decoys. yes or no?

[silvestris]

Grandpa said it was unfair to use decoys when hunting turkeys and that is good enough for me.

[fallhnt]

I use them most of the time but I bow hunt.

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[jryser]

No


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[Jester87]

Mostly no. But after seeing them used I thought it would be fun to try. So I bought this nice Avian hen thats a pita to carry here out in the west where long walks and mountainous terrain is the norm.  So no one wants to carry her. All the times a tom has come in I didnt have her. The times I had her nothing came. Named her Virgin Sally. Now I bring her every year and we place bets at camp if she's finally going to get laid. 

[Bowguy]

You def don't need em and sometimes they'll cost you. Sometimes they'll pay off as well.
The night before youth opener I saw a gobbler w hens. As I watched three other longbeards approached. He left his hens to assert dominance and was cocky about it.
I watched them all fly up.
Next morning the three flew down to about 60 yards but went the other way. After a bit I jake yelped at em. Same moment I saw the hens coming. Suddenly a longbeard came to the front of hens, saw the jake 60yards away and approached w a vengeance. The little girl missed at 24 yards, he re engaged the decoy and she missed again.
If you had a tom say getting whipped by a bunch of Jakes he'd shy away from a jake. There maybe a hen.
The idea is you need to know what you're trying to accomplish and why.
I very rarely do field set ups. I hate em and would almost rather stay home. I'm deaf in one ear and can't tell direction so the dekes are placed just so I have somewhere to look not for "calling" power visually.
It was prob 25 years or so before I ever used a decoy. Many of not most situations you wouldn't need them if you hunted/set up a certain way. Will they hurt you? Truth is correctly set up they'll help more than hurt.

[bonasa]

I have been turkey hunting for 22 years in 6 states and have kept detailed notes on the hunts including date, time, wind speed, precip, number of birds heard and observed , decoys used, run n gun or blinds used. I can tell you this that out of all the birds I have shot or called in for others and had them shoot 73% of the time we used no decoys a bird was harvested, 59% of the time we did use decoys a bird was harvested. There were times where the jake decoys did more harm than good.

Most of my birds shot for myself or others are shot without blinds or decoys as I live by the "scout 'em and crowd 'em" aggressive turkey hunt and call them in close. Just like waterfowl, be on the "X" and shoot them in the lips.

[Greg Massey]

Nothing wrong with decoy's , just another item in your bag of trick's ... hunt the way you want and don't worry about what others think so much ...

[Bay1985]

I learned to hunt turkeys without decoys never felt I needed one. A lot of people rely on decoys to make up for poor calling or set ups. If your in the right spot and sound like a hen turkey decoys are not needed. If your idea of hunting is sitting on a crop field in a blind then you probably feel they are mandatory. Hunting woods turkeys decoys are just something else to carry, by the time he gets close enough to see the decoy he should be in range to kill.

[Greg Massey]

Decoy strategy, blind placement is all tools in planning down to the last detail of calling in gobbler. It's a great tool for kids and handicap hunters .. It's has nothing to do with if your a bad call etc .. If you watch the video of Tim Murdock on youtube who is complete blind and has killed turkeys last year and this pass 2019 season , them i think you will have a different outlook on people who use blinds and decoy's ... Tim Murdock is one of the best turkey caller in the country .. I will put him up against anyone who can see ... so let's not be selfish and say some are bad caller or poor at setups ... sometimes the worst caller kills more turkeys than you might think....

[LaLongbeard]

Decoy strategy, blind placement is all tools in planning down to the last detail of calling in gobbler. It's a great tool for kids and handicap hunters .. It's has nothing to do with if your a bad call etc .. If you watch the video of Tim Murdock on youtube who is complete blind and has killed turkeys last year and this pass 2019 season , them i think you will have a different outlook on people who use blinds and decoy's ... Tim Murdock is one of the best turkey caller in the country .. I will put him up against anyone who can see ... so let's not be selfish and say some are bad caller or poor at setups ... sometimes the worst caller kills more turkeys than you might think....

Your post is dead on. If your handicapped or blind ,a little kid or mentally defective then yes blinds and decoys are probably needed. Decoys and blinds make killing a turkey easier ,if not then why would blind people or kids hunt out of them?

[bobk]

No decoys.

[GobbleNut]

I don't use decoys, but quite honestly, folks can hunt however they want,...with or without decoys, blinds, whatever.  There is no doubt that in certain circumstances they are going to make the difference between killing a gobbler or not killing one.  There are also going to be circumstances where using a decoy is going to hurt your chances, as well.  The trick,...for those that use them,...is assessing the situation and making a good judgement as to whether to set one (or more) out,...or not.

I tend to not want to make turkey hunting like hunting waterfowl over decoys.  It just does not seem right to me, personally,....but to each, their own.  If it floats your boat....

More important to me is recognizing that some hunting methods are so effective that using those methods without having an awareness of their impact on the resource,...and adjusting one's mentality about killing turkeys because of that,...is irresponsible.
As an example, the guys that go somewhere and use "reaping" methods and kill every gobbler that comes in range,...so they can end up with a pile of dead gobblers in a "grip and grin" photo,...need to recognize that their attitude needs an adjustment.

You want to stick a strutter decoy in the ground,...or use one to sneak up on a gobbler,...and kill a bird or two,...well, that is one thing.  You want to do that with five of your buddies and end up single-handedly wiping out the local mature gobbler population,...well, that's quite another. 

However you choose to hunt turkeys, eventually you should reach the point where your "badge" of being a good turkey hunter is based on a lot more than how many beards and spurs you can pile up in a season.  It has a lot more to do with your respect for the resource and having an awareness of how what you are doing impacts it.

[Candyman]

No.

[fallhnt]

Yes

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[Crghss]

Why stop at saying no to decoys? Let's say no to shotguns......must use archery or black powder!