Decoys are for waterfowl hunters…

[va wingbone]

own several, all are collecting dust. I'm on the move alot and too much of a hassle most of the time. if I hunted from a blind in the same spot day in and day out I might use them. I try to find turkeys that are gobbling and not just set and wait for one to find me.

[Super X3]

Use them every time and love it. Four of six birds I have seen harvested this spring have fought the jake decoy....it never gets old watching. I also hunt allot with kids so they help center up the birds. Yup, blind also. I like to sit and drink coffee,text and move around.
I also have an enclosed trailer for eight dozen goose decoys. I think I just have a decoy fetish.
Yes I also use a spinning wing decoy for ducks.

[Hankyorke]

I have a single hen, that I use very sparingly.  I like to be mobile when turkey hunting.
My waterfowl decoys are handcarved; ducks are cork or cedar & geese are foam or cork.  I would love a hollow cedar turkey but with two little boys in diapers it isn't going to be this year...

[Trax]

The past 3 years I've carried a foam hen in my vest and rarely put it out.
Im tired of it taking up space and the rattling stakes. Next season, decoy free.

[Steve]

My waterfowl decoys are handcarved; ducks are cork or cedar & geese are foam or cork.  I would love a hollow cedar turkey but with two little boys in diapers it isn't going to be this year

Hank...I thought I recognized your name - You're a regular over on DBHP too aren't ya? Small world, ya just gotta love the hand carved decoys.

This has been a very enlightening thread...here I thought there would be more guys trying to convince me that turkey decoys are the way to go...You guys have convinced me not to change a thing. I'm certainly glad too. When I was using turkey decoys many years ago I really hated dealing with them and it seemed they would always be in the wrong spot. I'll continue to live without them and be much more mobile in the woods...That's my kind of hunting.

Thank again for the input guys,
Steve

[BrowningGuy88]

Saw 7 die this year. Guess how many were killed on decoy setups. 0.

I saw 15 hit the dirt and didn't use a decoy. That ain't cause I don't think they are useful or have there place though. I would like to try out a spread in a huge pasture on some stubborn birds and see what they are about.

[budtripp]

I like decoys, don't use them every single time out though. Mainly when bowhunting, they are almost necessary in that case to get them in right where you want them for a good bowshot. Carrying the scattergun it can go either way, I'll use them when set up on som field birds but hardly ever in the timber. Also, on the rare occasion when I do hunt public land, they stay in the truck. Especially my dsd jake. Too many yahoos on  public ground would blast away without thinking

[TauntoHawk]

Saw 7 die this year. Guess how many were killed on decoy setups. 0.

X2 I called in 7 birds to the barrel in 11 days of hunting, not one was over decoys. I own 3 avain X I just don't carry them because they aren't necessary, just like I dont carry all the calls I own, just whats needed. I set them up twice this season when hunting large fields where I didn't know exactly where the birds would be roosted, both times I didn't have any birds come to the fields so i put them away got in the woods and got birds killed without them.

[mikejd]

Although i think they have there place I never use them. I sometimes cover miles in a day and cant seem to justify carrying them. Plus I never know were the next gobble will come from and rarly have enough time to set one up. I do feel if you are hunting a large field sometimes they are needed to get them to come to a particular spot. also good for judging range in an open field.

[Hankyorke]

Hank...I thought I recognized your name - You're a regular over on DBHP too aren't ya? Small world, ya just gotta love the hand carved decoys.

That'd be me...  Very small, and the Internet makes it even smaller

[bghunter777]

I own them and ussually always carry one with me but would say 80% of my set ups are without one. especially running and gunning if im in the woods I am generally not worrying with my decoy and rarely in the woods will it make a difference. Often when setting up in a field or clearing if its a known area birds frequen I will place a decoy or 2 out.

[Old Gobbler]

I always carry and use a decoy if not for hunting purposes , then for safety - if anyone is getting shot its Mr. plastic

I have witnessed a fatal turkey hunting incident , been in the area when others have been shot, or shot at ,know other people who have been shot , and or left behind by the shooter - Florida is the worst place for turkey hunting , if its not , I feel sorry for the people who do hunt in a worse place

I like the reaction I get from the turkeys when I use a decoy , but most importantly ...I like the added security blanket of having a decoy , its like a seat-belt for turkey hunting     

[jblackburn]

Yes and no. Now that I live in Oklahoma and chase Rios, I use decoys more.  Different bird, yes, but the open terrain calls for them.  Back home in MO I was more likely to hunt woods and would not use decoys much.

[mudhen]

I like certain decoys, and I use them in certain situations.

This year I killed 4 over dekes, and 6 without, so who knows?

I like decoys for fields, rainy days, windy days, hilly areas, etc.

I rarely use them when I run & gun.

To me, decoys like the DSDs, are a fun part of turkey hunting.

I would certainly not consider them cheating in any way, they often don't work, and I have found running & gunning to be FAR more productive.  Moving around, using different calls, getting between the tom and his hen, are much easier ways to kill a bird.

Using stationary decoys goes against a turkey's nature.  He gobbles.  She goes to him.  Simple as that.  Sure, he might come looking for the source of the call, but in nature, the hen is supposed to go to the gobbling/displaying tom.

So the runners and gunners are perfectly imitating what a hen is supposed to do, so success logically follows.

Don't know why everyone thinks running & gunning is so unusually clever, pay attention to what the birds do, and you will see that it matches nature very well 

mudhen

[Gobble!]

If Im planning on hunting a field or other open area I use decoys. If I expect the hunt to happen in the woods I don't use decoys. I had never killed a field bird till this year. Saw four die in the fields and all came into a stutter/jake and hen.