Jake decoy and blue head?

[Marc]

I have hunted over decoys, and had birds come into them, but in all honesty, I have seemed to have had better luck without them.

However, I am all for using anything to my advantage, and although I have never had luck pulling in birds with a jake decoy (I know crazy huh?), I was approaching the end of the season, and hunting bird that continually hung up out of range, with or without a decoy...  Thought that jake might just be the trick.

He was coming in full strut (from the wrong direction), and he was coming in hard and fast...  Until he saw my jake decoy, at which time he gave that alarm put, his tail dropped and he took off...

Here is the decoy I was using:





Now, I have read here that you want the red color to go all the way up the neck, and I have recently heard the same thing from friends that hunt...

Is it the blue down the neck that scared this bird?  Is it just having the jake present that made him scurry off?  How important is coloring the head all red?

[gwa]

A touch of blue is ok but that looks overkill and needs toned down a little bit. Maybe those crazy eyes are scaring them away.

[bbcoach]

Marc,
Read this http://bestturkeydecoy.com/body-language/  The head should be mostly red with a little blue.  White is a sign of dominance and should only be used on a decoy to try and draw in THE dominant gobbler.  If you want to get a true decoy representation of a jake, go to the Dave Smith website and check out how they paint their jake decoy.  DSD are the most realistic decoys, in my opinion.

[strutlife]

My opinion. The best decoy is no decoy. Let em come in looking. Had numerous times when I watched birds skirt a food plot in the wood line due to decoys being in food plot.

[TauntoHawk]

I use decoys very selectively, generally because I can kill them without just fine so it's less to carry. I have birds scouted pretty thoroughly and if they fight a lot or the Toms are constantly fighting off jakes I'll use a decoy on those birds.

[Timberland Taxidermy]

That is one of the worst paint jobs I've seen on a jake decoy. LOL I've been making decoys for several years now, and have tested several head colors. The color I have had the best luck with is a neutral color, with red wattles but toned way down to look pale.

[Marc]

A touch of blue is ok but that looks overkill and needs toned down a little bit. Maybe those crazy eyes are scaring them away.

Yes, those eyes frighten my oldest child...

I do not mind applying a bit of paint...  $20 decoy, I figure I can have a bit of fun trying to get the right colors...

It is not apparent but the top of the head is also really white...

The tom that was scared off was the dominant tom of the area...  Had a huge harem of hens earlier in the season, and I figured he would be geared up to fight...  He saw this thing, and took off running.

My thoughts are to fill in the blue on the neck with red or pink, and put a bit of blue or pink around those eyelids...  Maybe add a tinge of light blue on the top of the head instead of bright white?

[barry]

I have that very same decoy. I also hated the head color so we replaced it with another head from a cheap blow-up deke

[DirtNap647]

good idea