Lay down hen decoy

[hipp2412]

Does anyone use a lay down hen decoy? Im thinking about getting the Avian X lay down hen and then using my jake decoy with her. This would be for field use only. Any stories to tell ? Pros or con.  Thanks Hipp

[Greg Massey]

Nothing wrong with having one and using it with your Jake decoy... it will just add to your realism and visibility

[hipp2412]

Our PA season starts this Saturday and I have a field that there is hens, jakes and longbeards all intermixed together. I'm thinking that if I just put out my upright hen and jake together there's nothing there that they don't have already. But with a hen in a breeding position that might get the long beards attention to get them into shotgun range. In this particular spot I only have 1 bird strutting but I have another spot a couple miles away that all of the birds are fanned out and strutting. Very strange and I cant figure out why this is happening. All private land of course and no pressure. There's 1 particular bird that I am interested in at the first field I spoke about. I ordered the laydown hen... 

[Marc]

The DSD Leading Hen decoy works well as a lay-down decoy as well as upright (for its intended purposes).  Take the stake off, it is a laydown, put it on the stake, it is upright. 

Seems to irritate live hens when upright...

I do not care for the idea of spending so much money on a decoy that has such limited purpose or use.  Too many times I am hunting tall grass that a laydown would not work...  Leading hen always has a use.

Just looked one up, and I cannot believe the price on these things now!  Got mine for half the price some years back (and thought it was expensive then).

https://rogerssportinggoods.com/dave-smith-decoys-leading-hen-turkey-decoy/?gclid=CjwKCAjw9J2iBhBPEiwAErwpebNm7kVnaknkbVODUKE4VbFxQEGjRmn7vn-IfXHlWZA5N3URSX7B1RoCJSAQAvD_BwE

[rakkin6]

Does anyone use a lay down hen decoy? Im thinking about getting the Avian X lay down hen and then using my jake decoy with her. This would be for field use only. Any stories to tell ? Pros or con.  Thanks Hipp

I just use my Avian x upright hen without the stake look exactly the same and you can use it has it is intended also. So a two for one deal

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

[deadbuck]

I bought the Dave Smith " Flock" a few years ago that has 4 decoys. They work incredibly well in any combination I have tried. The problem, however, is you have to have to have some turkeys to hunt. The whole flock has been riding on the back seat of my truck for the last month waiting on me to find a use for them.

[Greg Massey]

I bought the Dave Smith " Flock" a few years ago that has 4 decoys. They work incredibly well in any combination I have tried. The problem, however, is you have to have to have some turkeys to hunt. The whole flock has been riding on the back seat of my truck for the last month waiting on me to find a use for them.

Some of the best people you can get information from about seeing turkeys are the rural mail carriers, these people are on the road 6 days a week... you will be surprised by WHAT they see and can tell you...

[Browning87]

I bought the Dave Smith " Flock" a few years ago that has 4 decoys. They work incredibly well in any combination I have tried. The problem, however, is you have to have to have some turkeys to hunt. The whole flock has been riding on the back seat of my truck for the last month waiting on me to find a use for them.

Some of the best people you can get information from about seeing turkeys are the rural mail carriers, these people are on the road 6 days a week... you will be surprised by WHAT they see and can tell you...

This is some of the best information on locating birds. I crossed paths with a mail carrier where I hunt some years ago and did this same thing. He was a hunter(deer mostly) also and I repaid him by taking him on his first turkey hunt and getting his first turkey. He's since retired from the usps so the information is limited now but some of the best properties I hunt are ones that he'd led me to. I make sure to share a tree with him at least once a season.

[deadbuck]

My problem on locating birds is that I have hunted Mississippi public land almost exclusively for the last 12 years and now that the youtube influencers have flooded my spots with 5x the normal number of hunters the birds are pushed off onto the surrounding private lands where the corn baiters whack them. It has gotten really pathetic here. Something has to give.

[Notsoyoungturk]

We hunt a lot of fields here.  I have used a jake and laydown with great success.  Many gobblers come running in on a string and attacked the jake.  This year. I have killed 2 birds and been with 2 other people when using decoys.  In every case this year, the birds have seemed wary of the decoys.  These hunts have been in TN and SC.  There have been other hunters on these properties so it is possible they have seen the combination in the past.  More positive results than negative over time.  One man's opinion.

[hipp2412]

sounds like the pros outweigh the cons. I have one ordered and I hope it gets here by Saturday, our opener.
Thanks for the information.

[hipp2412]

Follow up, so this morning was the PA opener. Was raining pretty good so I set up along a field in a ground blind to stay dry. I placed my Avian X upright hen on the ground without the stake and my jake decoy facing her at about 6 feet away. As was instructed. At 0648 hrs a long beard runs in and attacks my jake decoy. No gobbling no nothing but a beat down. It was fun to watch. This one came home with me, 23 pounds, 11 inch beard and 1 1/4 spurs. 

[Callmn closer]

Congratulations! I like the DSD hen decoy and half strut Jake for field hunting as well and have had the gobbler run right past the hen to get to the Jake.