Field Decoy Setup

[mtnspur]

     Hello Everyone! I have the opportunity to take a young man out tomorrow for Pa's youth season. Normally I hunt the ridges and mountains and rarely get to setup on birds in a field. Well this hunt will be field only that is bordered by woods on one side and a creek with some wooded hollows that run perpendicular to the stream on the other. This is flat farm country with just strips of woods and small woodlots. There is one finger that runs out in to the field and I plan to set up the blind at the end of the finger and the decoys out from the blind. I think the spot where the decoys will be should be visible from the entire field. The turkeys are seen in this field often but it is not there only choice.

     One of my questions is how do you set your decoys? I have a submissive jake and several hens. What combination of decoys would you use and how would you position them?

     Should I wait til birds enter the field to call them into the decoys or should I call more agressively to encourage them into our field?

     These are just some things that come to mind as I run this youth hunt through my mind. I will be out there this afternoon to setup the blind then listen this evening. Ive only ever walked this property and have never hunted it. Any advice you all could offer on this scenario would be much appreciated.

     Thanks!

[Marc]

The toms will address the jakes, so set the jake where you want to shoot the bird.  I always put my jake decoy no further than 15 yards, and generally keep the hens in close as well.

(I see guys putting out decoys at 30 yards and have to wonder why?  Usually the birds will address those decoys in one way or another directly, and I want them CLOSE).

As a right handed shooter, I always try to set the decoys to my left (a right handed shooter is far less restricted swinging a gun to the left).  Also make sure the shooter is sitting on the left side.

I do not hunt fields at all (as there is not such opportunity in my area), but I do hunt pastures and meadows.  Optimally, I like to set up the decoys where birds might see them some distance away, but lose sight of them as they approach.  (i.e. birds are a bit high up as they approach and often have to enter a depression; once in the depression it affords me the opportunity to do a bit of calling and prevents the birds from inspecting the decoys to carefully or notice the lack of movement).

[g8rvet]

You are describing how I hunt a lot (minus the blind).  I put out one hen with head up and one feeding hen, about 20 yards from me.  I leave the jake in the truck.  If you have a youth with you, I am assuming jakes are on the menu.  I had a gobbler on opening day this year refuse to come in with my first ever set up of one hen and one jake.  He walked off the field gobbling. After he left, I got up and pulled the jake decoy.  He came back an hour later and came right in to the hen.  I would just leave the jake deke out of your setup, as submissive jakes/2 year olds would be as good a trophy for a youth as any dominant bird.  I have called in plenty of longbeards to hen only setups.

I call fairly aggressively if he answers me from off the field. Once he steps on the field, I stop calling completely as long as he is coming.  No sense letting him pinpoint your location - if he can see the dekes, no reason to call in my book.  If he starts to lose interest or wander off, I will start calling and watch how he responds.  I had one I killed there many moons ago that would not come in until I got crazy aggressive with the calling.  Yelps/cuts way more than I would normally do. But that is what he wanted and since I could see him, I could watch his response.  He took over an hour to come to me on a 30 acre field, but he did come in.  I have also called hens back in to my setup when they had a gobbler in tow.  I needed to challenge them to get them to respond.  The nice thing about field hunting is it is a lot like duck calling (which I do a lot of).  I learned to call ducks at their arses and elbows and I do the same when field hunting turkeys.  Just like ducks, when they are coming, let them come.

[mtnspur]

Thanks guys! That is just the kind of advice I was looking for. This is a new piece of property that I have been blessed to hunt for the first time. This young man will get first crack at these birds which may not be to heavily hunted. He is 15 and is new to hunting in general and has never hunted turkeys. Getting pretty pumped for this hunt. Hope I have some goods news to post after tomorrow. If not we'll take what we've learned from this new property and get after them another day.

[dejake]

what g8rvet said, specially about leaving the jake in the truck.  If you're not getting out there early, I wouldn't go today at all. They'll come out to feed before going to roost, and you don't want to bugger them.  Should be an exciting hunt for both of you!

[nosaj]

g8rvet pretty much covered it.

There is another thing I do when I am hunting with youths out of a blind to help judge range.  While we are putting out the decoys (2 hens) I stick 3 branches in the ground at 30 yards spread out across the field of view and tell the youth that the ideal shooting range will be when the bird is half way between the 30 yard marker and the decoys.  I also tell them not to worry about when to shoot and if the bird is at the right range because I will tell you when to shoot.  We then come up with a word/phase like "takem" that I will only say when it is time to shoot so there is no confusion when it is go time.   I usually set the decoys around 15 yds.  If you let the birds get to close it makes for a tough shot for the youth.  Having the plan when to shoot with visual indicators takes some of the surprise and stress out of the situation for everyone.  I like 20 yards for most 20 ga youth guns with a full choke.

     

[mtnspur]

Thanks again fellas.  Gonna pass on the jake decoy. Also great tip on marking the 30 yd yard mark.

[nosaj]

Good luck.

  Let us know how you make out.

[mtnspur]

Saturday morning we were in plenty early but day light was met with thick fog. Maybe my least favorite condition after high winds. I figured the gobble would be late or nonexistent but after 6:30 I couldnt resist trying to get something going. I actually got  a hen going and she slowly worked her way to the decoys and then back out again slowly. With my calling and hers I feel rather confident that there weren't any gobblers in our immediate vicinity that morning. My young hunter was still pretty cranked about the hen and tried desperately to put a beard on her. We stuck it out til around 11 and overall had a pretty good morning with the hen sighting and the general goofing off in the blind later in the morning. I think the seed has been planted for future hunts.

[nosaj]

That is unfortunate that the weather didn't cooperate.  At least you had a hen come in for a little action.

[turkey buster]

I'm not a decoy guy usually but the last two times I've used them it was with success. I used the gobbstopper Jake and a hen. Both hunts I had a dominate (3yr old or older) come in and whoop the Jake and mount my hen. I know some call me wrong for this and would shoot sooner, but both times I swatted him doing what he came there to do and that was breed.