When to pull the jake-

[duckkillerclyde]

I'm a new turkey hunter.  Between my friend and I, we have killed two.


I've been doing a lot of reading on decoy strategies.  As a very successful duck hunter, I do believe that there are methods to madness of setting decoys in an appealing, ease of use way for the game you're chasing.

In my reading, it has been suggested to pull the cock from the decoys towards the end of the season in fear of chasing off a non-dominant bird.

OR season ends 5/31.  I was thinking of not setting jake out anymore this year.  I will be hunting alone this next weekend and will be stretched on space.   

Is it too early to be doing this?
Who else has heard/used this method?
Any suggestions?


This is what my spread has typically looked like.  I try to keep the decoys faced away from where I suspect the birds to come from.  My blind is this side of the breeder pair off in the bushes.

[duckkillerclyde]

79 views and nobody has any input?   

[Marc]

I have killed far more birds without decoys than with them...

Been hauling decoys with me all season, and both birds I killed were without...

I have seen birds rush a decoy spread, and I have seen them hang up...

A similar topic on this forum, and I would agree with someone else that posted, in a clearing I would use a decoy...  In thick woods, that decoy can cause a bird to hang up...

I am on the fence about jake decoys...  I have seen them work, and seen them put off birds.

But to answer your question, it depends on what the birds are currently doing...  In the midst of establishing dominance, a bird that has been beat up some might avoid that jake decoy...  A dominant tom might rush in.

Later in the season in my area, shooting Rios (which it appears you are as well), those toms and jakes start to group up again as the hens sit on the nest more...  So I would not think that a jake decoy would hurt you later in the season, as much as it could earlier in the season when dominance is being established.  (Someone correct me if you think I am wrong on this)...

[Jay Longhauser]

I think there are too many variables to answer the question definitively.  The biggest is the mood of the longbeard that comes to your calling and that can change in a matter of hours or minutes.  Ive tried sitting in a blind to turkey hunt and I can't do it for more than about an hour, much prefer being mobile, so I have only used a whole flock of decoys once that I can remember.  As a general rule I use, or don't use a jake decoy based on what Ive seen the birds doing.  If I think the strutter Ive seen in the area before is always the same bird and running others off I might use the jake.  For the most part if I don't see live male turkeys fighting and chasing each other a few days before Im hunting I don't use a jake, I feel like id rather not risk it running off a less dominant tom.