Decoys

[ATbuckhunter]

What decoy set up are you guys planning on using this year for the begining part of the season. Ive always used just 2 or 3 hens, but im thinking of adding a jake this year. 

[The_Real_TCIII]

I’ll lug a hen around with me but I have never had a good encounter with them


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[dbHunterNY]

depends on the time of season or early morning vs late morning.

early mornings and especially early in the season (less pressured and less green growth) it's multiple hens with maybe one submissive with full fan or jake next to it all in plain view from a ways off. late mornings with lots of beards in the area i go with a full fan in a known strutting area and hope a boss comes in to dish it out. less beards is usually a lone hen. jake only used with hen, never alone.

late mornings and especially late May i go with a single hen decoy. if there's enough beards around a submissive hen with jake.  good practice too for late season pressured birds if you're using decoys is to have a setup that makes the birds come in blind with the decoys pulling them past you and off to the side. decoys on a left for right handed shooter with a hard turn to get to them so you can cover the birds coming in if the hang up a bit.

otherwise it's not decoy but lay of the land can kill your efforts and make birds skirt you or hangup.

[dbHunterNY]

forget foam they look ridiculous and often deformed. go with rubber, fake feather decoys, or i suppose if you've got a money tree in your backyard a mount. one thing that helps is a real dried fan on full fan strutter decoys. also use an art brush and paint clear coat on the eyes to make them glossy if they aren't.

[turkeyfeathers]

You’ll never see me with a full strutting or fan decoy. Turkey hunters are the worst trespassers there are.  Private posted land sadly means nothing to a hunter who’s gotten up at 3 am for consecutive mornings and not heard a bird. And when he hears that first gobble he could care less about posted property and you think you’re all alone. 

Dsd hen and when not with my daughter I’ll sometimes use the dsd jake decoy too. Sometimes none. Make em look for you. Decoys aren’t necessary but sometimes they help 

[dbHunterNY]

sometimes if you setup multiple hens put them into a triangle pointed away from you but make sure theyre spaced far enough apart but not too far. want room for a big beard to strutt right in the middle of them and right in your face but not feel cramped or they'll hangup, gobble, and walk away from you expecting the hens to follow or move.

[turkeyfeathers]

Agreed on facing decoys away. No need to give ole Tom a direction of hens pointing at you. 

[ATbuckhunter]

Appreciate the great tips guys!

[The_Real_TCIII]

You’ll never see me with a full strutting or fan decoy. Turkey hunters are the worst trespassers there are.  Private posted land sadly means nothing to a hunter who’s gotten up at 3 am for consecutive mornings and not heard a bird. And when he hears that first gobble he could care less about posted property and you think you’re all alone. 
Dsd hen and when not with my daughter I’ll sometimes use the dsd jake decoy too. Sometimes none. Make em look for you. Decoys aren’t necessary but sometimes they help 

Stop judging me


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[TreeGuy]

Right TurkeyFeathers. How can, I forget one early April morning at a Gun Club Preserve and ln the middle of the Preserve listening for Gobbles. I heard a good 4 or so them--- BOOM. More Hen yelping quickly and 1 minute later-- BOOM. 2 dead Gobblers killed by Trespassers/Poachers. I yelled out HEYYY and silence followed. At least, I saved a 3rd Tom. This was back around 1997 or so. 

Your positive they were trespassers ? Your also sure it was the same Hunter ?

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[518BowSlayer]

full strut with a jake fan plus a hen has been my go to for early season. usually  switch to a lone hen later in the season

[Five Seasons]

I'm backing off from my 2 to 3 hens and a jake to a single hen and jake or just a single hen. Too often i've seen the birds avoid my setup. I've read some pretty interesting articles that do a good job of equating it to girls in a bar. Very few dudes have the confidence to approach 3 girls, and would rather approach just 1 lone one haha.

I'm not a great caller either, but I really am starting to believe that less is better unless you're seasoned and after some big birds and know your sh!t.