Bad experience with decoys

[fallhnt]

Another thread got me thinking...What bad experiences have you had while using decoys.                                 I was using a stuffer close to a road one time in KS and a truck stopped. You couldn't see me very well from the direction the truck came but it stopped,and the window came down as it was backing up. I yelled don't shoot. I could hear the guys talking and the response I got was, " We just wanted to look at your decoy".     My buddy also had a guy jump out of his truck and run into the field and shoot his decoy on public land.

[GED6531]

The only really bad experience I have had with decoys is one occasion when I was hunting a mid afternoon in a pasture. I got a gobbler fired up and after about 1 1/2" hours of gobbling he finally tops the hill to where I can finally see him. At this point I have my gun ready and he is a little ways out of gun range at about 65-70 yards, but he is still coming. I have my decoys set up at about 25 yards out in front of me (also had a small rock stuffed in the decoy to weigh it down) and all of a sudden out of no where, a huge gust of wind blows and knocks my hen decoy over. Needless to say, the tom putted  4-5 times and hauled tail to the neighbor's property.

[wvmntnhick]

I've had two times where a turkey has seen my stutter decoy and come out of strut and walked away. I'm not sold on the strutter thing yet. In fact, it's never worked for me. The jake has been fine but the strutter has caused me trouble the couple times I've used it.

[ddturkeyhunter]

In 2009 on public land in Florida second day out I was sitting in a open home made blind in the rain when a guy shot my Jake decoy. His fault for shooting my decoy, my fault for haveing a Jake decoy on public land. Never again have I use a male turkey decoy on public land. I walked about two miles in but only to find it came to about a half mile from another way. Decoys are just one thing to help at times but not always necessary, so be careful.

[BowBendr]

Last year on opening day in KY, I was set up on a gobbler that flew down with several hens. They all eventually fed off after they gathered up without giving me a shot. I decided to sit tight and about an hour later I got another gobbler going from the opposite direction. He came like he was on a rope. I had a jake and two hen dekes set out in the corner of a pasture. When that gobbler topped a rise and saw that jake from about 30 yds he bolted like lightning had struck him. He cast around in a wide arc giving the deke about 40 yds of personal space. I killed him when he came into the woods with me to get away from him.


2015 Old Gobbler contest Champions

[Cottonmouth]

I normally don't use decoys here because it's so dang thick. I tried a strutter once and the gobbler wouldn't get 200 yds from it. We have a few open fields where a hen decoy might be the way to go, but I never carry one.

[Big perm2]

I carry a hen and jake deke with me a lot but don't use them all the time. When b-mobile first came out I used it and have killed many of turkeys using it. Just depends on the situation if I use a deke or not.


Talkem into given up!!!

[Cut N Run]

Not really a bad experience, just a curious one. One morning in the first week of the season in 2001, a few hens came to my jake and feeding hen decoy that were set in a grassy roadbed in the woods, which was the only open area for several hundred acres.  They fed around and scratched like you'd expect any turkey to do.  The bigger hen eased up to the jake decoy and started chest bumping up against him.  The jake decoy spun about a quarter turn on the stake and the hen jumped back, then went around to the other side and bumped him back the way he was originally positioned.  She was acting like she wanted some attention from that jake, but when he didn't respond, the two hens kept on scrathing as they went along the roadbed.  I kept expecting for a gobbler to show, but none did.  I heard a few gobbles from the roost on the next property over, though if he was following hens around, it wasn't this pair.

Jim

[surehuntsalot]

hard call. I've had birds come in and see the decoy come on in like on a string, other times come in see the decoy turn around and haul #$%
I have killed several birds with a semi strutting jake decoy over the years

[MK M GOBL]

Another thread got me thinking...What bad experiences have you had while using decoys.                                 I was using a stuffer close to a road one time in KS and a truck stopped. You couldn't see me very well from the direction the truck came but it stopped,and the window came down as it was backing up. I yelled don't shoot. I could hear the guys talking and the response I got was, " We just wanted to look at your decoy".     My buddy also had a guy jump out of his truck and run into the field and shoot his decoy on public land.

In reading through these it sounds a lot more like bad experiences with bad/poor "Hunters" even if you could call them that...

MK M GOBL

[maytom]

Never had a Tom spook from the sight of a jake decoy. On the other hand, I have had jakes split when seeing that fake jake?

[tha bugman]

About as bad as when I didn't use decoys...lol


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[Dr Juice]

I had a house cat sneak into my hen decoy and attack it. At one time I use to see a lot of house cats in the woods but lately that hasn't been the case.


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[spaightlabs]

I had the same thing happen in KS...truck stopped on the road, guy got out and was getting a rifle out of the back seat...never seen 2 guys get out of a Double Bull so fast - flipped it over and ran about 50 yards from the decoys, guy got in his rig and hauled butt.  I now use extreme care to not be in view of a road whenever possible and I run a couple ribbons of survey tape on the top of the blind if visible from a road.

Buddy of mine was hunting the back corner of a property and had his decoys on an old dike road.  Farmhand came around the corner, saw the dekes, gunned it and ran the decoys over...his response was that when he did the same thing  a couple days earlier the turkeys ran away...

[WisTurk]

I had a house cat sneak into my hen decoy and attack it. At one time I use to see a lot of house cats in the woods but lately that hasn't been the case.


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Has the coyote/fox population increased?  Those coyotes will make short work of getting rid of the cats.