To Decoy, Or Not To Decoy…

[Tim noTebow]

First time turkey hunting and I’m seeing mixed reviews whether running decoys helps or hurts the hunt. I will be hunting private land in both food plots and hardwoods.
And if you are running decoys, what’s your setup? Can’t wait for Saturday!

 

[BIKER13]

Decoy

 

[trw2094]

Decoy

 

[Huey Deer Processing]

I always use decoys.
One hen will do fine but two hens is even better.
I’ve seen birds get spooked by jake and gobbler decoys so I don’t use them.
When you’re calling in a bird it’s going to be looking for you and if it’s looking at the decoys instead that gives you the opportunity to take a shot.
I love Avian X decoys.

 

[davans]

Decoys.

 

[howl]

I'm too old to play with dollies. Besides, turkeys are not smart. The sport of turkey hunting requires you keep to a sporting standard, pitting yourself against the gobbler's ancient, evolved best, not taking unfair advantage of the bird's lack of reasoning.

A turkey is a social creature. It will go investigate any new turkey that comes into it's range out of base instinct. There's zero hunting skill involved. If you kill a gobbler using a doll, it wasn't you who killed it. You were just the trigger man for the little gal back in China who made the blame thing, because the doll is what got it done.

In order for the dolls to work, the bird has to be able to see them. If it can see them before it is in range to shoot it may hang up or go around out of range. If it has to come into range before it can see them, then it doesn't matter whether there were dolls or not. What brought it into range in that case was your woodsmanship and calling ability.

You don't need dolls.You just need to learn how to set up.

So, no. I don't decoy turkeys. Grown men playing with dolls is gayer than AIDS.

 

[Tim noTebow]

I'm too old to play with dollies. Besides, turkeys are not smart. The sport of turkey hunting requires you keep to a sporting standard, pitting yourself against the gobbler's ancient, evolved best, not taking unfair advantage of the bird's lack of reasoning.

A turkey is a social creature. It will go investigate any new turkey that comes into it's range out of base instinct. There's zero hunting skill involved. If you kill a gobbler using a doll, it wasn't you who killed it. You were just the trigger man for the little gal back in China who made the blame thing, because the doll is what got it done.

In order for the dolls to work, the bird has to be able to see them. If it can see them before it is in range to shoot it may hang up or go around out of range. If it has to come into range before it can see them, then it doesn't matter whether there were dolls or not. What brought it into range in that case was your woodsmanship and calling ability.

You don't need dolls.You just need to learn how to set up.

So, no. I don't decoy turkeys. Grown men playing with dolls is gayer than AIDS.

Haha. Hell yea

 

[47thGARBB]

Well, maybe you'll get called gay by strangers on the internet for using one, but I know decoys work (in the right place), and I for certain am no expert turkey hunter. I killed my first and second gobblers as a kid off of a 40 year old foam hen painted with spray paint and sharpie marker if that tells you anything. Both birds were totally enamored.

 

[BIKER13]

unlike sitting in a box stand off the ground with a corn feeder out front to snipe a deer with a high powered rifle with a heat seeking scope and cruise missiles in reserve. If turkeys could smell nobody would ever kill one.I think Charlie Elliot said that and he forgot more about birds than anyone on this site will ever know

 

[new57]

First time turkey hunting and I’m seeing mixed reviews whether running decoys helps or hurts the hunt. I will be hunting private land in both food plots and hardwoods.
And if you are running decoys, what’s your setup? Can’t wait for Saturday!

First, turkeys can smell. Just heads up. Their sense of smell is poor compared to say a vulture, but know them velociturkeys do smell.

If you want to use a decoy have at it. If you want to hunt without a decoy/decoys, have at it!

You have already read both sides of the coin. The choice is yours. Good luck!

I personally don't utilize decoys. I love the box call and mouth call, and that is my setup. Understanding Gobblers is essential in improving the odds in your favor on a turkey hunt. They can see well and see well at distance. When they expect to see something (because of a call), and they see nothing, the likelihood of that Gobbler coming in is real low. So where you set up is critical. You need to position yourself so when ol Tom pops into view BAM! And in some areas this is the real challenge. My first two years I set up in what I now know is probably the dumbest spot I could have. Because a Gobbler could see us from 3 directions, and the 4th he could see no hen making the call. My boy and I enjoyed calling in Toms, and we did harvest each year, but it was way harder than it needed to be. Sp my advice would be to focus on positioning yourself more than anything else. Set yourself up real good.