the stories again about decoying I tried it again in 2018, I saw two gobblers about 800 yards away with hens in some fields and there is a wooded hollow between them and the field that I am set up in. They went over the hill away from me and then came back to where they were earlier, there was only one hen now with them, long story short, I started cutting and they got excited and didn't keep an eye on the hen, she ended up getting in a depression and they couldn't see her, they ended up going down into the woods ! I figured they may be coming and about 30 minutes later I heard a gobble out the field I was in and there was the two gobblers just entering it, one look at my hen decoy they folded up and quit gobbling and went across the field and into some other woods ! I went out and retrieved the decoy and got back into my blind . I waited about 1 hr. and started calling again with a different sounding mouth call and about 15 min. after my first series I saw them come back out from where they had gone into the woods, they came down a farmers lane 300 yards and I gave the largest one a ride home with me ! I know decoys work my own brother has had good success with one he mounted, they have even tried to mate it, but I have yet to have one come into a decoy ! So I kill them without using decoys, I never liked having to drag them around when I wanted to change locations or move on a bird, the ones you say you can put in your pocket wouldn't be bad if you had to move. So I basically scout and set up where the birds like to go and display, call a little and wait them out ! Works for me !DSD decoys are considered the cream of the crop turkey decoy. They are super expensive but a lot of guys swear by them. I have a couple Avian X decoys that are blown up. They don't take up near the room in a pack as DSD's and are a chunk less in price. If I'm doing a bunch of hiking I often bring along miss perfect decoys. The fit in the palm of your hand when coiled up and fit in a large pocket.
Turkey decoys can change dramatically from 1 area to the next and from 1 month in the turkey season to the next. A jake with a couple hens may work sometimes but spook the heck out of gobblers other times. There are so many different decoy options and combinations....jake on mating hen, flock of turkeys, use of only hens, hen with tom, lone hen, lone full strutting tom, etc. It's good to have a variety. It's also good to provide some sort of motion to decoys. Turkeys tend to shy from decoys that don't move.
I am 66 years old now, but back 30-35 years ago when I was learning to turkey hunt I would go out before season and call gobblers in and I actually did what you would call experiment with them, I had some I actually had to throw stones at to get them to leave ! You are right when you say they have great eye sight and hearing, they know exactly within yards of where you are when you make your first call ! and I want to say here that, that is all the calling that is needed many times ! If the gobblers are alone and no hens go to him he will most likely come looking for the hen he heard, he may never gobble, just come slowly stopping and watching for the hen as he works his way to where he heard the hen. I have called loud, soft, and everything in between while having gobblers close to me, inside 40 yards and none of the calling scared the ones that I did this to, probably 5 or 6 ! It may be because they were already there,I don't know the reason why thy do a lot of the things that they do, but other than the keen senses that they have, they are a relatively dumb bird ! Hate to burst some of your bubbles but I have called literally 100's in and watched them for long periods of time and have to conclude they really aren't as smart as they get credit for! I have left turkeys leave and called them back several times, and others come in and stay for an hour or more and won't leave, and then there are those that don't stick around long at all if they don't find a hen there ! I don't think for one second that they can reason and say that if there is no hen there when they arrive that it is a hunter calling ! This happens all the time in the turkey woods, a turkey calls and then leaves that area to feed or in the case of a hen in the spring may have gone to another gobbler that she heard ! If they could reason they would know that a decoy isn't the real thing once they get to it ! I have never had luck with decoys but I do know they can work, my brother swears by them, he has had them come in and stand on top of them trying to mate them ! He has a video of one doing his thing on top of a decoy and the decoy fall over on its side, this would tell something that was smart that the gig was up, but the dumb thing got back on top of a hard plastic decoy laying on its side on the ground and started mating it again ! Another stupid thing I have seen them do is when two or more gobblers come to a hunter and one is shot the others are too stupid to flee and instead rush into the one that was just shot and start pecking and flogging it ! DUMB ! But move at the wrong time, bump your gun against something and make a noise , or let them see the reflection off of your gun or glasses and they are GONE ! Not smart, they are just being turkeys !I don't know how many turkeys I've had that start towards my calling...when they don't see any decoys or don't see movement in decoys they head the other direction. When hunting high pressured birds turkeys may actually head the other direction when they hear calls or don't see decoys...or don't see movement in decoys!
What works one day may not work the next! I constantly keep track of the reaction of turkeys to different calls, call timing/intensity, decoys, or use of no decoys. It's important to stay flexible and be willing to change things up if something doesn't work! As I mentioned in my post above...what works during the early season may not work later on.
What Buck Buster mentioned in his post above definitely got the tom's attention...and worked! If he would have kept the same decoy and calls the toms likely would have avoided him. The disappearance of decoys and the different calls obviously changed things up and caught their attention. It's always good to do as Buck Buster did and think outside the box!
Turkeys rely on their keen eye-sight and ears more than any other game animal! In fact, I would rank turkey eye-sight up there with antelope, wild sheep, and other keen-eyed big game. They don't have noses like a deer or elk but boy do they have eagle-like eyes and great hearing! This has always amazed me since turkey eyes and ears are SO tiny!
Best decoy for Turkeys
I have tried them a number of times without good success ! The decoys have always scared the turkeys ! So I have better luck hunting as you do ! Set up so that when the bird comes into view it is within killing range ! The important thing here is to have a number of trees in the direction so when the turkey does appear and if it isn't where you have your gun aimed you can move when they go behind one of the trees, you can also move if it is a gobbler and it fans out with his head obscured ! I have also called them across fields where they could see a long ways and see no decoys or live turkeys, you just have to call to get their attention and then shut up and let them hunt you, or progressively make the calls softer so imitate a hen going away from the gobbler ! Lots of tricks as you learn, but learning their habits and where they like to feed and strut are Big steps in being a successful turkey hunter !None. If you set up correctly, the turkey will not be able to see your location until in range. It would not be able to see the decoy whether it was there or not. Dekes have no place in sporting turkey hunting.
Of course, if you like playing with dolls or don't want to learn how to hunt, then decoys might be the very thing. DSDs do work for taking advantage of those walnut size brains. Just don't expect those of us who sit to a turkey honorably to think much of the stunt.
I think if you reread what urbaneruralite is saying the same thing as us, he doesn't like decoys is the impression I got ! And the walnut sized brain is really stretching it to about twice the size it really is ! They should have been named wild chickens, because they are more of a chicken than what a chicken is !urbaneruralite, what state/s do you hunt? I've had a tougher time having success using decoys than run and gun hunting! I'm not sure how many times I've set up decoys and groups of turkeys or toms head the opposite direction! If you hunt heavily pressured public land birds that have experience with decoys you may find that it's tougher with decoys than just calling...especially if you are a good caller and know what you are doing without decoys!
High pressured birds often don't see movement in decoys or stare at decoys and figure out something isn't quite right and head the opposite direction! The walnut sized brain turkeys I hunt are obviously a lot smarter and spookier than the ones you hunt! There is an art to figuring out the correct decoys, decoy set up, calling that will ceil the deal! I'd say 95% of the toms I've harvested (and I usually kill 4 to 9 a year) are shot without using decoys...and it's often a piece of cake not using decoys! I have struggled harvesting the same toms with decoy setups.
I wouldn't consider using decoys "cheating" or "playing with dolls"! In fact, I would say the opposite is true where I hunt! Everything often has to be perfect to harvest toms with decoys...especially heavily pressured public land toms! Anyway, I wouldn't bash those that choose to use decoys!