Turkey decoys

[Marc]

I purchased a DSD hen decoy this year (for about $120), along with a non-DSD jake decoy on sale at Cabela's for $20.

The hen decoy is realistic, easy to carry and set up...  And quiet to carry...  And appears to be extremely durable...  And expensive.

The sale decoy is reasonably realistic, (but scared the crap out of a tom the only time I used it), but is not quiet to carry, nor easy to set up. (Hunter's Specialties Woody Jake Turkey Decoy).   The stake that the decoy came with broke the first time I tried to use it in the field, and barely supported the bird when I tested it at home.

This is the same decoy, but the body is more brown in color, the red does not go all the way up the head, and the white forehead is really white.  I guess for $20, I do not mind a bit of paint on the head, but there is nothing I can do to make it more quiet to carry or more easy to set up...  And of course the paint will chip off:





There is another company called Deception decoys that looks like it is going to be a competitor to DSD's...

http://www.deceptionoutdoors.com/decoys/

If they can produce an equal or better quality decoy at the same or lower price, a bit of competition and some choices are great for us hunters.

Do you need and ultra-realistic looking decoy?  Can't say, but if you are hunting pressured birds, I would rather hunt with no decoy than a non-realistic looking one.

I killed two nice toms this season, both without a decoy...  Never killed a bird over a decoy this season, and I probably hunted more frequently with a decoy than without.

[bamagtrdude]

Obviously, we cannot look into the minds of a turkey, like a psychologist, and analyze what will work 100% of the time -- BUT through observation, what works with the FeatherFlex "foamies" jake (I'm GUESSING) is that it looks like a jake that's kinda acting STUPID (not bowed up & puffed up or anything like that) so all the toms & jakes I've hunted that have come into it APPEAR to already know they can whip it's *ss!!  I mean, the position of it is such that it's ...  I don't know, looking around for Mama?!?

Watch that video; you'll see what I'm talking about...  I know folks love these big, bad-to-the-bone blown up strutter dekes - and there's tons of videos out there to prove me wrong - but, I don't hunt w/those AT ALL; I'd rather have a "whip-able" decoy b/c it'll bring most every tom & jake in the woods to it...

Just speaking from my own personal experiences here...  Your mileage may obviously vary...  And I 100% advocate using what you're comfortable using & what works for you; every bird is different, so...  It's a game of "trial and error" sometimes...  My "trials" with the foamies have convinced me to keep on using 'em until they break, which - they're getting close to that point!! 

[Triple B]

I have been running DSD turkey decoys before they even came out on the market. The originals were a hard urethane plastic that took paint extremely well, but could crack or be damaged if not handled with care. Since the arrival of ACE plastic several years ago, that durability issue was taken care of .It has been my personal experience that I have had more turkey interaction with the decoys,than with any previous decoy I have ever used.  Dave Smith help change the decoy market for the better, with some other companies stepping up and also building a good quality product .In the process we have a lot more options as far as decoys today. Do you need DSD's to kill turkeys? No, there are plenty of decoys out there that will put a turkey in the decoys for you. I do think on pressured birds they can and do make a big difference .
I just prefer to take the decoy out of the equation,and use a very realistic decoy. Again. this is just my opinion based on what I personally have experienced in actual hunts .Decoy selection is a personal preference,and is based on what works for you and the area you hunt.

[Halfski]

I switched to the DSD flock last year and was VERY impressed with the results.  8 toms saw my decoys last spring and ALL of them came in (although I got an "assist" from a live jake on one occasion).  Even during the "late season."  A bunch of jakes came in as well.  It was ridiculous. My DSD hens were attacked by live hens, and my DSD jake was attacked by jakes.  (The toms would have done so as well, but I didn't give them the opportunity!)     I don't expect to have the same results every year, but I am still amazed.   

For those of you who hunt near me, I recommend the cheap foam decoys.  For everyone else, I recommend DSD's.  If you don't want to spend so much on the flock, I would get the jake and feeding hen. 

[Cut N Run]

I've got 3 Delta decoys (H.S. Strut) that I've had for 15 years or so. The Jake and two hens have been touched up with paint to make them look more life-like. I blow up toy balloons inside them to help hold their shape after they've been flattened for a while. They're not as realistic as DSD decoys are, but not many gobblers have lived to walk away or been scared off by them either.

I also have a Flambeau strutter decoy that I rarely used before last spring.  My youngest brother bought me one of those remote control motorized stakes last year from the Bass Pro.  I thought it was kind of silly at first, but the movement really helps give the decoys a more realistic appearance.  I added a Edge Outdoors collapsible fan kit that I made to be a jake fan.  I adjust the beard to be short and with that jake fan, it really makes gobblers come closer to investigate. I'm sure they were thinking they were going to whip that strutting jake's butt and steal the hen(s).

The strutter decoy, fan, and motorized stake is extra stuff to carry, though the places I used this set up were on smaller properties where you can't move around much or cross property boundaries.  That active decoy definitely pulled birds away off other properties from a long way.  Between myself and two buddies, we used that strutter & hen combo to draw three mature gobblers into easy range.

Jim

[CMBOSTC]

I use Avian for what it's worth.

[Boilermaker]

I bought 4 DSD decoys this spring.  My 2nd hunt with them I was able to put a bird on the ground.  The Tom that came in to my setup came alone and proceeded to beat the crap out of my Jake for about 5 minutes before I made the shot.  I thoroughly enjoyed the show and was trying not to laugh while I watched this bird try to beat down my decoy.  He came right in to my calls from a glass woodhaven pot call and after seeing the decoys, he was totally committed.  It was a good hunt and I definitely suggest DSD decoys.

[Walkerz07]

Love my DSD upright hen!!!!

[mgm1955]

DSD are the best IMO. They seem to bring in the birds and hold them. Got some great video of multiple birds on different occasions giving these dekes the business. Had a tom knock down the feeding hen and try to mate it for 30 min while a group of jakes and hens stood and watched. Expensive but I think we'll worth the money.

[Gobble!]

I being somewhat of a novice with decoys can say they all work in the right situation. I have taken birds over Avian X, Cherokee Sports, Dakota and DSD. I really like the looks of my DSD, and with the cost of them will probably use them from here on out, but in my opinion the outcome would have been the same in any of the set ups with whatever decoys I had out. Lucky setups? Stupid birds? I don't know.....

Bingo. All decoys work. I bet more turkeys are killed over walmart decoys than any others. But I will stick with the DSDs because they are the most realistic out there other than stuffed decoys.

[Bowguy]

If you've noticed all the votes for DSD, I'll offer mine as well. The Avian also do look ok. Bear in mind as more guys use decoys, the need for realism becomes greater. Can't get more realistic than DSD

[cornfedkiller]

I'll add another vote for DSD.  Like others mentioned, all decoys will kill turkeys, and it's impossible to know if the realistic decoys worked any better that particular day than a set of cheap ones would've worked...

BUT the reason I use them is because if I don't kill a bird, I don't want to wonder if it was because of my decoys.  If I go on an out of state trip, spend all that time and money, I don't want to leave my hunt up to a set of $20 beat-up foam decoys and think to myself "I maybe could've killed more birds if I had better decoys".

For me, the realistic decoys take one less thing out of the equation, and leave one less thing up to chance.

[deerbasshunter3]

I am starting to get the feeling that as long as the decoy(s) look close to realistic, but MOVE, they will work. I can imagine if a bird saw a decoy from a distance and it never moved, he would be suspicious and head the other way, I know I would.

For what my very little experience is worth, I have seen two turkeys while turkey hunting (One I missed, the other I shot.) and neither of them involved a decoy. Granted, the one I missed hung up at about 50 or 60 yards, but it still came from a long way away to check out the calls. The one I shot came in to about 20, but he had to go down a woodline where he couldn't see where the sound was coming from.

I am going to venture out to say that in the early season, decoys will work regardless of how much you spend on them, and by late season, decoys may not work very well, regardless of how much you spend on them. I think turkey are like deer, as the season goes along they get used to people frequenting the woods and calling. As the season progresses, and deer/birds get shot, they start to notice that kind of stuff. They are more skittish and aware that something isn't right.

[JLH]

I just ordered the Deception boss hen.....i have a DSD jake that will be paired with it....should make for a few interesting mornings this spring...

[Cut N Run]

I am going to venture out to say that in the early season, decoys will work regardless of how much you spend on them, and by late season, decoys may not work very well, regardless of how much you spend on them. I think turkey are like deer, as the season goes along they get used to people frequenting the woods and calling. As the season progresses, and deer/birds get shot, they start to notice that kind of stuff. They are more skittish and aware that something isn't right.

Turkeys definitely get more wary when the pressure is on.  How they react to decoys depends on the situation more than anything.  If the turkeys you're hunting have had close calls with hunters around decoys or witnessed other turkeys dying, they can turn decoy shy.  If you're able get set up in range of a strut zone that a dominant gobbler regularly uses where he doesn't get disturbed, he will flat out stomp an intruding jake decoy's @$$, no matter if it is a foamie or a DSD, on the first day of the season all the way through the last day of the season. Far as that goes, you can kill him without any decoys.


In my experience, if you have a decoy that is positioned where it can be seen from a very long distance away, turkeys have a longer time react negatively to it because of lack of movement.  If you set that same decoy in an area with more limited visibility, where incoming gobblers need to get closer to it and where they can't study it from a distance, it will more likely draw those gobblers closer, especially if you're set up someplace that gobbler is comfortable being or already wants to go.


Jim