Quote from: Ghostware on December 27, 2013, 08:54:02 PM
So if I want to add a decoy to the mix female or male decoy?
It really depends on what you want to do and somewhat on how the turkey that you are hunting are acting. Sometimes, a full strut decoy will bring the tom in on a dead run looking for a fight. Other times they may shy away from it if they have been whipped up on in the past or they are not looking for confrontation. Hen decoys can be tricky sometimes too. Gobblers can often "hang up" out of gun range once they see the hen, since they are waiting for her to come to him. Hen decoys can anger real hens and if the real hens come in to investigate, they will likely bring the toms with them if they are together already. It is a tough task to pull a tom away from hens, decoys or not. My dad and I killed 3 birds this past year, one with a full strut decoy, one with just 2 hen decoys, and one without any decoys at all.
If you see a bird working your way, just let him come. You don't want to do something to cause him to go another direction if he is already coming in. It's great to hear him gobble up a storm, but one set of yelps or a few clucks and purrs is all he needs to know where you are. Sometimes, I like to get a bird fired up and then go silent on him for a few minutes. He may start gobbling like crazy trying to get you to answer back. After a few minutes I'll give him some more if he doesn't seem to be coming.
If you hear a hen calling, another tactic to try out is to mimic her. If she yelps 7 times, yelp back 7 or 8 times. If she cutts excitedly, cutt back at her. This past spring we had some great conversations with hens by doing this back and forth type of calling. It got the toms fired up as well.
All of the above will work some of the time, none of it will work all of the time. Just experiment and don't be afraid to try new things or to get aggressive and move on a gobbler if it sounds like he isn't coming. I have been hunting birds for 15 years and I'm sure some guys on here have been hunting them a lot longer than that, but I think we can all agree that we have all made mistakes in the turkey woods in the past and we will all make mistakes in the future. If there was a distinct blueprint for how to get it done, it would take all of the fun out of it. I hope you get have the experience this spring and hopefully you learn a few things. Good luck on taking your first gobbler.
