Painting jake decoy - head color opinions?

[Jrkimbrough]

Hey guys, Ive never really liked the head color on my Dakota jake so I'm in the process of repainting the complete decoy.

The main thing I'm wanting to ask you guys is about the head color I have painted it. Just wanting opinions and am open to suggestions.  I've scoured the DSD site, taxidermy pages, etc. before starting to paint but I do value you guys opinions

Before:



After:

[Sir-diealot]

I don't recall who it is but somebody here has had a lot of luck with white, I am sure he will see this and reply though.

[Gobble!]

I don't recall who it is but somebody here has had a lot of luck with white, I am sure he will see this and reply though.

MKM GOBLE is the one who likes the white heads. I painted my jakes heads white last year before the season for something to do. Only used him once but when I used it a long beard died. Would that have changed with the red head, doubtful. DSD has come out with white headed decoys as well.

Hey guys, Ive never really liked the head color on my Dakota jake so I'm in the process of repainting the complete decoy.

The main thing I'm wanting to ask you guys is about the head color I have painted it. Just wanting opinions and am open to suggestions.  I've scoured the DSD site, taxidermy pages, etc. before starting to paint but I do value you guys opinions

Your after pictures are definitely better on the head.

[Sir-diealot]

I don't recall who it is but somebody here has had a lot of luck with white, I am sure he will see this and reply though.

MKM GOBLE is the one who likes the white heads. I painted my jakes heads white last year before the season for something to do. Only used him once but when I used it a long beard died. Would that have changed with the red head, doubtful. DSD has come out with white headed decoys as well.

Thank you, I could not recall.

[MK M GOBL]

This will be my 20th year hunting with a White Headed "Gobbler" decoy, I developed/designed this after countless hours of study and watching turkeys and with amazing results. I do only use this in the gobbler format. As a Jake decoy for my use I would only have the "Red" head, I have a lot of reason behind this and to the White Head Gobbler. To me this is all part of understanding the social structure and dominance game including body language in turkey hunting.

More than happy to help with questions.


MK M GOBL

Pic #1    My first design was made from Feather Flex Tommy T Jake Decoy. He came to be in 1999, used a jake before and he got beat then to Gobbler decoy, other things I did not knowing they were some firsts, My decoy had a foam tail that got ripped from it's body by a gobbler, I fixed it up and put a "real" tail in and tied a Maraboo Hair "Beard" for decoy. Also cut my stakes to put hen in breading position for "White Headed" Gobbler.


Pic #2      2012 I purchased a DSD Strutter (They released this decoy in 2011) and painted up the "White Head" on him.

Pic #3       Some detail on how this should look

Pic #4        One of my favorite pictures to explain some of the "Dominance" Game, even Jakes will come to the "White Head"

[Jrkimbrough]

Thank MK!

Finished up painting the body last night!  Used some black color shift and rose metallic acrylic paint from Walmart. Turned out a lot better than I thought it would!

[Ctrize]

IMO I think the white is a sign of dominance and may scare some sub dominate birds, red is a better all round color all of my bow kill birds have come to red head Jake. If you go with white you may want to check out the paint duck guys use they have an ultra violet elements that birds can see different from regular paints.

[albrubacker]

You definitely made it look much better! Good job.