Turkey decoy question

mmcdonough

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Jan 28, 2019
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Lake Country MN, Transplant from ID
So I setup this morning in a ground blind above a small ravine. I put the decoys down near the bottom. After a couple hours the Tom I’d been hearing in the distance finally decided to come check on my clucks. He got within about 70 yds and just would not budge. He was gobbling hard trying to get my decoy to come over and seemed to just give up and leave.

I had a hen and a Jake decoy setup. Trying to figure out why he held up. Right after he left a hen came right up to my decoys and my ground blind so I don’t think it was the setup. I had the hen facing away and the Jake facing my blind. Maybe the location? Anyone have any pointers? This is only my second season so I’m still kind of a rookie. Got my heart pumping to finally have one come in close though!
 
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Alegault

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Oct 22, 2018
Messages
192
yea man turkeys can be frustrating. Right when you think you have them figured out they teach you a lesson.

I generally face my decoys at where I’m setup.

If he’s hanging up and can see your decoys at 70, I’d try to find a way that he needs to crest a hill or come through a bush or something at like 40 before he can see the decoys. So even if he hangs you could have a shot.

Might play with the setup too to have no Jake or strutting tom. Kind of depends on how much he’s been beat up so far vs if he’s top dog.

lastly, I wouldn’t be afraid to run and gun a little if you have a feel for where he’s headed when he leaves. Got my bird last year by ditching my setup once they hung up and hustling around a big loop (to stay out of sight) to ambush him on his exit path. Crested a small hill on his exit trail with shotgun at the ready and boom- dead Tom.

hope this helps! Good luck.
 
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mmcdonough

mmcdonough

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Jan 28, 2019
Messages
202
Location
Lake Country MN, Transplant from ID
yea man turkeys can be frustrating. Right when you think you have them figured out they teach you a lesson.

I generally face my decoys at where I’m setup.

If he’s hanging up and can see your decoys at 70, I’d try to find a way that he needs to crest a hill or come through a bush or something at like 40 before he can see the decoys. So even if he hangs you could have a shot.

Might play with the setup too to have no Jake or strutting tom. Kind of depends on how much he’s been beat up so far vs if he’s top dog.

lastly, I wouldn’t be afraid to run and gun a little if you have a feel for where he’s headed when he leaves. Got my bird last year by ditching my setup once they hung up and hustling around a big loop (to stay out of sight) to ambush him on his exit path. Crested a small hill on his exit trail with shotgun at the ready and boom- dead Tom.

hope this helps! Good luck.

Definitely helps! I’m rocking a bow so run and gun is a little challenging. I was actually out of my blind ready to go hike around when I heard him coming in so I made a mad dash back to it. These birds are smarter than I give them credit. I’ll try putting the decoys just over the crest of the ravine and or switching them up to see if that helps. Thanks again!
 
Joined
Apr 21, 2020
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I typically have a harder time getting turkeys to come in with Jake decoys. I have the best luck with a tom and Hen. Dont know why that is but thats the experience I've had.
 

Thess87

WKR
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Jun 28, 2017
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493
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Kansas
If you had a good hatch of jakes last year and there’s only one or two tons in the area the jakes could be dominate over the Toms. Which means there not gonna come to a jake. Same goes with using a strutting Tom a lot of times less dominant Toms won’t come to it. Kinda one of those 50% of the time it works every time things. Hahaha
 

fatlander

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Feb 11, 2016
Messages
1,882
If that gobbler has had his behind whipped you’re probably not going to get him to come in with a Jake out.

With that said, may be his mood today. He just didn’t feel like fighting.

A little motion on the decoys really help if the turkeys can see it for a ways. Some turkeys just don’t like decoys.

I killed a 4+ year old gobbler this past week that just didn’t like decoys. Ended up hunting him like a deer and putting an arrow in him at 5 yards in his strut zone.

What decoys are you running? As a general rule, the DSD Jake is king but some birds just don’t want to play ball. 6 of the 7 gobblers that have seen my DSD jake this spring have ended up standing over top of it.


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19hunt92

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Mar 21, 2018
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146
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Indiana
Turkeys do what turkeys do. That can be a very simple phrase but the most frustrating of issues.

I have had toms come running in to a decoy set up with a tom decoy or a jake decoy without a hen. Had them come in with just hens and had them come in with a whole flock of decoys (4-6 decoys) of random hens, jakes and toms.

This latest hunt last weekend i had a tom move across two huge 200+ acre fields, thinking he had been pushed off by other turkeys, i set up in the morning with a lay down submissive hen at 35 yds and a jake decoy off to my left (say 40 yds from the hen). This gave the tom a chance to come in to steal the hen and still keep a distance from the jake (if he was worried about being beaten). OR he would come in to beat up on the jake, which was still within range for me. Gave a 2 for 1 deal of a set up as long as he could see both decoys. Worked like a charm, he came in from about 80 yds quiet trying to steal the hen and I busted him on top of the hen decoy.
 
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mmcdonough

mmcdonough

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202
Location
Lake Country MN, Transplant from ID
If that gobbler has had his behind whipped you’re probably not going to get him to come in with a Jake out.

With that said, may be his mood today. He just didn’t feel like fighting.

A little motion on the decoys really help if the turkeys can see it for a ways. Some turkeys just don’t like decoys.

I killed a 4+ year old gobbler this past week that just didn’t like decoys. Ended up hunting him like a deer and putting an arrow in him at 5 yards in his strut zone.

What decoys are you running? As a general rule, the DSD Jake is king but some birds just don’t want to play ball. 6 of the 7 gobblers that have seen my DSD jake this spring have ended up standing over top of it.


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Thanks for the advice, I've been running those basic primos 'gobbstopper' decoys. I looked at those DSD decoys but I'm not ready to get that invested into it yet. Plus, turkey hunting hasn't really caught on in the northern part of the state so these birds honestly don't get all that pressured. It's my first set since this is only my second year but they seem like they're decent. The hen that came in the other day seemed to like them at least.

I have been thinking a lot about the jake decoy with all the other replies on here. It wouldn't surprise me if he was a little hesitant after getting whooped on by a gang of jakes. I saw quite a few of them here last fall. I might have to buy an extra hen decoy or just run with the single hen.

It gives me hope that you got a gobbler while hunting him like a deer. That's how I've wanted to do this but haven't had much luck. Did you use a decoy?
 

SoDaky

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Apr 6, 2018
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sd
If hunting the same bird,try just the hen next time and don't have her below you.
Hunted your State yesterday and had 5 Toms come in to 17 yds together.Hung up,milled around gobbling up a storm and then left.I don't shoot the bullhead that far.Likely hung up cause I violated my personal rule of not using a Strutter mid season.No sweat cause I'll be back in a day or 2 and will get even.
Good luck to U!
 

fatlander

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Feb 11, 2016
Messages
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Thanks for the advice, I've been running those basic primos 'gobbstopper' decoys. I looked at those DSD decoys but I'm not ready to get that invested into it yet. Plus, turkey hunting hasn't really caught on in the northern part of the state so these birds honestly don't get all that pressured. It's my first set since this is only my second year but they seem like they're decent. The hen that came in the other day seemed to like them at least.

I have been thinking a lot about the jake decoy with all the other replies on here. It wouldn't surprise me if he was a little hesitant after getting whooped on by a gang of jakes. I saw quite a few of them here last fall. I might have to buy an extra hen decoy or just run with the single hen.

It gives me hope that you got a gobbler while hunting him like a deer. That's how I've wanted to do this but haven't had much luck. Did you use a decoy?

That gobbler is probably a subordinate bird in the area and wants no part of getting his tail whipped.

Maybe try him again with only a hen decoy. Like I said though, some turkeys just don’t like decoys. The gobbler I finally killed was without decoys and without me every making a sound. From the few days I’d hunted him prior, I learned he didn’t like DSD decoys and he was like clockwork where’d strut at 8AM every day. I shot him at 802.

Honestly, I don’t like turkey hunting that way. It’s way too boring. I enjoy the interaction of calling a gobbler and/or watching him beat the snot out of decoys. I only sat on that bird like that because I had seen his massive hooks through my binos. He had 1.5” spurs, so I decided I’d give him one more go.

If you’re really into just ambushing a bird, go out and listen for a couple days in a row and see where he goes. Watch from afar with binos and you’ll see that he’ll do the same everyday if you’re not there. So sneak in in the dark, setup with no dekes and “don’t be there”.

PM me if you have more questions. I love to talk turkey.


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mmcdonough

mmcdonough

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
Messages
202
Location
Lake Country MN, Transplant from ID
Turkeys do what turkeys do. That can be a very simple phrase but the most frustrating of issues.

I have had toms come running in to a decoy set up with a tom decoy or a jake decoy without a hen. Had them come in with just hens and had them come in with a whole flock of decoys (4-6 decoys) of random hens, jakes and toms.

This latest hunt last weekend i had a tom move across two huge 200+ acre fields, thinking he had been pushed off by other turkeys, i set up in the morning with a lay down submissive hen at 35 yds and a jake decoy off to my left (say 40 yds from the hen). This gave the tom a chance to come in to steal the hen and still keep a distance from the jake (if he was worried about being beaten). OR he would come in to beat up on the jake, which was still within range for me. Gave a 2 for 1 deal of a set up as long as he could see both decoys. Worked like a charm, he came in from about 80 yds quiet trying to steal the hen and I busted him on top of the hen decoy.

That's a great strategy with the jake decoy! I'm going to have to try that one out.
 

huntineveryday

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Joined
Apr 8, 2019
Messages
251
Sometimes turkeys do dumb things. Was there anything that might have been in his way? A branch, log, etc might be enough to hang him up. I've read stories of turkeys not crossing a shadow before, no joke. If you were down in a ravine, he might not have wanted to come down into the bottom. I've called turkeys down a hill, across a creek, and across a road before, but I've also had them hang up in all three of those situations as well. Just last week my son killed a jake that practically ran across a creek to get to us, and 45 minutes later a tom paced around for a half hour before leaving, unwilling to cross the same creek at the same spot.

You can try and adjust the decoys, as mentioned above, but moving the same spread out of the bottom of the ravine might work too.
 

npm352

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Apr 18, 2018
Messages
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Just use a hen or even no decoy. Male decoys are risky, as you have found out. I use them as a last resort, and usually for the specific Hail Mary when I used to hunt a tiny patch of private and used one to pull dominant birds out of a field, across the fence and into the woods I could legally hunt. It worked or it didn't, but when it did, they would come in hot.

I like setting up where they cannot see me too far away when calling and not using a decoy....meaning they have no reason to be curious as to why I hear a hen and cannot see one. When they pop into sight, they are in range. Remember that naturally hens go to toms, not the other way around, so you are already making him weary. Even with just a hen decoy, a gobbler is seeing and hearing her, while gobbling and she is not coming...he smells a rat. I like getting them in close enough where they commit with no deke, then shutting up and letting him search for me. Then I kill him.
 

isu22andy

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Sep 13, 2018
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IA
I bet ive killed 15 toms over the same Avian Jake and Avian Hen. The full strut tom is too dominate of decoy in my opinion. If your going for the dad the king of the timber he will challenge a strutter decoy , but any old satellite or sub ordinate tom will come in and beat up a jake decoy. Thats my opinion.
 

Ace531

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Messages
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WI
My guess is that he wasn't keen on your Jake decoy for one reason or another. The other thing is that it's harder to get a a tom to go downhill than uphill. Usually it's best to either be at or above his elevation.
 

jmez

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Piedmont, SD
Sometimes they come in sometimes they don't. Don't overthink it. It's a bird with a tiny brain. Keep at it and you'll eventually get one to work. You may have several more hunts like this one. Then all of a sudden he'll run in and stomp all over your Jake.

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Mar 2, 2019
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I threw my decoys away years ago! Make him hunt for you! Get in an area thick enough or broken terrain that impairs his visibility to see the hot chick! As many have alluded, they do irrational things! Kinda like women! Let me know when you get either figured out!
 
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