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Decoy Users

dgolden

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For those that use them... what will you have out opening morning? Hen, hens, strutter? Been scouting a bit and have 1 big flock all together. It's about 20-25 birds that still have not broke up. I will have my father with me in hopes of getting him his first bird. We'll be set up in a ground blind.
 
Good luck, I personally have never used decoys, I don't own any but if I were going to use one I would probably go with just a single hen.


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I don't either but I would like to think a strutter would be good with the birds still flocked up and fighting


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I have used just hens, hens with jakes, strutter with hen and even a spread of several hens, jakes and strutters, looked like a duck spread. LOL

One and only one time have I ever personally used / seen a decoy work.
It was a strutter, made from a real turkey with a motor in it that would rotate it one way, then the other, on a stake when you pushed the button.
Wow is all I can say.

I rarely carry anything anymore though.

I have zero issues with anyone using anything but from what I have seen, for me, they just don't work.
I seem to be the exception though, they work for everyone else. :D
 
I have used dekes before. I had one of those little mechanical devices in my strutter that rotated the deke around. Sometimes I turned it on and sometimes I didn't. I usually set it up with a couple of feeding hen dekes. Sometimes dekes work and sometimes they don't.

My most memorable hunt using them was in a BIG field that had several points of woods jutting into it. The birds would get out in the middle and gradually work their way towards the points. I'd run and gun most of the day trying to get them to commit to leaving the field through one of them or get close enough for a shot. Any calling just sent them back into the field and away we'd go again. This went on for 3 days with no luck. Call and they'd go the opposite direction. The birds seemed to be roosting basically in the same area daily and would hit the field more or less in the same spot but the terrain prohibited setting up there. I decided to set up across the field from where they were entering and once they made it into the field and over a hump I'd be able to see them. On my 4th day that's where I was waiting off one of those points. Sure enough, right after sunrise my 2 gobblers started sounding off along with the dozen hens they were hanging with. After seeing their reaction to any calling at all I had decided to just set my dekes up, not call at all, and see what happened. It wasn't long before I started seeing heads popping up over the rise in the field. When they saw my dekes the hens headed my way with gobblers in tow. The rest is history. 25 lb+ bird. At the shot the other gobbler flew a few feet away and then came back to seek some kind of revenge on the one that was now flopping of the ground. Very neat show!

Point being, without the visual of those "additional" turkeys feeding in the field I don't know if I'd have ever been able to take that bird. I don't think my calling was bad but for whatever reason when they "heard" competition they'd avoid them like the plague. Just seeing them seemed to make them want to join forces.
 
I nearly always use decoys on the first set up in the morning on birds patterned in fields. For them to produce a kill right off the tree, the key is not what decoy you are using, but rather ensuring you set up close enough in the field so that they can see them from the roost. If you have several gobblers in the big flock, that's even better, as I've found that the gobblers will fly down first before the hens competing with one another to get to the decoy.

OFC, it's not easy getting set up within 75-100 yards of a roosted bird on the edge of a field. It requires that you set up in complete darkness with no light (I usually do this on a bird I've roosted the evening before and know exactly which tree he went into), sit for another hour or so without making a single call, then just give a few soft yelps about 15 min before flydown (just enough to ensure he heard you and begins looking for the decoy). After that shut up and let the decoy do the work. Call too much after it's light enough to see, and the toms will realize your calls are not coming from the decoy.

If you're set up on a single gobbler with a few hens, expect him to let the hens fly down first before joining them (unless he's got competition nearby). That's where a jake decoy comes in pretty handy. Again, having it within sight of his roosted position is most effective.

If you're on a huge group of birds still flocked up (30, 40, 50 or more), that's where an entire flock of decoys works extremely well. I've had 6 gobblers and 40 hens pitch one after the other right into a decoy spread with 4 hens, a jake, and a tom decoy.

After flydown, I'll only ever carry a single hen decoy. I don't use decoys in the woods, and I've found out you are probably more likely to spook birds just trying to get a decoy in a field to work a bird after sunup.
 
ZachMarkus":4q84xp88 said:
Good luck, I personally have never used decoys, I don't own any.

So, your purpose for posting was .... ;) :D ?

I sometimes use them with my dad or someone else with limited mobility. Normally it's either just a lone hen or I may add a jake. They have worked more times than not.
 
I've took my son hunting turkey hunting 6 times and he had 5 kills. I put out a jake and hens, hit the box call one time and wait...They come to the decoys every time. I'd never go without em, even this weekend I called but it was 15 minutes before the shot.
 
Personally I would go with a strutter and a hen or 2-3 hens and no gobblers. The only time they ever seem to help me is when I can get close to roosted birds however. Either way, good luck Saturday morning!
 
bowhunterfanatic":13j09npp said:
Personally I would go with a strutter and a hen or 2-3 hens and no gobblers. The only time they ever seem to help me is when I can get close to roosted birds however. Either way, good luck Saturday morning!

Thanks bowhunterfanatic. Thinking of going with a strutting Jake and 2 hens. Hoping that big flock keeps doing what they've been doing and come to check out the decoys.

Thanks everyone else for the responses. Not really wanting to start a thread of "to use decoys or not". I'm using them this weekend because I'll be hunting with my father on his 2nd ever turkey hunt. Good luck to everyone!
 
I'll be using the GHG Jekyll & Hyde 2 sided decoy. I've been impressed with this decoy ever since it hit the market but could never read any reviews due to it being so new. Mack's Prairie Wings put it on sale for $74.99 with free shipping on $75 so I added it and a $1.00 Mojo Texas Rigs Hooker to qualify for the free shipping. When I took it out of the box and set it up I was even more impressed with it.
 
Roost 1":3onm4tw7 said:
ZachMarkus":3onm4tw7 said:
Good luck, I personally have never used decoys, I don't own any but if I were going to use one I would probably go with just a single hen.


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I'd say tail fans count as decoys.... :poke:

I don't use those either, according to you I "grew" out of them.


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ZachMarkus":2irtk0r1 said:
Roost 1":2irtk0r1 said:
ZachMarkus":2irtk0r1 said:
Good luck, I personally have never used decoys, I don't own any but if I were going to use one I would probably go with just a single hen.


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I'd say tail fans count as decoys.... :poke:

I don't use those either, according to you I "grew" out of them.


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it's ok they're not decoys, it's a costume. :D


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Two gobblers tried to destroy my funky chicken decoy saturday on the juvy hunt. I started carrying it this yr because of the size of it . Much easier to carry around. I dont use decoys much. With a kid I thought it would help and it did.
 
I'll be using a half strut jake and hen off the roost in a field. Maybe the same set up in the afternoon. My old man will be hunting with me.

I occasionally use decoys and I'm not ashamed of it.


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I run a hen and a jake deke in the morning. I've had a lot of success with a funky chicken over the top of an avian x breeder. Makes for very action packed hunts [emoji3]


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