Bad experience with decoys

[spaightlabs]

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.

So will a turkey hunter with a 12 ga. 

[Marc]

Most of the land I hunt is private...  The few public spots would be difficult for someone to sneak up on me as it is so steep (I generally do not use decoys on public land though).

I have certainly had birds see my jake decoy and run...  I have had birds hang up and strut just out of range when using only hens...  I have been busted trying to set up my decoys...

Most of the time, I end up leaving my decoys in the car...  I like decoys for open areas, or for areas I really want to position the bird for the shot, or if I am taking someone new to turkey hunting, and I want to divert the birds attention and set up the shot.

Couple years ago, I was walking back, and had a bird gobble right above me on a steep cut in the road. I was carrying a decoy in a mesh bag, and dropped the bag on the road, and took cover behind a stump...

Bird flew down behind me (gobbling), saw the decoy in the bag and took wing.  Now I use solid decoy bags instead of mesh.

[West Augusta]

Bad experience no.  Funny experience? Yes.
A few years ago I had a hen lay down in front of my jake deke.  It was very hard not to laugh when she looked back at him like Well?  Are you going to do something?   

[Rapscallion Vermilion]

Bad experience no.  Funny experience? Yes.
A few years ago I had a hen lay down in front of my jake deke.  It was very hard not to laugh when she looked back at him like Well?  Are you going to do something?   

What a hoot.  If only you had been using guesswho's badonkadeke ...

[fallsflight]

Up until I started using a DSD, I really didn't have any "bad" experiences.  First season with the DSD, I had all kinds of reactions that I never got with the typical rubber chicken decoys.  One day I had a gobbler enter the field with a couple hens.  One nasty ol'girl saw the DSD and bee-lined right for it.  Before the Tom could get into gun range she proceeded to make noises I never heard a hen make while circling around my decoy. She was all puffed up and strutting around the decoy with her fan spread. Then she decided to jump in the air and kick the crap out of my decoy, till it eventually fell over.  Ever time she hit it with her feet it would make the noise of plastic being smacked with somethig.  That ol'tom knew something wasn't exactly right, turned around and strutted back into the woods, gobbling as he left, never to return that morning.  The hen decided she was done and slowly walked away the opposite direction of the tom. She was definitely the boss hen in those woods.


Sent from my 1970s rotary phone

[grayfox]

Bad experience no.  Funny experience? Yes.
A few years ago I had a hen lay down in front of my jake deke.  It was very hard not to laugh when she looked back at him like Well?  Are you going to do something?   

That's why you never drink or smoke funky stuff while your hunting! lol

I have used hen decoys off & on but I never really could say that they hurt or helped.

[hs strut]

i dont have any confidence in decoys i have had to many birds turn tail at the site of a decoy.

[g8rvet]

My worst decoy experience is a little different. It goes back to the days of beepers, before we all had cell phones (I had a bag phone in my truck).  Tom comes out in the field and gobbles his head off, but my hen would just not come across the field to him. He gobbled and strutted and would only close to about 75 yards. Strutted for an hour and would never get closer.  My beeper goes off and it is the guy on who's property I am hunting.  He had horses and cattle and I can't very well ignore his call.  I backed out of the woods and had to walk an extra mile back to the truck to call him - had a horse with colic so I am glad I did not wait out the gobbler.  Both horse and Tom survived that day.  If it was not him I killed later in the season, it was his twin brother.

[tha bugman]

+1

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!!!

[g8rvet]

Had to hide my Funky Chicken to get a 2 year old to come in today.  Pulled the deke and he came in an hour later. 

[turkey buster]

I rarely use them but I have had success with decoys. My two bad experiences with them was 1) one time I decided to try something different. I was hunting a lake levee (wide open) and set the decoys on it behind me thinking that the birds would strut down the levee to them and if they hung up I'd be in range. Never got to test the theory because the 3 gobblers came out at about 200 yards and was coming on a line, but a coyote slipped in from behind me and before I could figure out the commotion it attacked my decoys, I spun around to see the racket, and the gobblers were long gone seeing a coyote attack decoys and me moving around. 2) last year I set up a pair and left them to chase some birds. When I got back a strutter was attacking my decoys. I watched him from 100 yards off and when he left I slipped in and went to work. I eventual killed him 40 yards down the ridge and 1 hour later. Guess it wasn't too bad but had I stayed is killed him sooner and not missed a good show maybe.