One other thing I will add after watching hundreds of longbeards come into a set up, is that 9/10 birds come in and keep coming and would go past the shooter many times if no shot is fired. In other words, my experiences with birds that hang up out of range is limited every season, although it does happen once or twice each year, I seriously doubt decoys make things 100%.
Also, I am glad from a personal standpoint that the folks who took me under their wing as a kid taught me how to move on birds, how to set up in the woods, how to deal with field turkeys, how to not overcall a bird, how to take a birds "temperature", etc etc. All of those things helped make me the hunter I am today.
I'm not implying utilizing decoys and blinds eliminate those learning experiences, but there are valuable lessons learned from not automatically killing a bird or just sitting stationary waiting for one to wander by.
All of this is just my personal views and I'm not knocking anyones style, just stating what I feel helped me out and put me in the position I am in now.
I also feel (some may not like this) that too many fathers are hell bent on believing that the only successful hunt is one where their child kills a bird. I personally feel, some of the most successful hunts for kids are when they don't kill something and learn why it didn't work out and how it can be made to work out in the future. It's a culture of instant gratification that is being passed on to the kids anymore, and at times I wonder if that is for the best. If a kid is discouraged because they came up empty handed then life is going to be a serious wake up call as they navigate the neverending let downs and failures we all experience over the years.
