Dominate Boss harvested, question

[Greg Massey]

I'm talking about normal hunting and calling to try and pull the dominate bird from his hens..

[Sixes]

Yes, I think it has gotten more dominant birds killed.

But, if you watch the youtubers and the other pros, most are not killing the dominant birds even with strutter decoys. THey are killing the satellite birds.

Most of the videos show 2 or more birds coming in to fight and rarely are you seeing the whole flock (hens and all) coming into the decoy.

Dominant birds are definitely killed, but they always have been.

A lot of these dominant birds are the #2s and #3s.  The true dominant bird is not leaving his hens when they are grouped up and ready to be bred.

[Greg Massey]

Yes, I think it has gotten more dominant birds killed.

But, if you watch the youtubers and the other pros, most are not killing the dominant birds even with strutter decoys. THey are killing the satellite birds.

Most of the videos show 2 or more birds coming in to fight and rarely are you seeing the whole flock (hens and all) coming into the decoy.

Dominant birds are definitely killed, but they always have been.

A lot of these dominant birds are the #2s and #3s.  The true dominant bird is not leaving his hens when they are grouped up and ready to be bred.

X2 good post and exactly what i'm meaning...

[Happy]

This is just my observations over the last 10 years or so but if my memory is correct jake decoys were all the rage for a while and then a few years later the strutting tom decoy started gaining mass popularity. Thats about the time the numbers started dropping. Now I am not saying male decoys are the total cause of the issues many are facing however i believe that they have played a part to some extent. That coupled with habitat loss, wet springs,predation and more people hunting i think are part of the problems as well. All combined it ain't good. I know a lot more baiting is going on than people want to admit as well. Heck I know guys who have it down to the day before they pull their corn piles in order to be legal for hunting. Other than that they feed them year round.

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[Greg Massey]

This is just my observations over the last 10 years or so but if my memory is correct jake decoys were all the rage for a while and then a few years later the strutting tom decoy started gaining mass popularity. Thats about the time the numbers started dropping. Now I am not saying male decoys are the total cause of the issues many are facing however i believe that they have played a part to some extent. That coupled with habitat loss, wet springs,predation and more people hunting i think are part of the problems as well. All combined it ain't good. I know a lot more baiting is going on than people want to admit as well. Heck I know guys who have it down to the day before they pull their corn piles in order to be legal for hunting. Other than that they feed them year round.
 
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Social Media has played a big part in more birds being killed. I think baiting has always been a problem in some area's and states also..  In our state baiting is illegal period regardless what your hunting.

[Happy]

I haven't watched any decoy hunting videos in years so I will just go with your observations.
However even if the truly dominate gobbler isn't killed and the #2 and #3 gobblers are getting killed i could still theoretically see it putting a wrinkle in things if it is a widespread occurrence. In most cases they are breeding some hens as well and big daddy can only attend to so many.

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[Sixes]

I haven't watched any decoy hunting videos in years so I will just go with your observations.
However even if the truly dominate gobbler isn't killed and the #2 and #3 gobblers are getting killed i could still theoretically see it putting a wrinkle in things if it is a widespread occurrence. In most cases they are breeding some hens as well and big daddy can only attend to so many.

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I agree that the satellites will breed, but from what I understand about the theory is that they will not breed with the hens or vice versa.

Personally, I just do not believe it  nor do I believe that nature would put some kind of rule on turkeys that says the dominant gobbler does all the breeding and if he falls, then hens may be unbred.

Gobblers, even dominant ones, die from other natural causes. Owls, yotes, and spurs from rivals kill lots of birds and turkeys seem to survive.

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Yes, I think it has gotten more dominant birds killed.

But, if you watch the youtubers and the other pros, most are not killing the dominant birds even with strutter decoys. THey are killing the satellite birds.

Most of the videos show 2 or more birds coming in to fight and rarely are you seeing the whole flock (hens and all) coming into the decoy.

Dominant birds are definitely killed, but they always have been.

A lot of these dominant birds are the #2s and #3s.  The true dominant bird is not leaving his hens when they are grouped up and ready to be bred.

I agree with this. 

I've only watched a couple of YouTube videos and they were a couple of Dave Owens'. 

My experience has been that even with decoys the dominant Tom is almost impossible to kill when he has hens with him.  Later in the day or later in the season is when I think the dominant Toms get whacked, which really shouldn't affect hens being bred that much.

The only times I think I've shot the dominant Tom is when my calling attracts his hens.  Even then I've been able to pick a fight with the boss hen and watch her cross a field from 300 yards away to kick my butt only to watch the Tom and the rest of the hens stay put.


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[tracker#1]

Thank you all for your replies, some interesting education. I'm tagged out, but gonna get back out just to listen and watch...