Full strut Decoy or No?

[guesswho]

For those that say it has never spooked a bird, how do you know that?  Just curious.

[alclark2]

I've slowed down on the use of my decoys. Every situation is different so one day it may work and the next it may spook them. There is no right answer. You could be in for a great show with birds coming into your decoys or have them head for the hills when they see your decoy. High risk for a high reward. I'm a low stakes kind of guy and let curiosity kill my 2 birds in Alabama 

[ohiostrutter]

ive killed a few over a carrylire strutter but have also had more than a few walk out of the woods and see the strutter and turn and walk away good to use if you have a dominant bird in the area

[renegade19]

This is the first year I ever used a strutter.  The bird I posted about in the "General" forum saw mine and was on his way out but a nice purr brought him right in.  When I cleaned him, it was obvious that he had been whupped up on.  Maybe the jake beard in my strutter helped?  I'm still on the fence about them.

[leadhead10]

Used a bmobile with real jake fan and shortened the beard to a jake as well as painted the head and only had 1 bird totally commit to the decoy. It was the dominant bird of the farm and came right in to 5 yds. all other birds usually flare off or dont come in fully. ive killed more than 1 bird off it but they were all birds that were hanging up

[Bagg-it Tag-it]

I only use them in very certain circumstances. First, late in the season. They work better late in the season for some reason (in my experience). Second, if I know there are several gobblers in the area. Third, in conjunction with a gobbler call with hen cutts. I haven't had gobblers that I know of spook off of it. But could be birds I didn't see that saw it first. Birds have expressed indifference to it. But on many occasions they've marched right into the midst of the full strutter (I usually have a couple of hen dekes out too). Another reason I don't use it more often is that I hate carrying that big thing around in the woods!

[QuickDraw]

We used B-Mobile in full strut a couple weeks ago. Third time I've tried it. Had a hen come in from the south and feed within a foot of him and the 2 hen decoys I had set with him. A gobbler came in from the north and circled out in front of us to the west and hung up at 70 yards. We were filming and finally ran out of battery after he stood there for 45 minutes. He finally walked off with no shot possible shot. We took it down and smoked a double later in the evening. Don't know if I'll use it again.

[StorminNorman]

I'm on the fence on this one. Except I will not use any decoys at all on public land.. way too many knuckle heads out there now. I've used one several times and mixed results at best, I can say I've never had come running it to kick the crap out of my deke.Most have been cautious approach getting into range or almost getting into range to just turn and walk away.My best result was I set up right on the edge of a field where I watched them walk in the night before.Shortly after daybreak I sent out a few tree yelps and I heard them flying down only to look up and see 9 hens hook in and land like mallards in  my dekes.The last set of wings I heard coming when I looked up I saw the beard dangling.He landed about 30 yds away and just stood there as the hens milled around.After a few minutes the hens realize their new friends where not moving or making any noise they got a lil nervous as he still just stood there and I put the beads on him and dropped him.

[sixbird]

I've had gobblers shy away from half strut jake decoys a fair number of times so I stopped using them...Get this one though...Just last week I had a hen and a tom shy away from a feeding hen decoy (Flambeu, I think). The decoy looks really good to me but they didn't want ANYTHING to do with it...That one went in the closet!
I generally use just one hen. Very little chance anyone will be intimidated by that. Never had a gobbler or jake shy away from that single hen...And, the live hens seem to want to investigate/intimidate that lone hen...

[TurkeyTom]

I have never used one..... but I bought one this year to use when hunting with my bow.

I have used jake decoys over the years and had good results.... killing many as they came into the setup on a string after seeing the jake decoy courting my hen decoy.

I've also heard they might intimidate a mature gobbler but I will still try it. I've seen too many video's of gobblers coming into a strutting decoy and attack them and I want to see  <--- (me watching)this in person.

If I were you, I'd try it and make up your own mind about them. I've never let what others think influence my decisions too much. Good luck and come back and let us know how it works for you!

OK...... our season opened last Wednesday and I set up on a small (20 acre) oak flat. The birds have always roosted on the east side of it so I set up on the West side of the oaks.... about 150 yards away.

After setting up my pop up blind and placing my decoys (two hens and my Redhead full strut Tom) I got comfy with my bow and waited for the first gobble of the season. And I wasn't disappointed. but I was surprised!

The birds roosted right behind where I set up and they started gobbling about 15 after I was in the blind. I thought to myself...... "this is going to be too easy".  Wrong!

The birds gobbled for around 15 minutes and flew down and walked the other way. I could hear a hen clucking as she walked towards an old corn field and she pulled the Tom's with her.

About 15 minutes later I had three Jake's come toward my decoys, but stayed about 40 yards away and were very cautious, then left.  I waited about an hour and called sparingly. Two Tom's came in and walked about 35 yards around the set up and decided they didn't want anything to do with the strutter.

After they left, I snuck out and grabbed the strutter and put him in the blind with me.  I had two more Toms come in and they also circled my set up without committing to my 2 hen decoys.

I was just about to give up and one more Tom gobbled and headed my way just before noon. He also left without coming to my decoys.

I'm not sure what is happening but they were shy of all decoys and I've never had this happen before.

I could have killed at least three of the Toms if hunting with my shotgun but I have dedicated my season to my bow.

I can't hunt this spot until tomorrow but I am going to sneak in again and set up my strutter and try again. Stay tuned.

[bigredneck61088]

I hunt with the killer b and a real Jake fan, while my best friend hunts with the pretty boy.... he has had birds be shy, I have not.

A lot of it depends on the birds. The killer b is a smaller size, and has a nicer head, in addition to the movable tail fan. I have not had any birds I am aware of shying from the killer b. But the fan string being pulled has made several birds commit that I thought might hangup. I hunt it on fields with a feeder and standing hen. I  have however had hens shy from the strutter, but never a gobbler

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