Decoy Users

[GOOSESLAYER]

Great info and totally understand, only thing different is the birds on this farm are still together, had a buddy scout for me last night and this LB is still with his Jake friend and 2 hens. If he lost the hens he would already be in the back of the truck. They are coming out two paths and we can set up right in the middle of both for an easy poke if they show. So going to try that first and if not ill have the decoys on us to make a move into the woods mid morn.

[JonD.]

Are these hens older or really young hens? That seems odd to me that just those two hens are still hanging around this late in season(it would be for my location, maybe normal for yours) If they are older hens it kind of puzzles me why they are not laying or nesting, if they are 1yr old hens then that would explain it.

[Cluckncrazy]

That sounds like a good strategy TRG3, it's obviously worked for you. I may have to give that a try late season next year. I've never used a gobble call in the woods, I'm thinking I might need to try it some.

[TRG3]

Using the gobble tube also worked for me the second day of the first season which happened on April 10th. Four gobblers along with several hens were in the trees about 100+ yards away. At fly down, the hens took the gobblers to a grassy field some 200 yards away while I watched. My gobble tube didn't attract the boss gobbler since he had plenty of hens; however, the combination of an intruder gobbler being with a new hen was too much for a couple of toms that had to follow the boss gobbler around day after day and watch as he interacted with the hen. Two of the subordinates sneaked away and came my way to investigate the situation. When they saw the Funky Chicken hovering over a hen in the breeding position, they came running and one of them immediately went face-to-face with him. At 6:30 a.m., the hunt was over as one of them took a load of #5 shot at 25 yards. When using the gobble tube, it seems that the general trend is that it is more likely to attract subordinate toms in the earlier season and, with patience, bring in the boss gobblers in the late season when most hens are on the nest. Ray Eye, who was with H.S. Strutt at some point, through one of his hunting articles first brought this technique to my attention and I thank him for it since it's accounted for two, and usually three, gobblers each spring for the past 10+ years. I just opened a box from Amazon today that contained two Primos Gobble Shaker tubes, back-ups for the 2019 spring turkey season. Best of hunting!

[GOOSESLAYER]

Are these hens older or really young hens? That seems odd to me that just those two hens are still hanging around this late in season(it would be for my location, maybe normal for yours) If they are older hens it kind of puzzles me why they are not laying or nesting, if they are 1yr old hens then that would explain it.

Not normal for my area at all and they are older hens pretty puzzling  huh.

[JonD.]

Yep that's kind of odd. Maybe these two hens have stopped producing eggs for some reason or other. Sounds like what your doing is the best approach to him, getting in front of them on their way to where they are going. If these hens aren't breeding and laying they are still keeping that gobbler from leaving them. It would be good if you could get them split up somehow. You could bust up their roost, but I would be afraid it would spook them out of the area completely. Keep after him, I hope you get him!

[GOOSESLAYER]

Thanks fellas one more crack at him tomorrow we're in it for the all day hunt if need be. I'll update the results tomorrow

[Dtrkyman]

I run a solo dsd jake most of the time I use a decoy!


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[Twowithone]

I had a lone hen out the other day when a gobbler was probably gonna make his way there. I got cocky and shot and watched that gobbler fly up in a tree and when I got up he flew again.

[yelpy]

Try putting a hen out and keep a Jake decoy by your side. If they hang up slip that Jake up next to you where they can see it.

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[GOOSESLAYER]

No luck guess he will be bigger next year. Bird gobbled good on the roost 75 yards inside the tree line. About an hour after legal. He was gobbling 35 yards behind us. while 1 hen and a Jake walked right out past us. Hen walked out and away and Jake turned back and headed back in where he was gobbling. He continued to gobble all the way around the perimeter of the woods. And about 2 hours later he popped out 100 yard in front of us on the point and decided to b-line across the cut in front of us. The Jake was walking slowly about 40 yards behind. Thinking the Jake has been whooping on him. Because he was skittish and trying to get away from the Jake. After they were out of sight we headed into to woods where we heard him strutting and gobbling everyday hoping he would make his way back. Waited it out a few more hours but, The heat was to much for my fiancé so we decided to pick it up and head home. All in all he was sure fun to try and figure out. Hope he's around next year. 

[Bolandstrutters]

The success guys have with jake decoys is undeniable, but they have worked against me more times then not.  Its a head scratcher because the farms I hunt dont seem to be over run with jakes.  I'll have a gobbler coming in hot only to see the jake and tuck his feathers and boogy.  But then I've had mornings when they come in on a dead sprint.  I usually chalked it up as being young birds that were intimidated by the jake, but most of the birds I've killed over it have been two year olds.  Turkeys being turkeys I suppose. 

[GOOSESLAYER]

Not a big fan of decoys myself but I through everything at this bird and came up short for my fiancé. Which is fine it fueled the fire for her and she hasn't stopped talking about getting back out next year. So it's a win in my book

[JonD.]

That right there is what its all about. Turkey hunting is the only hunting my wife likes to do, and I love to take her with me. Sounds like you got a good woman there to me!

[JonD.]

I forgot to add, make sure she can cook! LOL!