Quote from: Dfowlup on April 23, 2020, 02:23:34 PM
Ok, I just posted to this topic on another post but here's my take:
It pretty much depends on what you want to accomplish and how you hunt. I've pretty much always used decoys but I hunt fields a lot and I bowhunt some as well. I enjoy getting video and watching how the birds react to a decoy. I enjoy the hunt itself. The videos below are from this year and include field setups, food plot setups and woods setups. One thing I've always learned to do was to use two jake decoys and set them side by side. If I put a hen or two out I will set them 10 yards or so away from the jake decoys. This signifies subdominance and most often helps with less aggressive gobblers. I have been using the Avian Quarter strut Jakes for years with a lot of success. I feel if you've called the bird to a point he can see the decoys you've pretty much done your job calling. Field birds in my opinion are harder to kill than woods birds. I'm beyond the "run and gun" that I used to do because I enjoy watching the birds strut and attack my decoys. I do hunt from a blind a lot but I don't hunt a lot of private land. I don't want to wander around the woods pushing birds in the next county especially when I know the birds aren't gobbling. It's been tough here in Georgia for the last few years with the turkey population down to what I feel is an all time low. To each his own but I respect how anyone hunts as long as it's legal.
My son and my first Georgia 2020 Gobblers https://youtu.be/I8AnA8nvRuI
An agressive hen attacks my hen decoy https://youtu.be/e8ol8RHAbkg
My son's second Georgia 2020 Gobbler https://www.facebook.com/fowleroutdoors/videos/363188234570150/
My hunting partners Georgia 2020 Bowkill https://youtu.be/vKM_pTgm9qQ
My agonizing bow miss! https://youtu.be/XRflF69k3io
I have other videos from previous years that show success with decoys. I have had a few encounters where the decoy probably hurt and caused a gobbler to shy away but I think in those cases the setup and decoy placement were partially to blame.
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCftMctHN3LXOzs1eHicSH_Q
My Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/fowleroutdoors/videos/?ref=page_internal
Nice videos, never tried two jakes together as my area has issues with jakes ganging up on the toms. Might be good on a youth hunt tho as other jakes would probably come in and perhaps even a Tom. Appreaciate your perspective on using decoys. I use them alot in feilds and when it rains. I still run and gun and hunt deep woods without decoys as well. Basically I hunt whatever method works at the time of day and where we are during the season. Had a gobbler come in behind me this morning and Gobble. I almost came out the blind and never did see the bird.
I might try to video some hunts soon. Never tried that and I am sure a video is better than memory. Agian thanks for sharing.
