Terrific_tom
5 year old buck +
My turkey decoys are over 20 years old and getting shabby looking and I was thinking of replacing them. Last year I had several Long beards hang up on me until I changed up on decoy. What is every one using?
Turkeys that have been messed will wise up to decoys, but a realistic turkey decoys will get more birds to come all the way in. All of my shots are from 5 to 10 yards with a recurve so what I need and what a guy with a 40 yard shotgun choke needs to 'kill' a bird are 2 different animals.
I go mainly for the show now as I have watched 100's of toms take an arrow inside 10 yards. If they won't dance and come hit the decoy, I won't shoot them.
That said the decoy I contracted with a perennial Grand Master turkey carving champion is hands down the most effective decoy on the market. Be glad to debate it with anybody who has seen more birds die you could have spit on before they were shot.
Even if you do not want a new decoy check out this link on reading a turkeys body language. It will make your experience in the field far more enjoyable this spring.
http://bestturkeydecoy.com/body-language/
I think those were the decoys I last used with no luck. If the decoys work where you are, it's a wonderful thing. There are a lot of turkey hunters in my area and more often than not they use decoys where 10 years ago the hunting pressure was low. I will even say just calling is no where as effective as it was then so I guess you can say my area has been "messed" with.
I try take the kids into areas first season for first crack at birds I think will be pressured. Nice they can get tags over the counter.
Post rut after all the does have been bred is another option. You get a bout a 5 day window where you can move those mature toms a long ways if you hit the timing and the weather is right.
One things most guys fail to consider is weather, and I know not all can just drop everything and hunt when water dictates, but if you can be in the field for the third nice day of weather in a row, your odds of success skyrocket. Skip the rain wind and snow and wait for the third nice day. Yes you can kill them any day but it much easier the 3rd nice day.
Turkeys that have been messed will wise up to decoys, but a realistic turkey decoys will get more birds to come all the way in. All of my shots are from 5 to 10 yards with a recurve so what I need and what a guy with a 40 yard shotgun choke needs to 'kill' a bird are 2 different animals.
I go mainly for the show now as I have watched 100's of toms take an arrow inside 10 yards. If they won't dance and come hit the decoy, I won't shoot them.
That said the decoy I contracted with a perennial Grand Master turkey carving champion is hands down the most effective decoy on the market. Be glad to debate it with anybody who has seen more birds die you could have spit on before they were shot.
Even if you do not want a new decoy check out this link on reading a turkeys body language. It will make your experience in the field far more enjoyable this spring.
http://bestturkeydecoy.com/body-language/
shawn, too many guys watch too much TV and they try to do this "run and gun" crap they see guys like Knight and Hale do on the large tracts of public ground in the south or out west.:rolleyes::mad: Here, tactics like that do nothing but educate the birds, and when you only have 7 days to hunt(and 3 or 4 of those are usually crappy weather), it can be very problematic to find birds that aren't call and decoy shy, especially on the public areas where I frequent. That is why I generally only apply for the first 2 or 3 seasons, after that they are next to impossible to get to come to the call, and I am considered by many in my "circles" to be a pretty adept caller. I have no issue with guys "scouting" flocks of birds during the weeks prior to opening, but it pi$$e$ me off to no end when I see guys the week or even 2 weeks before the 1st season driving around and calling to birds in the fields to get them to respond when they are in plain view of the vehicle, and I see this every season. :mad:
I do occasionally get late week over the counter tags, 3 years ago I hunted 4 of the 6 weeks. It is not as easy during those later weeks when you have to drive 45 minutes to an hour to your hunting spot and the season opens at 5:15am, I have to get up at 3:30am to get out of the house in time to make it into the woods before daylight. A couple days worth of that without seeing any birds will turn a guy off quick!