Thursday was the first time I ever used a jake. My set up was a DSD breeding hen and jake.
I had set the jake behind the hen (facing her) but sometime between set up and daylight he turned away.
while I didn't want this I hunted it anyway.
9am I have a gobbler answer very close behind me ..as I get in position turning the wrong way !! I see two gobblers coming in fast. so im stuck turned on the wrong side of the tree ..they were coming straight to the decoys but as they got about 25 yards they stoped and looked spooked and started easing back from where they came. now after a few min of me clucking and purring I finally got turned and was able to take one of them .
I need some advise on this. I feel that the birds were two year olds and the jake intimidated them.
he is in a semi aggressive strut. should I always make sure he faces the hen hopefully away from the approaching gobbler or is just a product of younger birds and not a boss tom? While I ended up the victor it almost went south . I sure would have rather them stay with the decoys and not head out.
When I have used decoys I always take a couple small twigs or something and poke in the ground on both sides of their tails. Give them room to sway a little in the wind for realism but it will keep them from spinning all around. But my thoughts are if they came in that close that fast before spooking, you could have whacked one with out the decoys being there at all. Its a coin toss as to how they will react to them.
Sounds like they did the job. Congrats on your bird!!
Quote from: born2hunt on March 28, 2015, 08:32:11 PM
When I have used decoys I always take a couple small twigs or something and poke in the ground on both sides of their tails. Give them room to sway a little in the wind for realism but it will keep them from spinning all around. But my thoughts are if they came in that close that fast before spooking, you could have whacked one with out the decoys being there at all. Its a coin toss as to how they will react to them.
I usually do the twig thing also but I just didn't think I needed to this time dummy me ;D your right about the coin toss.