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Early May for turkeys

I'll be headed down to NW South Dakota (around Belle Fourche) sometime after May 3. How aggressive are the Merriam's toms by that time of year? Will they still be very susceptible to decoys? I'm hunting private land that doesn't see a lot of pressure, so I don't imagine that these birds will be very educated.

I've always has good luck with my DSD flock but was recently given a full mount strutter (real) as well. I'm driving, so I'll have room to bring it if you guys that hunt the same general area think it'll help? I'll more that likely bring it either way, but curious to see what you guys think about that time frame.

Thanks!

The toms will be fired up that time of the year for sure. The last two weeks of April and the first week of May have always had the best action for me. I'd bring the DSD flock and you'll have no problems. Strutters have had mixed results for me, sometimes the toms will charge right in, other times they hang back from the strutter. I've almost never had one not charge in to the jake.

Brotsky, That's been my experience with the DSD jake too. They're so much less cumbersome than a full strutter too. I'm tempted to try it, but I'd hate to bugger them with it and it's pretty hard to beat the action I've got using the DSD jake. Thanks for the help, that makes me feel better about heading down later in the season. Sean

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