I recently freshened up the paint on a old decoy I have a B Mobil by primos. Thinking about attaching a real fan. Opinions on a Jake or Tom fan would be great. I feel like a Jake fan would appeal to all birds but a Tom's might make them hesitate them to come in. Thoughts? See attached picture
I have used the very same decoy here and there with a Jake fan attached.
Just like any other turkey hunting tactic........ I have seen it work remarkably. I have seen it fail miserably. And I have seen birds totally not give a crap one way or the other. Mostly the latter.
Only one way to find out. Decoy positioning has more to do with a Tom not committing in than the type of tail fan you use.
P.S. Those things are a real pain in the arse to have to carry ANYWHERE........... For that reason alone, I nearly never even consider it's usage anymore.
I've used both a jake fan and a full fan, and I haven't seen much difference in birds reactions. If they are going to commit to it they will usually come right in. Most times they will gobble a couple of times and very shortly after come at a dead run and ready to flog it. If they don't want to commit to it, a jake fan doesn't help at all in my experience. Last year I had a longbeard about 200 yards away get sight of my strutter with two hens, one feeder and one up-right, and he hauled out of there running wide open. I had a jake fan and real wing feathers on it. The tom looked to be a mature bird with a thick beard. I would have thought he would have wanted to whoop a jakes butt for strutting with two hens in his territory, but he wanted no part of the situation. With that said, I've taken 6 mature gobblers using a strutter and hens, and all but one was with a full fan.
I have a full fan on my Primos killer B and have had birds come running right in and have had just as many not pay it a bit of attention or run the other way. All depends on their mood. The killer B has a pull string to make the decoy go in and out of strut which has helped me pull in a couple toms that didn't pay any attention to the decoy until I did that.