I have several Decoy Questions

Spurhunter said:
Setterman said:
Spurhunter said:
Setterman said:
I take kids every year and have watched them shoot a ton of long beard with no blinds or decoys.

Therefore I don't view a kid hunting as a mandatory situation for decoys or blinds.
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There can only be one Turkey Whisperer. Most of us are mere mortals. I never seem to find places overrun with kamikaze longbeards so I have to use what advantages I can.
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No reason to resort to personal attacks when another person just states their opinions and experiences.
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No personal attack. If everything you say is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, you are one of the best ever. All of us are not as skilled and probably don't have the places to hunt that you do. We have to do what we can to kill a few birds.
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LOL, this isn't a competition between hunters. It's a war between myself and the bird that tormented me during my youth. I've won a bunch of battles as the years have passed by, but they seem to always have the upper hand.

For the record I have not killed a bird in TN on private ground in almost 10 years, and 6 years in KY. I hunt entirely public land while here.

Out of state, it's fair to say I have the opportunity to hunt some remarkable places.

My favorite turkey stories are failed efforts to kill a bird. Those are usually the great stories with great teaching momments.
 
I agree with setterman on the blind thing. while every now and then there is situations that you may need a blind. but when I grew up and my friends there was no way that I was going to hunt out of a blind. and imo it made me a better hunter and it made me aware of my movements and the things I could and not get away with and I think imo it is important for kids to start to learn that early. but again I hunt out of a blind every now and then and also every now and then I take kids and we will hunt out of them. just my two cents.
 
deerhunter10, keep in mind you live in the #1 turkey county in the state. If you take a kid and he bumps a bird there will be plenty more. A rookie hunter limited out in 4 hunts recently in your county. There aren't near the birds in extreme West TN. If I take a kid and he bumps a bird moving it may be his only chance for several hunts. Or weeks. I think you guys are a little spoiled with your numbers. Nothing wrong with that. I'm jealous. But, here we have to maximize every opportunity. I talked to a guy from middle TN at LBL last year. His exact words: "I come here for a possible bonus bird and the challenge. In my county you can trip over a log, drop your gun, and if the gun goes off you'll probably kill a longbeard. It's stupid easy." All I'm saying is don't judge turkey hunting in general by middle TN.

Also, my son has killed birds not being in a blind. But it happened fast on those hunts. I don't think you can expect a kid to be still for hours on end. My son just turned 15. We will be doing less in the blind and more running and gunning this year, and we have been decreasing blind use every year. But for a younger kid I still believe it's the way to go.
 
Spurhunter said:
deerhunter10, keep in mind you live in the #1 turkey county in the state. If you take a kid and he bumps a bird there will be plenty more. A rookie hunter limited out in 4 hunts recently in your county. There aren't near the birds in extreme West TN. If I take a kid and he bumps a bird moving it may be his only chance for several hunts. Or weeks. I think you guys are a little spoiled with your numbers. Nothing wrong with that. I'm jealous. But, here we have to maximize every opportunity. I talked to a guy from middle TN at LBL last year. His exact words: "I come here for a possible bonus bird and the challenge. In my county you can trip over a log, drop your gun, and if the gun goes off you'll probably kill a longbeard. It's stupid easy." All I'm saying is don't judge turkey hunting in general by middle TN.

Also, my son has killed birds not being in a blind. But it happened fast on those hunts. I don't think you can expect a kid to be still for hours on end. My son just turned 15. We will be doing less in the blind and more running and gunning this year, and we have been decreasing blind use every year. But for a younger kid I still believe it's the way to go.
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I have yet to take a young kid hunting and I would be glad to do so either with or without a blind. a more impatient kid, in a blind, a more dedicated kid, no blind. but I'd be hunting the #1 county in the state so it wouldn't matter as much. If the county next to it was the same size it would probably be #1. But I have only hunted that county once and killed a bird there (yeah it's easy there on private land)

I could not move to west TN because of the lower number of birds. Would be depressing to me, yes I am spoiled. I hope the birds populate better in the coming years in west TN.

I aint against blinds at all but I don't care to hunt them very often at all. But with a kid, it would depend on the kid like I said. It would then be more important that the kid had a good hunt than whether or not to use a blind.
 
Well said Catman. You will get great pleasure out of taking a kid when the opportunity presents itself. West TN can be somewhat depressing when you see everyone limiting out in other parts of the state. I do tip my hat to you public land hunters. No matter how many birds you still have a huge obstacle: other hunters.
 
Spurhunter said:
deerhunter10, keep in mind you live in the #1 turkey county in the state. If you take a kid and he bumps a bird there will be plenty more. A rookie hunter limited out in 4 hunts recently in your county. There aren't near the birds in extreme West TN. If I take a kid and he bumps a bird moving it may be his only chance for several hunts. Or weeks. I think you guys are a little spoiled with your numbers. Nothing wrong with that. I'm jealous. But, here we have to maximize every opportunity. I talked to a guy from middle TN at LBL last year. His exact words: "I come here for a possible bonus bird and the challenge. In my county you can trip over a log, drop your gun, and if the gun goes off you'll probably kill a longbeard. It's stupid easy." All I'm saying is don't judge turkey hunting in general by middle TN.

Also, my son has killed birds not being in a blind. But it happened fast on those hunts. I don't think you can expect a kid to be still for hours on end. My son just turned 15. We will be doing less in the blind and more running and gunning this year, and we have been decreasing blind use every year. But for a younger kid I still believe it's the way to go.
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like I said im not knocking some who uses blinds or decoys at all. like I said I use a blind and I have used decoys. I was just simply stating just like I do with kids in deer start them in a blind don't leave them in a blind like you seem to be doing with your son. I know some that never ever get out of a blind they carry one with them every where. i try to get them out and about. sometimes its not all about killing one which I know you know. but I know when I was a kid I learned a whole lot more actually hunting like my dad would if he were alone then him catering to me worrying about me not being able to sit all day or being able to sit still. ill agree we are kind of spoiled and we have some good farms to hunt and I don't care one bit to hunt on public land I give them tons of props. but even though we live in a good county doesn't mean its automatic. its just like going to Kansas or iowa for deer nothing is automatic it is hunting and nothing is guaranteed. im not knocking anyone who uses either a decoy or a blind. but with the blind hunters I encourage them to get out of their comfort zone especially when hunting with kids and imo it makes the over all experience better. if a kid is impatient you don't hunt them all day you hunt them for a few hours. and our numbers are going down I have a farm in giles county that hasn't had birds on it in 3 years and it used to be lights out. numbers can lie some farms has it some don't. I will admit 100 percent we have some outstanding turkey and deer farms but we worked our butt off for them. but like you said that is here and not where you are. there is a million ways to kill a turkey this is how we kinda of do things find what works for yal and stick with it. what ever floats your boat.
 
I agree deerhunter10. And I know the guy was exaggerating and it's not automatic. I wasn't taking anything away from you guys. It's gotta be awesome hunting where the birds are thick. I'm jealous!
 
Make no mistakes regarding bird numbers here on public land. Sure there are plenty of birds but it is steep and unforgiving. Add to it the daily wars with the atv "hunters" and nothing comes easy
 
Well I didnt expect these types of comments from my questions.
I can tell you what I do know. My son and I went turkey hunting for the first time in our lives last year. We were in a blind and we had a jake and hen decoys. We killed a 11 inch beard I think it was. The very next day we killed a jake.
Im not saying we will do good again this year but I cant understand why in the world we wouldnt go ahead and try our same method again. Especially since it worked for a couple of newbies. We dont know squat about turkey hunting compared to most. Yes maybe some day I would like for us both to start hunting them without the blind and maybe the decoys. But for right now I can tell you that this year we will be in a blind with decoys. I also pray that we get something.
I guess we will try and place the decoys about the same way we did last year. I now see that there are no real answers to my questions...not really.
I do thank all of you who sincerely tried to answer my dumb questions.
Thanks and good luck to everyone.
 
Well put PRB. I'm almost in the same boat as you. I just started turkey hunting 4 years ago. I've hunted with and without blinds and with and without decoys. I've succeeded and I've failed in all scenarios. Since you're new, just find what works best for you.
 
PRB said:
I now see that there are no real answers to my questions...not really.
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;) You're catching on :) !

Listen to the great Yogi Berra, "If it ain't broke, ..." well, you know the rest.

Another old saying, "opinions are like ________ (fill in the blank), everyone has them, and no two are the same" :D !

Good luck and enjoy the hunts with your son!
 
Spurhunter said:
The strutters can be detrimental. If I was going to use one it would be early season while the gobblers are still running together.
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I am just the opposite, I dont like to use a strutter early in season when all the gobblers are still together, all you are doing is educating the whole bunch when you kill the one. Most of the time when the gobblers are still bunched up they are very receptive to calling anyways, no need for the strutter. Save it for later on....just my opinion.
 
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If you had success last year in your first year doing things a certain way, why complicate things by changing it up if you're satisfied with the outcome?
 
Setterman said:
If you had success last year in your first year doing things a certain way, why complicate things by changing it up if you're satisfied with the outcome?
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Who said I was satisfied with the outcome ? Where exactly did you get that information ? Truth is I was happy with the outcome last year. We said a prayer over the bird after he shot it and thanked God for it. But I just wanted to know how you could tell me what Im satisfied with and then ask me why I want to complicate things? Where did you get this information ?
Is it not possible, that maybe I could have asked the questions in hope to have a better year ? Total we killed the tom and two jakes and I thought that was great. But after we got those 3 all in a row our luck ran out the rest of the season and we really enjoyed eating them and Im sorry for being greedy but we wanted to eat some more.
When it came to deer hunting I cant tell you the amount of failures we have experienced, since you mentioned that in a earlier post. I really like the blind method for now, but just so you know, we have had long talks about going scouting and then just sitting at the base of a tree and hunting in that method. Maybe just maybe someday we can achieve this level of hunting expertise.
My son and I both came up with the questions in hope to get a better outcome this year. I told him I would post the questions on here and I was telling him some of the responses until it got into a pissing match. I can handle the words of debate between forum members. However...well Im done whining and complaining.
 
Spurhunter said:
Setterman said:
I take kids every year and have watched them shoot a ton of long beard with no blinds or decoys.

Therefore I don't view a kid hunting as a mandatory situation for decoys or blinds.
Click to expand...

There can only be one Turkey Whisperer. Most of us are mere mortals. I never seem to find places overrun with kamikaze longbeards so I have to use what advantages I can.
Click to expand...
I like to use one of thos stake blinds with my kids. I can be mobile and have some cover for the kids. Oh yeah no decoys for me :D
 
PRB said:
Setterman said:
If you had success last year in your first year doing things a certain way, why complicate things by changing it up if you're satisfied with the outcome?
Click to expand...
Who said I was satisfied with the outcome ? Where exactly did you get that information ? Truth is I was happy with the outcome last year. We said a prayer over the bird after he shot it and thanked God for it. But I just wanted to know how you could tell me what Im satisfied with and then ask me why I want to complicate things? Where did you get this information ?
Is it not possible, that maybe I could have asked the questions in hope to have a better year ? Total we killed the tom and two jakes and I thought that was great. But after we got those 3 all in a row our luck ran out the rest of the season and we really enjoyed eating them and Im sorry for being greedy but we wanted to eat some more.
When it came to deer hunting I cant tell you the amount of failures we have experienced, since you mentioned that in a earlier post. I really like the blind method for now, but just so you know, we have had long talks about going scouting and then just sitting at the base of a tree and hunting in that method. Maybe just maybe someday we can achieve this level of hunting expertise.
My son and I both came up with the questions in hope to get a better outcome this year. I told him I would post the questions on here and I was telling him some of the responses until it got into a pissing match. I can handle the words of debate between forum members. However...well Im done whining and complaining.
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Sorry if I assumed killing or being involved in the killing of 3 birds in someone's first season came across to me as a dang fine season for a first timer. I'd say most on this forum didn't have the same luck in year one. I certainly did not.

Did you all continue to see and hear birds but were unable to draw them into gun range?

Did birds gobble back but refuse to commit?

Did birds see your setup and shy away

Do other folks hunt the property?

What is the habitat and lay of the land?

How large is the place you hunt?

Do you see lots of hens? Are they receptive at all to calling or decoys?

I'm happy to offer advice and the above questions could be vital, and are IMO more vital than a simplistic decoy question if you would truly like to kill more birds. However, there are guys who hunt everyday and have for decades that would be thrilled with 3 dead birds a season. Maybe your expectations are a little high seeing how your new to turkey hunting.

This is not an easy game and in reality there is not any magic formula or big secret to killing a million birds a year. There's a bunch of experienced folks who post here that are happy to offer an opinion, but don't be offended or surprised if you get advice that's completely opposite of the way you think you should hunt, the way you want to hunt, or what's worked in the past.
 
If I remember correctly we found out after talking to other people last season that we had done good, especially for newbies.
I wanted to see if we could pick up on some extra information that might help.
Im going to pass on answering all your questions at this time.
Your knowledge of turkey hunting greatly surpasses mine so I dont think I could understand even if you were to explain.
Maybe its best if we just learn through trial and error at this time.
Thanks for the offer though.
Good luck to you this season Setterman.
 

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