Decoy Set-ups

[Eric Lowery Feedthefaith]

Hey guys hope your turkey season is going great!

Question for you guys, this is my third turkey season and I learn more and more each time I go out but I still have a lot to learn! The first season I was to kill my first and only bird that season! A big ole long beard that I put the crawl on, as I crested over the hill and smoked him! My second season I filled 3/4 tags, the first one being a double up on jakes with a hunting buddy! Then a double up on long beards the following weekend with the same buddy. Last but not least for that season I snuck through a creek with high banks and busted a long beard strutting with some hens.

This season I've been able to bust a long beard but still have two tags to fill. The birds I've killed in the past seasons have either been no decoys or a hen and a Jake decoy. This season I killed my tom with two hens and a Jake. One feeder, one up-right, and a Jake.

My question is, What is your go-to decoy set up? Does it change depending on time of the season: early/mid/late. Does it change per area or farm that you hunt? Thanks in advanced for the feed back!


Good luck the rest of your season, stay safe and God bless!
-Eric Lowery
Feed The Faith Outdoors

 

[Boll Weevil]

My go-to decoy setup is absolutely no decoy setup. Very best of luck to you, sir. Lots of season remaining to get it done.

 

[cbhunter]

 

[TheLBLman]

Generally speaking, I have found carrying & using decoys to be more a liability than an asset to my turkey hunting success. You'll find many disagree, but this has been my experience after experimenting with all types of decoys for many, many years, as I was experimenting with decoys back in the 1980's.

 

[RobDooley]

I got a bag full of decoys...did not use any this year and got a good Tom. I have used them in the past with success. I use a Tom in full strut...feeding hens...and always a Jake or two. Don't set them up right in front of you...always to your left or right. Just my two cents worth.

 

[Remington700]

I have never been very successful with decoys. I have several and have used them over the years. Have done better just going without them. I have no problem with people using them and know some swear by them.

 

[TheLBLman]

I think if you spend enough time afield turkey hunting, you will eventually figure out how to consistently kill turkeys with or without decoys.

Decoys work sometimes, decoys spook birds sometimes, but they are ALWAYS a pain in the arse to carry, place, retrieve, carry, place, retrieve, carry, place, retrieve.

One aspect of decoys many users haven't yet noted is that in either placing, retrieving, or carrying, YOU will spook birds that either hear or see you, when those birds wouldn't have seen or heard you had you not been using the decoys.

 

[prstide]

The best way to setup decoys is to roll them up then throw them into a garbage can moments before the pickup service comes to lift your can, with pneumatic arms, up into the back of a huge compactor truck—at that point you can see them on their way and then go turkey hunt.

 

[megalomaniac]

Decoys are helpful (or hurtful if used incorrectly) in flat terrain where turkeys can see a long way.

In hilly or mountainous terrain, or thicker woods, there simply isn't a need for decoys. Use the terrain to your advantage so that the bird has to be in range when he comes to your calling set up for the one look he will give you.

Your turkey hunting learning curve will accelerate much faster if you learn to rely on your woodsmanship skills and calling, rather than which decoy, how many, how to arrange them, etc.

 

[REN]

LBL said exact my thoughts. I used them at one time but in all honesty I just prefer to be MUCH more mobil then dealing with toting and retrieving them.

not a lot of help for your question but I'm sure someone on here can give more insight if you just really wanna use them.
Good luck the rest of the season.

 

[THE DUKE]

Alot depends on private or public land, I sold mine yrs ago. If ur watching utube or hunting shows that doesn't apply to 99.9 % of people.

 

[Urban_Hunter]

Decoys are a crutch for me, and I need all the help I can get. My typical turkey hunting day involves setting my decoys up in the dark in what I think at that moment is the best spot to be found by a Tom, ideally pitching towards me after a fly down call. Once my initial set is determined to be a bust, I leave them behind and go mobile til I've covered the property I'm on and head out. My setup has evolved a lot but for the last few years it's a strutting jake with a laying hen

 

[catman529]

I know this doesn't exactly answer your question but I never use decoys. My go to is to find a gobbling bird and get as close as I can to him, put some terrain between us and call just enough to let him know where I'm at. If and when he commits, I won't be able to see him and he won't be able to see me until he's in shotgun range. I listen very closely for foot steps and drumming if he's not gobbling a lot. Have the gun ready pointed where I think he will show his face. If you're hunting flat land, try to find some thick cover where he can't see your location till he's in range. Normally a gobbler will gobbble and drum to call the hens to him. If that doesn't work, and he's hot, he's gonna come looking. If he can see your location from a distance, there's a much greater chance he will hang up out of range, gobble and strut, or even start putting trying to call that hen to him. By putting terrain or cover between you and the bird, he has to come into shotgun range if he wants to get a look at that hen he thinks he hears. You just gotta be ready to shoot when he shows, cause they usually don't stick around very long.

 

[Dennis]

Decoys are the most useful in a spot where they can be seen from a long distance. For example, a rise or hill in a large open field.

In such a case, a hen and jake is a good combination. The jake will cause some other jakes or toms to hang up, but it will cause others to charge in. The jake decoy will draw their attention for sure. The decoys don't have to be perfect; it is the colors and basic shapes that attract them. The red head of a jake for example. Or the semi circle of a fan. If you keep the decoys close enough to your shooting position, you can still get a shot at birds that hang up 25 yds from the decoys, which happens some times.

 

[TheLBLman]

My opinion is turkey decoys have been highly successfully "marketed", and are not nearly as effective as they've been made to appear. On all the YouTube and other marketing videos, we mainly just see the times they work. Not shown, and often not even realized, are the time the decoys cost the hunter more opportunities than they gain him.

IMO, turkey decoys are actually more a gimmick than a crutch.

Show me a highly successful turkey hunter who does not make $ some how, some way by producing hunting videos and/or being a hunting industry insider or some "celebrity" hunter, and will usually see a turkey hunter who never or only seldom uses decoys.

I cannot emphasize enough how many birds get spooked by hunters for no other reason than the hunters are carrying and using decoys, which typically cause you to be both more visible and more audible (in a bad way) to distant turkeys seeing you, while you're not seeing them.

In some applications, turkey decoys are definitely more beneficial than harmful, particularly regarding the less experienced hunter. Those applications are mainly limited to large fields, and sometimes hunters who must remain in a stationary location because their property is relatively small for turkey hunting.

That said, the same less experienced hunters may gain better hunting skills quicker via not using decoys, while the generality that decoys are at least as much an overall liability as an asset, still holds.

 

[TheLBLman]

Decoys are the most useful in a spot where they can be seen from a long distance. For example, a rise or hill in a large open field.

Agree, but keep in mind they often cause birds to "hang up" on the other side of that hill, and those may be birds you never saw, never see, but might have had you not placed the decoys.

To place a decoy on any rise or hill, how do you go there without running high risk of a distant turkey seeing you?

Generally, this can only be done (without visual risk) at least 45 minutes before sunrise. But then later, you have to go retrieve those decoys, meaning, that, particularly hunting a smaller property, you are now placing more hunting "pressure" on your birds. More pressured birds generally become harder to kill, and often just move off your property onto less pressured adjoining property.

 

[Conan]

Hey guys hope your turkey season is going great!

Question for you guys, this is my third turkey season and I learn more and more each time I go out but I still have a lot to learn! The first season I was to kill my first and only bird that season! A big ole long beard that I put the crawl on, as I crested over the hill and smoked him! My second season I filled 3/4 tags, the first one being a double up on jakes with a hunting buddy! Then a double up on long beards the following weekend with the same buddy. Last but not least for that season I snuck through a creek with high banks and busted a long beard strutting with some hens.

This season I've been able to bust a long beard but still have two tags to fill. The birds I've killed in the past seasons have either been no decoys or a hen and a Jake decoy. This season I killed my tom with two hens and a Jake. One feeder, one up-right, and a Jake.

My question is, What is your go-to decoy set up? Does it change depending on time of the season: early/mid/late. Does it change per area or farm that you hunt? Thanks in advanced for the feed back!


Good luck the rest of your season, stay safe and God bless!
-Eric Lowery
Feed The Faith Outdoors

2 hens and a jake. 1 hen standing and 1 feeding. I have found that birds react differently to decoys. I suspect that if a tom has been whipped before he will shy away. I have had them come in to about 75yds, hang up, then walk away.
I have found decoys to be more of an asset that a detriment.
just make sure that the Jake is facing you!

 

[Setterman]

Easiest question Of all times. Leave them at home. Learn turkey behavior, communication styles, and the lay of the land along with how the birds use it. Hunt smart, and profit.

 

[Bucks & Beards]

Hey guys hope your turkey season is going great!

Question for you guys, this is my third turkey season and I learn more and more each time I go out but I still have a lot to learn! The first season I was to kill my first and only bird that season! A big ole long beard that I put the crawl on, as I crested over the hill and smoked him! My second season I filled 3/4 tags, the first one being a double up on jakes with a hunting buddy! Then a double up on long beards the following weekend with the same buddy. Last but not least for that season I snuck through a creek with high banks and busted a long beard strutting with some hens.

This season I've been able to bust a long beard but still have two tags to fill. The birds I've killed in the past seasons have either been no decoys or a hen and a Jake decoy. This season I killed my tom with two hens and a Jake. One feeder, one up-right, and a Jake.

My question is, What is your go-to decoy set up? Does it change depending on time of the season: early/mid/late. Does it change per area or farm that you hunt? Thanks in advanced for the feed back!


Good luck the rest of your season, stay safe and God bless!
-Eric Lowery
Feed The Faith Outdoors

IF you use them, hide um in the weeds where they're not too visible. A gobbler responding to your call will still see what he needs to see. When they're placed on a stick in the middle of the field they look so unnatural. In my experience in the latter situation, the turkeys may be curious but they won't close the distance. As far as using a Jake or strutter, it's a crap shoot. And the problem is that once you've set um up you can't correct the problem once the turkeys are in view. In field hunting, they may be necessary. In the woods, leave um at the truck.

 

[timberjack86]

Not biting.....