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?
Turkey Decoys
- Thread starter Terrific_tom
- Start date
LessRice
5 year old buck +
I bought mine from http://bestturkeydecoy.com/ when they were using the funds for the MDDI. You can ask Batman and see if he has any promotions going on again, but either way the decoy is very well-made and realistic. Maybe not quite as realistic as Avian-X or DSD but pretty damn nice.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
Same as you TT, crappy 20 year old stuff that I purchased or cheap, generic Wal-Mart hand-me-downs from guys who no longer hunt. I have one hen that I would consider decent. It is quite realistic looking, but it is the thicker, more "rubber-like" material, and that makes it cumbersome to deal with. Waiting for some responses as well.
shawnv
5 year old buck +
I swear turkeys here in WI have wised up to decoys over the years. Where they used to be very effective for me I find they now kill my hunt 8 out of 10 times and I even went so far as to try the more realistic decoys a couple years ago. The result was the same and it was a lot of $$$ down the tube so never again for me. Too bad this post was not made back then because I would have just given mine away. I'm not a great caller by any means, just good enough to get the job done. To make up for my calling skills I am a good stalker and can recognize where to sit which results in a fair amount of success.
B
bat man
Guest
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 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/
shawnv
5 year old buck +
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.
shawnv
5 year old buck +
B
bat man
Guest
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.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
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:
shawnv
5 year old buck +
My last years hunting with decoys started during our youth season and it was my home farm (no pressure) and the big tom and two lesser fellows were pretty receptive to the calling and needed to come in a few yards before giving my son a shot, as soon as the big one saw even the more realistic decoys he was done and made his displeasure known. The next hunt with no decoys in the same set up, dead bird (not the same tom) so go figure. Weeks later in a different spot, not my farm the same thing happened. Decoy day one...the tom gives us the bird and the following day with no decoy I killed him and no one else had been hunting there. I also have a lot of guys in the area with similar experiences so I can't put my finger on it other than to says it's due to pressure over the years. To wrap my story up I stalked and called my way to the big tom that had gotten away during my son's hunt my last day that year.
Honestly most of my success now comes during that 5 day window later in the season. The beauty of having turkeys on the property where I live is that I can just walk out the door and listen if I'll have a player for the day or not and if not then I go fishing.
Terrific_tom
5 year old buck +
shawnv
5 year old buck +
I think you should should still consider hunting the 5th week. There are lots of love struck loners out there looking further now since most of the hens have been bred and other hunters are thinking about fish. You're right on about calling too much before it's time and in a non-realistic set up.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
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!
shawnv
5 year old buck +
Yea I can see your point in that and is why in a previous post I said that is the beauty of living where I do now because I usually know if I have a player or not and don't have to make a long trip on a day with poor action. I prefer to fish or scout whitey's this time of year so if the weather is not right or they are not talking I usually won't go after one.
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
i'm not a super experienced or dedicated spring turkey hunter....but over the last 5 yrs or so i have gotten more into it. very enjoyable time of the year to be out and hunting. So far what i have noticed is that on the private ground, mainly farm land with lots of fields decoys havent worked more than they have worked. My best hunts on the farms have been when i patterned the birds and snuck in close in the AM and was able to get in between the birds and fields and give a little talk to them to make them walk my way on their way to the field.
when i hunt up in the mountains/big woods on public land i have found that more listening and less talking has been a better bet. on an old logging road, an open bench, or a small forest opening a hen deke has been most useful.
I generally dont like carrying much crap with me so i use my one lone hen deke or i dont use a deke at all.
when i hunt up in the mountains/big woods on public land i have found that more listening and less talking has been a better bet. on an old logging road, an open bench, or a small forest opening a hen deke has been most useful.
I generally dont like carrying much crap with me so i use my one lone hen deke or i dont use a deke at all.
