Turkey's will make a fool out you even if experenced ha ha

[mmorgan9812]

Little Back Story---

Been hunting turkeys since I was 13 years old and usually kill at least one to two turkey's a season (Limit is two per season in North Carolina). I have in all that time never killed a turkey over a decoy and every now and then I will try it to see if I can pull it off using a decoy......

Now Saturday.....

Last Saturday I was taking a younger guy with me that has never killed a turkey, We set up on a hot gobbler that was coming in from away's off. This time I had time to "try" some decoy action. Well again failure, he saw the decoy setup and stayed hung up just strutting back and forth for 25 mins at 80 yards. I felt so bad for the poor young fellow with me and he had to endure the shaking and craziness that comes with this love of turkey hunting for more than 30 mins.

Below I have posted a picture of our exact setup... The bird came in above the two tree's that are together above the Hen decoy that is standing but in breeding pose.

Was it just a bird that has been whipped before? (Scared of the Jake)
Was it the case of... I see you and you see me up here strutting, so you come to me?
Or do I just stink with decoys?

I would love to finally kill a bird over some decoy's but I just have no luck. Other friends do not kill as many as me but when they put out a decoy the gobblers just come in running ready to fight ha ha.



It's things like this that make me just love Turkey Hunting.... It's always something crazy with these birds, I actually don't get upset when this kinda thing happens. I just laugh it off and get even the next time.

[zelmo1]

Sometimes the hen gives the illusion that the jake is a boss. A sub dominant bird may tuck tail and run

[Wisgobbler]

I hunt in the woods so I've never been much of a decoy guy. This spring I tried the decoy thing again after reading so much about guys using the funky chicken. I put a hen on the ground in a breeding position and put the funky chicken behind her about 6' during Wisconsin's two day youth hunt. I called three different gobblers in two different locations. Both times I was sure that we were going to kill a bird. In both instances the birds came to what I'm guessing was 100 yards, quit vocalizing and wandered away. I didn't use a decoy during the next two seasons and we had no difficulty killing birds. I know decoys work for some guys but for whatever reason, I have no confidence in them at all. Maybe if I hunted fields?


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[yelpy]

I could be wrong but I would have put that Jake as he was coming up the hill toward the laying hen. The gobbler might have thought he could have cut off the Jake from getting to the hen.

I try to set the decoys facing away from the approaching bird if only using a Jake with hens. The reason I do that is I want the approaching bird or birds to think the decoys are going away from him.

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[Brs2427]

I don't like decoys and have never had success with them although I know that birds get killed over them everyday. I feel that sometimes if the gobbler has to long to look at the decoys he will just start strutting to try and make the hen he is looking at come to him. I bought an axian x hen and had a bird coming to it across a food plot where he could see it along way off the bird strutted right for it got within 40 yards of decoy and ran off. I don't know what the deal was. I like to idea of the Tom having to look for the hen when you don't have any coys

[RutnNStrutn]

I find it interesting that some guys claim to have "never" had any luck with dekes. I use them regularly because I often hunt open areas where it helps for the gobbler to see the "hen" that he heard.
With that said, you never know what gobbler will come to your calls. Maybe he is a lover but not a fighter. Maybe he isn't the dominant bird, and has had his butt whipped by Mr. Big. Maybe he's a mature tom that got beat up by a gang of jakes, and is now afraid to even face off against a jake. Who knows a gobbler's history?
I also don't hesitate to put my decoy bag behind a tree, and hunt without a deke if the woods are thick enough that a gobbler won't get spooky if he doesn't see a hen. I've killed many gobblers that way, including the one I killed this season.
All I can tell you is I use the most realistic decoys I can afford, and my latest set is DSD upright hen, feeding hen, jake and a B-Mobile with a real Osceola fan. Down in Dixie, where I mainly hunt, the birds aren't as vocal and responsive as Rios, Merriams or NE Easterns. I've had great hunts running and gunning outside of Dixie. But in Dixie, you either get on 'em early, or you do a lot of sitting and waiting in a likely spot, often sitting over dekes. I've had pretty good success over the years with decoys, but I have had nice gobblers shy away from a strutting deke, and even a jake. I've even had gobblers hang up/shy away  from straight hen set ups. You just never know how a bird will react to decoys.

[mmorgan9812]

I don't like decoys and have never had success with them although I know that birds get killed over them everyday. I feel that sometimes if the gobbler has to long to look at the decoys he will just start strutting to try and make the hen he is looking at come to him. I bought an axian x hen and had a bird coming to it across a food plot where he could see it along way off the bird strutted right for it got within 40 yards of decoy and ran off. I don't know what the deal was. I like to idea of the Tom having to look for the hen when you don't have any coys

100% my problem also, we share something in common ha ha

[Marc]

I would have the decoys going uphill...  Or maybe the hen going uphill with the jake perpendicular  to her.  I put my decoys close to me (furthest decoy at 15 yards).  If birds are coming from below me, I might even put the decoys above me to the left (where I can turn and shoot if one slips in behind); if a bird hangs up 40 yards from decoys that are 10 yards above me, I still have a good shot).

I would put the decoys to the left of a right-handed shooter (especially the jake).

I do not want the decoys facing either me or the approaching turkey if possible.

[dublelung]

I don't know what caused yours to hang up but I've never had one spook or hang up from NOT seeing a decoy. I'd keep doing whatever you're doing to kill em and leave the decoys up to the folks who think they can't hunt without em.

[MK M GOBL]

I always say there is a lot to hunting decoys "right" and I have great success with my DSD's, been putting my NEW White Headed Strutter to work and he's a killer!

Tagged him today!

MK M GOBL