Over the years I've accumulated a few decoys. Usually, I use a jake decoy with a hen or two, but I picked up a strutter decoy last year, so now I'm wondering... do I use one, or the other, or can I use both in the same setup? And if I can use both, what's the best setup to use?
Strutters are so big and bulky it makes them tough to run and gun with. I have a regular jake deek in my vest for running around with, and a dsd hen and strutter for when I'm setting up on a roosted bird in the morning.
Strutter decoys are always a gray area topic. some birds will come running to them and some wont. what I did with my strutter on a set up and I have seen it work a few times NOT ALWAYS..... I scout the night before the hunt and see where they roost. 530 am I am set up, I set two hens off to my 2 oclock position at 20 yards. facing away from the place the birds are roosted. I put the strutter or jake 10 yards away from the hens facing the direction the birds are roosted and closer to me. then use a hen call. What I am attempting to make it look like is. these hens while they are calling they are being forced by the strutter or jake to go in the opposite direction and the strutter or jake decoy is guarding them agains the incoming gobbler. When it works the gobbler comes in hammers my jake decoy and is usually only about 15 yards from me in the 12 oclock postion. All that set up talk I havent put them both in the same setup. Two things I can think of to do hoping common sense will prevail is during scouting if you see a jake and tom together remember how the live birds act and are positioned and try to mirror that in your decoys, or position it so a jake looks like it is getting ready to top a hen and put the strutter heading towards them like a more dominant bird is coming to take the hen from the jake. I hope it helps a bit.
First most of my hunts have been without a decoy. But when I have used them with turkeys deciding to be turkeys...it's hard to give you an exact answer....I have had several birds gobblers and jakes come flying or running hard into a King Strut decoy. I always put a real fan on it, sometimes a jake fan sometimes a full fan. Several have been on a mission to kick his butt, others cautious or even strutting right along with him. All of them but one are dead....the one got away cause I was an idiot and put the thing too close and wasn't ready for the bird to show up, couldn't move to shoot. I've only ever seen one bird that saw the decoy and didn't like it, instead making a big circle around and going the opposite way...but there could have been others. Another poster is right, even though it's lightweight it is hard to run/gun with them, takes a little bit to get set up properly and not the quietest thing around. I had an HS Jake and a hen out last year and had a bird come out of a thicket and he didn't like that jake decoy at all...then he saw me shift to get the gun on him and blew out before I could shoot him. My fault but something about that particular decoy he didn't like. I now have an Avian X jake will see if the realism works better this year. I will only use these set ups on private well controlled land, especially with real fans involved it would be easy for another hunter to mistake one for a real bird.