Well we hunt tomorrow morning. The past 10 days the birds have been in the same field feeding close to the same area. We have over a foot of snow on the ground and it is very loud walking. My plan was to get in the field where the birds have been feeding and sit tight in the blind. The birds are still in big groups and are not mixed together (toms with toms/hens with hens) I was thinking about putting out a jake with a hen so that the birds will come nice and close to the blind for the kid to shoot. What are your thoughts on using decoys and what ones would you use?
A jake decoy might be all you will need. With that much snow on the ground there is no need for the toms to be interested in a hen decoy. I would use a jake decoy and make my calls sound like a jake. A fight purr may be your best friend this weekend.
I will be using a DSD jake and hen when I take my daughter for our upcoming youth season.
I'd use a strutting deke over a hen, with a couple of other hens off to the side. I've had great success in the early season with Bmobile with a real fan. Gobblers come running and strutting into it, looking to scrap. What a show that would be for the kids!! If you are going to be in a blind, bring a video camera too!!
Definitely a deke of some kind, preferably a jake or a strutter.
Best of luck!