Time for a New Decoy
Turkey
I have been using the same three Feather Flex decoys for 20 years. They have done me well but its time to move on. Looking to pick up a hen and jake and trying to decide between a DSD or Avian. Actually like the DSD Jake but hen from Avian. Thoughts from users.
The DSD and Avian combo works well.
I have a Dakota jake and it's in a similar pose to the DSD jake. I just looked and the DSD is $150 and Dakota on sale for $115 at Cabelas. The thing I don't like about the Dakota is it takes up so much room in a decoy bag. I really like Avian hens. It's nice to be able to air them up in a flash and deflate them so they are packable. I can carry a couple hens in a small backpack. They also look really nice. I've always heard how great the DSD's are but if they don't deflate and you have to carry them far they may be a pain in the rear for carrying and storing?
Dead turkeys don't lie...this one was a sucker for a Dakota a few weeks ago.
Any of what you're considering will work fine.
I've had a flock of late winter longbeards thrash that decoy for more than 90 minutes, and had spring birds run 300 or more yards.
Lots of people have done the same with the DSD.
I went with the Dakota Jake last season and used Cherokee sports hens when I used hens. Toms always go straight for the jake. The hens might give them extra confidence but serve little purpose once the Tom comes in. A single hen or a couple of hens doesn't have the drawing power of a Jake or strutter but I like the presentation a gobbled gives when coming in to them. all the jumping around they do with a Jake decoy in not present with hens and the Tom inches his way in, slowly and meticulously.
Avain makes a small packable strutter that might work great, but no strutter is going to pack as easy and give movement in slight breezes like the Cherokee sports and you can't use large numbers if decoys unless they are collapsible. I set up 8 one morning on some decoy shy public ground turkeys and lured in the decoy shy Tom because he had never seen decoys that high in number.
I have read a lot of good things about the DSD but just couldn't see spending that much on a decoy. The Dakota Jake is a very good decoy that is much like the DSD but costs a lot less. I had very good luck with it last year. You can get it for $79 at the link I provided.
Have fun!
TBM, so you are saying that toms likely won't be as agressive if there are hen decoys in with a single jake decoy? That almost seems contrary to what I would think? I would think a tom would want to kick a jake's butt if the tom sees a jake with hens?
I would also think that when toms are with hens the toms often are just following hens around? I'm not sure which is more common...hens or toms being the leader of the group and being the initiators that are attracted and head toward calls/decoys? Depending upon the case, you may be trying to attract hens as much as toms?
I know there are a lot of factors involved, but would you set up differently for single/small groups of toms vs small groups of hens w/toms...or are you only trying to target single toms? I imagine certain times of year toms may break away from hen groups at certain times of the day and other times of the year the toms stay in large turkey groups all day long!
One of the previous owners of Double Bull blinds (Brooks Johnson) has hunted a lot of turkeys and he swears by using just a single Dakota jake. He never uses a hen decoy any more.
That's a great deal on the Dakotas mentioned above. Now that I think about it I'm pretty sure that's where I got mine.
My buddy from Texas just tested me some info on Avain vrs DSD....they weigh the same and take up same amount of room in the bag. Avain is quiter. I think the DSD has the better posture...Dakota has even better posture but still not perfect. The key is beak position. Beaks pointed down are dominant... up means submissive. Dakota points slightly up and head is tucked. The beak should be pointed up at a 45 degree angle.
"TBM, so you are saying that toms likely won't be as agressive if there are hen decoys in with a single jake decoy? That almost seems contrary to what I would think? I would think a tom would want to kick a jake's butt if the tom sees a jake with hens?"
Toms are not aggressive when they come in to hen decoys or a single hen as they are when a Jake it in the set. I've seen them take 30 minutes to close 20 yards. That makes for the easiest shot.
A Tom with hens is more likely to stay with his hens but incorporating a Jake or strutter in the set can pull them in. Just a hen set will not be as likely to make them leave their hens.
TBM....so what is it about the Dakota posture you like the best...the beak?
Some people say it's an aggressive jake, but it seems to have a submissive pose. That's why I like it, and also why I push it almost down to ground level.
To me, you're spot on with your last entry.
The beak is pointed up more on the Dakota than the Dsd and I thunk that is better. I have seen submissive Jake with their beaks pointed almost straight up.
I would think you can vary the tilt of the beak by tilting the decoy with head/beak up higher when you put in the stake? It also sounds like a good idea to possibly place the stake a little deeper so that it is lower to the ground. Unfortunately the tail my hit the ground if tilted and too low to the ground so this may limit movement in the wind?
One weakness of ours is we automatically put ourselves in a perfect scenario when trying to predetermine outcomes and what might give us the best chance for a positive outcome. So we visualise turkeys seeing out decoys which is assuming a lot. It is so thick where I hunt any Turkey that is skirting the set will often go by without seeing the fakes. That is why the full size strutter is the best option in thick woods, and the CS strutter is the best option for that. It moves in slight breezes and is easy for a Tom to see.
One weakness of ours is we automatically put ourselves in a perfect scenario when trying to predetermine outcomes and what might give us the best chance for a positive outcome. So we visualise turkeys seeing out decoys which is assuming a lot. It is so thick where I hunt any Turkey that is skirting the set will often go by without seeing the fakes. That is why the full size strutter is the best option in thick woods, and the CS strutter is the best option for that. It moves in slight breezes and is easy for a Tom to see.
I've got a like New Dakota jake if anyone wants to buy one.
Jims....I prefer the decoy's back to be parallel with the ground. That's a sign of submissiveness.
That's a problem I had with old foam decoys, especially jakes, is that the head was too high and the bird could look intimidating to some toms.
Pretty hard to get more submissive than this, I guess. That same photo shoot a mature tom did spend seven minutes humping the Dakota and pecking it on the back of the head.
I got a chance to witness how timing can make a difference in a Tom's reaction to a decoy set. When he came into the field there was already a couple hens out there. He was following a nother hen. He paid no attention to my dekes. After about an hour he left the field with the hen and I would have left, but didn't want to spook the he remaining hens.
After 45 minutes he came back in and made a b line to the dekes. He had his fun with the hen and now was ready for more action.
You can see the video on TurkeyBowMaster YouTube channel titled Steve Grace 190th bowkill.
Dewayne Is that the latest model of Dakota Jake in your link?
Tracker - I don't know. There is contact info for them on their web page.
For bowhunting, you can't beat a jake with a pull down fan. That movement is a true difference maker on hard hunted birds. I have had people tell me you can't use decoys in the later seasons but with the pull down fan, Toms often still come in on the run.
I have a chance to look at the Avian decoys at the Harrisburg Outdoorsman's show yesterday. It was nice but I was just convinced I liked the style. I was disappointed that there was none that had the DSD or Dakota decoys there. Usually there is more turkey hunting vendors there.
I have had really good luck with the DSD jake positioned right behind the breeding hen. They just can't seem to resist that set up. I have had dominant Toms leave their hens to come in to it.
I like the Jake position on the DSD and Dakota the best. I did like the Avian breading hen. Thinking of mixing up the pair.
I just use an old bobble head hen. It draws in the hen with a little bit of persuasion and the toms follow right in.
I just purchased a DSD Jake at Cabela's. They are on sale or at least 10% added to Cabela's card points.
You know, I'm real happy with my Dakota jake, and have killed quite a few on full-strut decoys, like the B-Mobile.
But we also did danged well just putting a fan, with a small section of tubing bondoed in, sitting atop a piece of arrow shaft dancing and spinning in the wind.
Correct Writer...really no need to spend the amount of money some of you guys spend on these decoys...with a little ingenuity and creativeness you can make a great decoy in lass than an hour...start with a real turkey fan and the sky is the limit...I killed many birds using just a fan stuck in the ground...then I rigged it up with a heavy duty spring to move back and forth for realism and I killed even more...then I added a fan to an old plastic circa 1980 decoy and the turkeys came sprinting across fields to fight it...my point is there really isn't the need for the high def high dollar decoys, they are nice to look at but not neccesary
Absolutely...but I'm not giving up my Dakota jake or DSD hen. :-)
Cheers Michael :) and with that said I did buy a Funky Chicken last year out of curiosity and am looking at the Chicken On a Stick this year just for fun
Longboard, I'm not trying to argue your success. And I certainly believe that turkey aren't the smartest animal in the woods. But that said, it seems in your progression of DIY decoys the more realistic the decoy got the more success you depict having with it.
Therefore I am led to conclude more realistic equals better. Hence the reason I use avian X (dsd may be a little more realistic, but I chose avian x for other reasons, and don't feel that I give up too much lifelikness).
Just my opinion, and I'm sure many decoys will work well.
--Jim
Go get 'em, longbeard.
I buy a few new calls most winters, then go back to the main ones that have served me well a few decades.
Fun to add a new decoy now and again...but they're a lot more expensive.
I ended up picking up a DSD Jake from Mack Prairie with free shipping and a 10% discount coupon. I emailed DSD and got a quick and informative email back the same day. The personal response and American made put me over the top with my decision. Hoping to get a nice tom in front of my longbow this spring.
Interesting, DSD gave me some of the worst customer service I've encountered.
just received my avian x breeder pair decoys today, they look killer good awesome. cant wait to give them a try. very, very realistic looking ! very good price at cabelas for the pair.
Writer Thanks for the Fan on the tubing decoy. I'll be making one of those up next week while I am convalescing from my knee surgery scheduled for Monday.
DSD Jake arrived today. Very nice looking decoy. Look forward to trying it out this spring. I like the way the stake fits underneath the decoy. What is the little rubber grommet on the stake for.
It is to help the decoy from spinning. On my DSD stakes I also wrapped hockey tape around the stake near the top so there is no wobble and to help keep it centered. It's not that big of a problem but just about everything nowadays needs some sort of mod to make it better.
Just got my Dakota Jake, I think I'm going to pair that with my cheap hen decoy and see what I can get to happen.
JTree Im sorry if that was the way mt story came across, not what I intended. But yes to a certain degree you do need a bit of realism, but not $100's of dollars worth. If I had the choice between detail in feathers and realism in movement, I take movement all day long! Big difference between a $10 spring and some fishing line compared to what amounts to a $200 + mounted turkey. Believe me the turkeys don't know. I've had great success with minimal $$$ spent on decoys
