Serious Decoy Question!

[guesswho]

Ok, I forgot to take my med's today so this may or may not make sense.  I have a decoy question.  I've noticed something while watching professional turkey hunters on tv.  It seems like a lot of the gobblers they kill over decoys are funny, not funny ha-ha but the other kind of funny.  On these shows I see gobblers walking past hen  decoys to go mount and molest a gobbler decoy.  

My question is if I decided to use decoys wouldn't I be better off with a couple gobbler decoys than with hens?   Maybe not use the stake, just put it on the ground in the ready posistion.   Also should I use one with the fan up instead of down.  Looks to me like that might be more attractive to other gobblers.   Any thoughts?

[BOFF]

Ok, I forgot to take my med's today so this may or may not make sense.  I have a decoy question.  I've noticed something while watching professional turkey hunters on tv.  It seems like a lot of the gobblers they kill over decoys are funny, not funny ha-ha but the other kind of funny.  On these shows I see gobblers walking past hen  decoys to go mount and molest a gobbler decoy.  

My question is if I decided to use decoys wouldn't I be better off with a couple gobbler decoys than with hens?   Maybe not use the stake, just put it on the ground in the ready posistion.   Also should I use one with the fan up instead of down.  Looks to me like that might be more attractive to other gobblers.   Any thoughts?

Yeah,

Go take your medicine. 



God Bless,
David B.

[Shotgun]

Dang queer turkeys...at least that's what I call all the ones that don't want to play the game.  Guesswho with your track record I would't change a thing.

[mossy835]

Hum very interesting thread???

[TRKYHTR]

As some of you know I mount turkeys for decoys. I have used them for 7-8 years now. I have noticed that if I use a hen decoy the hens will come and attack them, sometimes ruining the mounted decoy. The gobblers will come to the hen decoy but most of the time they are lagging behind which means the hens are at the decoy tearing it up before the gobbler gets there. If I have a hen and a Jake the hens will go to the hen decoy and attack it and the gobbler will go to the Jake. If I just have a Jake out the hens will ignore the Jake decoy but the gobblers will come to make trouble. Thats been my experience using real mounted turkeys for decoys. I have never had a turkey spook from my decoys. They sometimes don't come but they have never been spooked at least not until I shoot. Also I have to say I don't hunt out of blinds and I run and gun alot. I live in CA so most of the country I hunt is visible for a long ways. We don't have alot of thick woods. I can usually see 100+ yards in most directions. Thats how open our woods are. I use decoys mostly to get good video footage. They tend to keep the turkeys around longer. When I hunt the south I usually don't use decoys. By the time a turkey would see my decoy he would be dead already. Just my .02

TRKYHTR

[guesswho]

Decoy's usually aren't for me, but I think I might just target funny gobblers this year.  I may go with two gobbler deke's. one mounted on top of the other. 

Do funny gobblers sound different than regular gobblers?  Sometimes with people you can tell by just the voice, just wondering if the same holds true about turkeys. 

I did take my medication this morning so I should be back to normal in an hour or so.

[stinkpickle]

Maybe they're called "gobblers" for some other reason.   

[mossy835]

Decoy's usually aren't for me, but I think I might just target funny gobblers this year.  I may go with two gobbler deke's. one mounted on top of the other.  

Do funny gobblers sound different than regular gobblers?  Sometimes with people you can tell by just the voice, just wondering if the same holds true about turkeys.  

I did take my medication this morning so I should be back to normal in an hour or so.

Thanks guesswho I read your thread and decided to give it a try but I have no decoys so I called a couple of stores and asked for the "decoy Department". All went well until I asked if they had any funny decoys and was asked what I meant by that. well can you believe it when I told them gay toms they hung up on me as did three other stores, so the question is where do you get that kind of decoy?

[neal]

                                                                             

[Eric Gregg]

This isn't right man........take your meds

[guesswho]

This isn't right man........take your meds

I'm ok now.  

[handcannon]

I've never seen it for myself but have seen it on TV. It is strange seeing a a tom mount another gobbler decoy like he is breeding it when there is a hen decoy there as well. Beat him into submission than climb on top. It has reinforced my assumption that there are gay turkeys out there too and that is the reason they will not come in to my calling.

[busta biggun]

Don't know whether to take these questions seriously or not, but here it goes. The gobblers will attack or "mount" the gobblers decoys due to mating hierarchy. the boss birds fight for the right to be the boss bird and enjoy the "priveleges" that come with it. They see another male bird and they will often attack them, or in many cases, mount them. It isn't sexual, it is a dominance thing. It almost mirrors a prison environment where the dominate dudes show the other dudes who the boss is. Kinda weird and gross, but that's what it seems like. (BTW, I have never been in prison  ) Doesn't qualify them as gay in my opinion, even though it sure appears that way! You can't assume that a bird that ignores your hen yelps is gay unless you just want to make yourself feel better about your calling 

Keep in mind that buying mulitiple gobbler decoys, or even a single gobbler decoy can backfire on you and make your bird run the opposite direction to avoid a fight. Also with two jakes, they may gang up on a gobbler and dominate him with teamwork, so it is very realistic for them to shy away from what is perceived as a threatening situation. Conversely, many times they will lose their minds and run away from a flock of hens and run across a 80 acre field to come whoop your decoy. You just never know.

Hope this helps!

[busta biggun]

oh, one more thought. I feel that the reason that the DSD jakes are so effective is the posture of the bird. It is puffed up in an almost apologetic strut, which shows a lack of confidence which makes a superior gobbler attack him for overstepping his place in society. Almost like calling his bluff. On the other hand a full strut decoy may appear a little too confident to a smart old gobbler and he just may leave because he is tired of fighting. I will use the DSD jake almost exclusively over a full-strut decoy. The full strut decoys I use as a last resort when I have a bird that never leaves hens and spends his day ignoring everything around him but the hens he is following.

[FullChoke]

You know, DSD sells a "Breeding Pair" of turkey decoys. They just don't say which of the two specifically are available for breeding.   

Season is too freakin' far off for this kind of stuff already!

FullChoke