decoy success

[paladin]

how often do you use decoys?
how  important do you think they are in your hunting success?
What percent of kills do you have a decoy out?
I have only killed one with a decoy out and am not sure he saw it.
If he did he was still 50 yards from the decoy and not really headed toward it .
decoy was to my left and he came in on the right.

[reynolds243]

I dont use them as often as I once did. I hunted in bama growing up and they were not allowed so I just learned to go without them.

however i will still use them here in TN if i am hunting some field birds and i can get them out with no caution of getting busted trying. If i am hunting woods then i usually dont use them and allow the terrain to help me out.

I dont think they are nearly as important as the commercials or catalogs suggest they are. I know plenty of people who will agree and kill tons of birds without even owning decoys.

less then 20% of my kills have come with decoys out.


IMO i think decoys can really hinder a hunter. The time they take to get out on a gobbling bird can sometimes just be too much as well as the additional 20yds or so a hunter tries to cover when they could have just eased up and sat down. I think decoys have a time and place and that is definitely not all the time. I am not a fan at all of the full strut decoys as well.


having said all that, if you are the type that likes to sit in a given area for long periods of time then absolutely use them. if you like to move around more searching for birds then they can because a negative for you.  This is all just my opinions and different terrain and circumstances call for different things though.

[PANYHunter]

Great answer reynolds.  I agree that decoys have been marketed very well but aren't as necessary they would have you believe.  They do have a place and I use them occasionally but not the majority of the time.  I love to watch a boss gobbler come into a strutting decoy, but you have to use it at the right time and place or it can be counterproductive.  I would say around 20% of my kills are with decoys out.

[Gobble!]

I dont use them as often as I once did. I hunted in bama growing up and they were not allowed so I just learned to go without them.

however i will still use them here in TN if i am hunting some field birds and i can get them out with no caution of getting busted trying. If i am hunting woods then i usually dont use them and allow the terrain to help me out.

I dont think they are nearly as important as the commercials or catalogs suggest they are. I know plenty of people who will agree and kill tons of birds without even owning decoys.

less then 20% of my kills have come with decoys out.


IMO i think decoys can really hinder a hunter. The time they take to get out on a gobbling bird can sometimes just be too much as well as the additional 20yds or so a hunter tries to cover when they could have just eased up and sat down. I think decoys have a time and place and that is definitely not all the time. I am not a fan at all of the full strut decoys as well.


having said all that, if you are the type that likes to sit in a given area for long periods of time then absolutely use them. if you like to move around more searching for birds then they can because a negative for you.  This is all just my opinions and different terrain and circumstances call for different things though.

very well said. I used to use decoys to much. Cost me a bird last year. They are great to use and can really make a hunt more successful but only if they are used right

[Timmer]

Early in my turkey hunting career I had a few year dry spell.  I like to sneak hunt and cover ground.  At the time, I had decided that carrying two or more decoys was too much so I was carrying just a single hen, but I used it pretty much every time I sat down.  During that time I had the same odd experience several times.  I worked a hesitant tom for a long time, he would come in extremely slow, and then when he finally turned the corner or crested the hill into sight he would take about a 5 second look at my decoy and turn around and run.  I don't understand the turkey biology behind it, but I am convinced the single decoy was the issue.  My guess is they focused on that single bird and got spooked by the lack of movement.  

I know others use them with success so I've been trying to use them and find a combination that works.  I still like to move a lot and tend to only try them at daybreak, but when I use them I am now trying 3 - two hens and jake.  Over the years I have had quite a few females and jakes come into this setup, but I have yet to have a tom come in.  All of my mature birds have been taken mid morning or later when I'm moving about, finding birds, and setting up without decoys.  

[Kylongspur88]

I think it all depends. In the woods I rarely see the need or opportunity to use a decoy. If I set up on a field edge I may put out a single hen. I think the best thing a decoy does is it makes the tom look at something other than me. I have never had a bird shy away from a single hen or a pair of hens, but I have had more turn tail and run with the full strut decoys than come in. I use cheapo foam hen decoys and they make great back rests when your not using them.

[Nimrodmar10]

Hi Paladin
I like the idea of decoys.

I've worn out a pretty good flock of the old FeatherFlex decoys carrying them in my vest. Most of them have no paint left. I've bought the ones with the great looking molded head and the soft body. They still look pretty good. I've bought the semi foldable poly body decoys and the Pretty Boy / Pretty Girl combo. The full strut PB really looks good. Last year I even had a security guard sneak up on them with his phone camera taking pictures. Twice!!! Finally had to whistle at him. This year I've even broke down and bought a hard body hen and jake.

I like the idea of decoys.

But the problem is......... I've never killed a bird using one. At least not that I remember right this minute. Forty five years of chasing turkeys kinda all blends together some times. What I do remember though, is all the times the decoys have spooked the turkeys. Those memories stick.

I'll keep using them though because I like the idea of decoys. You just stick them out in a field and any turkey gobbler that sees them comes a runnin. At least that's the way it looks on the Outdoor Channel. As I get older and older, I keep looking for an easy way to kill those Communist Toms. One of these days sitting in a blind in a chair may be the only way I'll still be able to hunt them. Maybe by then the decoys will be so realistic they actually will work for me.

[bowhunter84]

 

I dont use them as often as I once did. I hunted in bama growing up and they were not allowed so I just learned to go without them.

however i will still use them here in TN if i am hunting some field birds and i can get them out with no caution of getting busted trying. If i am hunting woods then i usually dont use them and allow the terrain to help me out.

I dont think they are nearly as important as the commercials or catalogs suggest they are. I know plenty of people who will agree and kill tons of birds without even owning decoys.

less then 20% of my kills have come with decoys out.


IMO i think decoys can really hinder a hunter. The time they take to get out on a gobbling bird can sometimes just be too much as well as the additional 20yds or so a hunter tries to cover when they could have just eased up and sat down. I think decoys have a time and place and that is definitely not all the time. I am not a fan at all of the full strut decoys as well.


having said all that, if you are the type that likes to sit in a given area for long periods of time then absolutely use them. if you like to move around more searching for birds then they can because a negative for you.  This is all just my opinions and different terrain and circumstances call for different things though.

[redleg06]

I use them when I hunt field or wide open spaces....which is alot for me now-a'days cause Ive started hunting in the rolling plains area quite a bit.

If its a situtation where Im hunting in thicker stuff (like i used to more often) then I dont know that you gain much and are just as well off having the turkey searching for the call.

My answer would be....it depends on the situation and largely dictated by the area Im hunting.

[M Sharpe]

I'll bet if a fella had one of those breeding hen decoys and a gobbler decoy standing over her, then hit the old squeallin hen call, they'd probably run straight over the top of him. 

[timbrhuntr]

I think using decoys is just like all the other tools we use. Sometimes they work sometimes they don't. Just like using calls. I didn't throw away my box call just because it didn't get any responses on some of my hunts. If I went with that attitude I would get rid of everything. Last fall while deer hunting I called a flock of hens to me twice using just my own voice. I even had the boss hen calling to me from about 10 yds as she couldn't find that one little lost jenny that kept calling in ernest everytime she walked away. I guess I should go out with just my own voice now but I kinda doubt I will get it to work out like that again.

[hd mike]

I like using decoys. I am using a three hen set, sometimes also a B-Mobile tom.
Seems to make it easier when using the bow. Every day is differant, just have see what mood they are in.

[gunnerj]

Hunting in the timber, I don't bother. The birds don't see them until it's too late anyway. I'll use them in the open(field or pasture) if I can get them out without being busted.

[hunts4ever]

NOT A GREAT BIG FAN OF DECOYS. IVE USED THEM AND HAD MIXED RESULTS EITHER THEY WANT TO HANG UP OR SOMETIMES THEY DO RUN RIGHT IN. WHERE I DO LIKE THEM IS IN WIDE OPEN SITUATIONS BEHIND ME AND OFF TO ONE SIDE.  THEY TEND TO FOCUS ON THE DECOYS INSTEAD OF YOU. OTHERWISE I BELIEVE THEY'RE JUST A HASSLE.