So how much is it how your decoy looks rather than where they are placed and how you call? Looking at picking up this bad boy (two matching hens as well) and just love the price ($9.99). http://www.fleetfarm.com/catalog/pr...decoys/turkey-decoys/delta-eastern-jake-decoy I held them in my hand and they really don't feel any worse or better than the more expensive decoys. Thoughts?
I dont think that Jake looks all thats bad. If you can pick up 3 decoys for $30, heck go for it. I like the two hens and a jake set up.
I have had more birds shy away from decoys and I cant figure it out!! I hunt in NE where there are lots of birds, calling without decoys seems to work better?? Cant figure it out!
I bought the inflatable turkey decoys with molded heads 3 pack from cabelas. $45. They heads are very realistic but I don't know how they work yet will be able to tell you more after gobbler getten season. I set one up about 60 yards from my chicken coop as I have two free ranging domestic turkeys and called my turkeys into it practicing my calling I had to run over to my decoy and grab it because I thought my live turkey was going to deflate it
I went thru that for like 3 seasons. Then I went to a real tail on my strutter decoy and got some much more realistic hens and the difference was immeadiate and left no doubt in my mind what a difference maker realistic decoys make. I made the change last season and killed 3 and just killed one in FL last week.
I have been using a B-Mobile decoy, but I put a jake fan in it. That seems to work pretty well, still a strutter, but the jake fan makes them less timid and less worried about getting their a** kicked
I have very limited turkey hunting experience but when I did go out, I had one of those super cheap hollow foam hens that you could wad up to carry around. Because it looked very much like a foam facsimile of a turkey I decide to make it more realistic by sewing and hot gluing some real turkey feathers to her. I did have a whole flock of turkeys come up and look at the decoy. (I couldn't get a shot but Kendall killed one) Later a lone hen came up and fed around my decoy. The hot glue had failed so the wing feathers on the decoy would kind of flap about in the breeze. Sometimes, they'd just stick straight out. The hen came right up to the decoy (it was a feeding hen decoy) and the real hen stared real hard at the spot that the decoy was 'looking' at. Then the real hen looked at the decoy like "WTF, are you looking at??" Then she looked at the decoys messed up feathers and gave the decoy a look as if she reallly thought the decoy should clean herself up. Eventually the hen wandered off ...... but she was within two inches of that foam decoy and never got spooked. :D
I may be against the norm on this one, but I'd much much rather have no decoys than crappy ones. Most realistic cheap ones are as reflective as tin foil so any direct sunlight turns them into a homing beacon and the less reflective ones look like a 3rd graders stuffed animal. In really small clearings or woods, I want no decoy. In big fields, I like decoys usually but it all depends on the mood of the bird. I've had good success w a pretty boy an really want Dave smith decoys, but here lately we have just been tailfanning them in.
I've always used the triangle of death. 1 strutting jake, 1 bedded hen, 1 standing hen. Two years ago I got a knock off of the Pretty boy/pretty girl setup and use it with an only cheap roll up hen. It's easy to pack and works good for me.
I like realistic decoys as well, when I killed the two birds last week... I had a B-mobile with real tail feathers and a cheap foam decoy but had an A-Way turkey skin on it... you'll see the footage, but they LOVED it.
