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Im looking to sale my DSD Strutter this year. I have maybe used it once. We video all of our bow hunts and its just to bulky for all the equipment we take to the hunt. I'd like to get some feed back from the ones of you that use strutter decoys. We've used Primos strutters in the past and we may go back to achieve the lightness of the decoy. Thanks for the help!!!!!
The Cherokee Sports strutter is a great way to go strutter wise. The best moving decoy made. In the lightest breeze it will spin and looks freaky real. In high winds not so much. Avain has a small colaosabke strytter that looks good too.
Bigreb, did you have any birds at all see your strutter and not come in for whatever reason, not interested, intimated by strutter, etc.? I prefer the Dsd jake as about 98% (no exaggeration) when male birds see the jake they commit every time. And that's going on an average of 20 longbeard kills the last 6 years.
bigreb,
I have had good luck with Pretty Boy and I still drag him out from time to time. He for sure will scare off a few birds but when one comes into Pretty Boy they are usually a dominant bird. Like trkyslr, I am starting to prefer the jake. I don't have the DSD but I have the BTD....I have had a lot of luck out of it. I don't get 98% of toms to come in but I get way more than with the strutter.
This is my deke for Turk. Full strut mount. Bird don't even think twice. I have a rule that have to touch the deke to shot them. Last year 10 birds died over this deke. It's amazing. And sorry about the gun kill. That my papa who passed last year and I really wanted to take a bird with his A-5 Belgium.
Thanks for the reply's guys! Trklr, I do have ah few that bugger from time to time each year. For whatever reason, I don't know! I'll have to say though, I have had pretty good luck with a strutter to this point. I have ah stuffed Jake I use as well. It works great. We go out to KS/NE each year and I have had ah couple hunts where I could of used a strutter. I will almost for sure give the DSD Jake a try. The stuffed is great, but it doesn't work good in the weather! O yeah, if you guys know someone that would like a DSD Strutter in there bag next season please let me know. It needs ah good home!!!!
I see you are from Mississippi so we are basically hunting the same birds....no decoy is going to work 90% of the time on these southern easterns. 75% is a good number. For the most part we don't have enough wind to move a Dakota or Dsd, and movement counts for more than any other factor. I hear Avian moves easy in the wind and is a compromise between the DSD and Cherokee solports inflatables. They might be the way to go. Looking forward to seeing you BOWKILLS this spring.
TBM,
I think 75% might be stretching it even on Easterns. With my experience I could safely say that over half of them come to the BTD but after that I can't be certain. The very first group of gobblers that saw my BTD, 8 of them in the bunch, had not the least bit of interest in it. I was stunned that not one of those gobblers would break off to come. After that encounter they have more often than not came in.
DSD Jake works like a charm up in Ontario for me.
A buddy of mine used a Pretty boy Strutter and now a DSD Strutter and he tends to shoot older birds but I would guesstimate I have twice as many gobblers (2 year old birds mostly) coming into my set ups with the DSD Jake and two hens.
DSD Jake.....run some fishing string from your blind to the tail and put it in the ground at the tiniest angle so that the tail wants to spin away from the blind. Instant movement when you pull the string and the decoy naturally falls back into position. 50% of the time it works every time! Ha!
BigReb, If you still have this DSD Strutter I would be interested in it. Shoot me a PM if you do. Thanks.
I've hunted Nebr the past couple years and decoy options change dramatically from the opening of archery season through the end of the season. When archery first opens where I hunt in Nebr th turkeys tend to be in large flocks and it may be nearly impossible to get tom's to leave large groups of hens. Decoy choice may not matter in that circumstance! Mid season after flocks start breaking up toms may be more aggressive....depending upon the mood they are in on any given day. Late in the spring turkeys tend to be dispersed and hens start nesting. Toms tend to be wandering around and actively searching for hens.
With that said, I stay flexible using hens, jakes, and strutter decoys. You can usually tell by the turkey's reactions whether something is working or not! It's nice to have a choice of decoys.
It seems like toms I've hunted pretty much key in on real fan tails, colors on the head....and often movement. It's possible to add paint, wings, and real fan tails to fairly cheap decoys. It's amazing how movement gets a tom's attention! There are a lot of options to add movement to your decoys (strings, mobile decoys, etc).
Looked at the small Avian Strutter. Its a very nice decoy that collapses pretty small. Nice thing about it is you can use the supplied fan or use a real one.
Want movement get a decoy sled.Work great and easy to use.You draw the bird in or work it side to side.
