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Turkey Decoys

So I was wondering with Turkey vision so dang good,.. do any of you invest in high quality decoys,.. or does it not matter?

What do folks use?

I picked up my second one and the difference between the two,.. is night and day,.. how much does that matter?

My gut says it matters but less than we like to think. For every 400 dollar mounted reat turkey, you have dorks like me that painted a hen deke to look like a jake, and poked some black rope out its chest for a beard! I chase that with a 20-30 dollar hen.

I put the hen flush to the grpund 15 yds out facing me or diagonally angled away from the bird, towards me. I put the jake right up on her, like hes in the action shall we say... its worked well... but I only use the dekes about 50% of the time. Run and gun does not always allow it...

My gut says it matters but less than we like to think. For every 400 dollar mounted reat turkey, you have dorks like me that painted a hen deke to look like a jake, and poked some black rope out its chest for a beard! I chase that with a 20-30 dollar hen.

I put the hen flush to the grpund 15 yds out facing me or diagonally angled away from the bird, towards me. I put the jake right up on her, like hes in the action shall we say... its worked well... but I only use the dekes about 50% of the time. Run and gun does not always allow it...

I have used cheap deks with success. I bought a Dakota jake a couple of years ago and could not believe how effective it is. I have had many toms come in to the call and when they see the Dakota come running straight to it wanting to kick some ass!

I have an old hen decoy given to me years ago and works fine.

The guys from The Hunting Public just did an interview with a guy who has one of those turkey grand slams. I think it means he's killed a turkey in every state in the country. He did it all on public land without a decoy. Pretty interesting, it's worth a listen.

The avian x decoys are sweet. Check them out

Ya Fran,.. I got a collapsible Mrs Purfect and then picked up a Dakota hen (christ $$) and was stunned at the diff in quality,.. Dakota is amazing.

Now I am thinking if their vision is that good maybe you want a quality decoy?

I know nothing though,.. first time heading out this year,..

Oh and "Promise" everyone I will stay away from the Mud!

BB aka Mudman LOL

PS Moons the diff I can see between Dakota and Avian is: Avian is collapsible which is nice, but Dakota has lifetime warranty on any paint coming off and are about 10% more costly than Avian.

Never heard of Dakota, I'll have to look into it. Thanks BB

I have two of the cheap foam hen decoys. I set those usually at 10 o'clock from where I am settin up, facing me. I have an avian full strut Tom that I set at 10 o'clock, facing where the turkeys are coming from. In a triangle. The two hens the bottom corners of the triangle, and the tom the top point of the triangle. Keeps the turkeys eyes off you (never set decoys right in front of you, you may get picked off, or shot) and makes them think the hens can't see them and the tom can. They usually want to beat that tom off. Lots of different options, but this is what works best for me. Good luck BB, I hope you get one this spring. And if you're struggling, don't be afraid to reach out. I have some spots that always hold birds . Would be happy to help

DSD Jake, the single most lethal decoy, period !

BB

I was thinking about this today. Look, you are about to get your first taste this year. Honestly, I'd err to no deke. Why? I honestly think it forces you to set up better. Say you have a good deke spread set up. Bird gets to 60 and would hang up, but the deke spread con's him and he comes in. Without the deke's, you are pondering why'd he stall?

I think you may find yourself learning more about how the birds work. Keep in mind, this is not deer hunting - you are very likely to at least hear a bird most times out. In other words, you will interact with your quarry more than not - unlike deer.

I think it also forces you to be creative in your set's. When I use dekes, I almost set up in situations that I hope the bird see's the deke from a good way's off, and the final 50-80yds may be all a result of the deke if things work well - zero calling. But when I have no deke, I'm setting up trying to use vegetation, terrain etc to force the bird to only become visible when he's inside 50yds, ideally closer if I can make it happen. I really set up differently.

Last, it's simpler. You are trying to learn calling, learn locating, learn setting up, learn when you can move a little, etc. Now add in schleping a deke around and figuring that out too... I guess the more I think about it, the more I think keeping it simple and skipping the decoy may be a good option as you get started.

Haven't used decoys in years. But I don't hunt fields or wide open spaces. I hunt woods birds.

Hunting in the woods with everything getting green as the season moves along it gets hard to see and by the time the birds could see any deke I'd have out they're already on top of me and I'm shooting if it's a big beard.

Decoys work but I've had old birds hang up and get nervous looking at them.

Quality calling is your best bet. As said, two different calls can work very well.

I've shot a lot of birds between 9:00 and noon time after most hens have been taken care of.

Nothing like a big Tom bird looking for love and being lonely late morning.

Good luck.

Joe the turkey grand slam is one of each of the species. Some are just found in Florida and Mexico.

xi your right the DSD is the most realistic dek the detail is amazing but the Dakota deks are a very close 2'nd and more affordable.

Ahhhh, gotcha. Thanks for clarifying. I think this guy had done that and taken it a few steps further by killing a bird in every state also. Whatever it was, it was a lot of turkey's in a lot of different places.

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