Turkey Decoys?

[whaler]

Depends. If hes tired of being beaten up by jake groups he might avoid. Most of the time, a mature tom will come to that set up, at least in my experience. 

 

 

[TeeBugg]

Agreed. Ive seen toms shy away from jake decoys. But with that setup of the jake trying to mate the hen, ive seen them come hauling butt in to kick some tail. Never know and the birds will let you know what they want. No harm in trying!

[stevenjackson]

what a deal, i'm sure they'l do just great!

[THHuntNY]

Let's hope so. I'm hoping the 2 birds I saw last week come back

[Five Seasons]

you don't "need" decoys to hunt turkey. Overall I think they help, but a tom decoy can actually drive other birds away too. just like any tactic used to hunt just about any game, there is a chance they backfire on you. That being said, turkey have great vision and while I don't think a cheapo decoy is a bad idea, I also don't believe in a $100 bird either. I think they have their best advantage when hunting fields. I hunt a lot of hardwoods, so I prefer a decoy that is flexible for me to carry over other features. I have 2 hens (feeding and nesting and a jake) that fit in a decoy bag I wear over my back and it works for me.

[whaler]

If im in the hardwoods, no decoy is better than one. Birds know exactly where the call is coming from when you make it. Ive had birds walk over my legs trying to find that "hen". I had two Jakes walk so close to me last weekend that i could have grabbed one of them. Fields, different story.

[wooly]

This topic has become near and dear to me.

The Monday after the youth hunt, I headed to one of my stick blinds to photograph more turkey, only to find someone had stolen the dekes I'd just bought.

I left them behind so I wouldn't have to haul them up the hill every day with all my other gear.

 

Needless to say, I was pissed!

I was also convinced that decoys are simply eye candy, and turkey will decide upon spotting them how they'll react positively or negatively depending on what kind of mood they're in any given day. I like using dekes, but there was no way I was buying new ones this year so I built my own. Perhaps not anatomically correct in every aspect, but he's got all the right colors in all the right places, and that's all that matters,lol

A rolled up pair of black sweatpants for his body.., some masking tape racing stripes for wings.., a foam magic marker head with red satin toppings.., and an old jake fan from last year.

 

Oh yeah, he fooled 4 jakes yesterday morning, and this morning he convinced 4 longbeards and 6 hens to come take a closer look at his masculine physique. Got it all on video too, so that was pretty sweet!

I gotta admit, I was skeptical myself at first, but he hasn't turned a bird away yet! These turkeys ain't nearly as smart as some of you guys are leading them on to be.

 

 

[THHuntNY]

That thing looks better then anything I've seen for sale in a store.

[RTGobbler]

Wooowwww that is an awesome setup.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[THHuntNY]

Any thing I should do differently if it starts to rain tomorrow...calling and decoy wise?

[whaler]

If it rains be out in the open. Fields, log roads etc... With decoys. 

[THHuntNY]

If it rains be out in the open. Fields, log roads etc... With decoys.

sounds good thanks!