Hunting with Decoys, why?

[Spring_Woods]

I'm just wondering why you hunt with or without decoys?

This is not intended to be a bash thread just looking for honest opinions.

In my experience, once I put them away and stopped using them I started having more success. Upon talking to some of my hunting buddies I realized they not only did it for success but also because they enjoyed the show that often times comes with using them.

[budtripp]

When I'm using the shotgun and staying mobile, I hate carrying lots of stuff around so I often times leave my decoys behind or maybe just take a collapsible hen. However, my newest addiction is getting them in close and shooting them with a bow, and decoys are almost a necessity for that task. They will hold birds in close for you and divert their attention while you get in position and draw your bow. So for me it all depends on what style of hunting I plan on doing that day. If I have my shotgun I like to take a barebones approach and carry as little as possible. When bowhunting I take all sorts of gear: blind, chair, decoys, vest, bow, rangefinder, etc.

[turkey_slayer]

I personally don't use them cause I like knowing that I fooled em 100%, one on one. Tried it one time several years ago and realized it quickly it wasn't for me. I don't look down at others for choosing to use them. It's all personal preference and what makes the hunt enjoyable for you.

[socalturkeyman]

I stopped using them for the simple fact that they're dangerous in a state(CA) that has an abundance of new and dumb hunters. I've been stalked one to many times and also watched many ah fool stalk the decoys too. But I still break down at certain times when a decoy is needed(like fields).

[redleg06]

In some of the places I hunt (west Tx and oklahoma) we hunt around some huge wheat fields that have no cover to get close to turkeys in the field and the decoys serve as something visual for the turkey to key in on. They tend to get a little leery when they hear calling and dont see anything in a wide open field.


When I'm not hunting a field (prefer not to if I can help it), I leave the decoys at the truck.

[RutnNStrutn]

I mainly hunt in central Florida. Here our gobblers hammer on the roost, and some on the ground, but usually go pretty quiet after that. I've got my Slam, so I know Rios and Merriams gobble their butts off, as do Easterns, thought not as extreme. All of those birds you can run and gun effectively on, while not so much for the Osceolas to my experience anyway.
Plus here in Florida we have a lot of fields & pastures, power line right of ways, etc. So the visual presentation is important. I have great success every year in the early season using a strutting deke over a hen with a couple more hens off to the side. I've had several gobblers come charging in to that set up, which was the last bad decision they ever made! As the season wears on, I put the strutter away, and go with hens only, eventually dropping down to just one hen deke.
I've killed birds with no decoy and it is very satisfying to know that you made it happen!! I won't hesitate to toss my dekes into some bushes and go after a bird if the situation presents itself. But I've also worked birds that I know would not have come in if not for the decoy.

[TauntoHawk]

I like to have a full arsenal of tactics even if I don't always use them. I don't use decoys much on the gobblers I kill but I tend to use them more when taking a kids.

[guesswho]

I don't use them because I feel I don't need them.

[nate12285]

I keep an Avian-X hen in my vest. I'm usually hunting woods and don't use it that often. Every now and then if I'm field hunting I will used it. But 90% of the time, it stays in the bag or truck.

[RutnNStrutn]

I don't use them because I feel I don't need them.

That's what I'd say too..........if I hunted on turkey farms!!

[Skeeterbait]

1 after 35 seasons, I have never needed them to kill a few turkeys each year.

2 in the southern timberland I mostly hunt a bird is pretty much in range by the time you see him.

3 I want the bird coming in looking for me.  Less likely to hang up that way.

4 I hunt mobil, I don't hunt from blinds, I don't want to tote them, I don't want to pick them up before I move.

5 I am a stealth hunter. I will sneak in close befor setting up. Setting up for me means sitting down under a tree, nothing else.

6.  I will frequently take off running to get to a distant gobble at daybreak.  Can't do that with lots of bouncy equipment.

7 I take pride in hunting in a more traditionalist style.  I don't want to set up camp and wait.

8 safety when hunting thick cover must be considered before placing a turkey image near you.

[WVhuntEER]

I have killed them with and without dekes.   I enjoy seeing the reaction to the decoys from the birds.  In my experience I haven't had any negative experiences with them but I don't use a gobbler decoy just a jake and hen. 

[busta biggun]

I don't "need" them either. Technically nobody does. I use them sometimes and leave them behind other times. When I use them is usually because I am filming and I can get great footage. I feel that this issue comes up often and people end up sounding as though they feel they are superior if they don't use them. I think it is a personal choice and one doesn't make somebody a better hunter over the other. My .02

[mudhen]

Don't 'need' them, but I can't ask the 50+ birds I've killed over decoys if they would have worked in without decoys, cuz they dead 

But, I've kilt just as many without decoys, but same thing, I can't axe them either 

I do try to use nice dekes, DSD for local hunts, and I really like the Primos PHD for traveling hunts.

Also, I often use decoys to direct traffic, not necessarily draw birds in, but to make them go one way or another....

mudhen

[mnturkey]

I use them because the State says I can.
Just like using decoys for duck hunting.
It is fun watching their reaction to the decoy and having them come in to the decoy.
I use all legal stratgies.