How far do you place your decoy away from you. I will be using one hen and maybe hunting in a open field Friday since it is going to rain I will also be in ground blind.
I like to be able to see them blink. Sometimes as close as 5 yards. Never more then 15. I am presuming we are talking about bow hunting them.
5-10 yds depends on terrain with a 1 man setup. On a 2 man setup on private land I set the decoy 20 yards behind shooter and 20 yards in front of caller.
I'm just getting into turkey hunting and all I can says is, wow. I learned something new, I never would have thought to put the decoy so close. I will be going out this weekend, I'll try 10 yards and see how that goes.
I killed mine this year at 3steps with my bow. He came in and stood right next to my hen decoy. The thought process behind it is, if you put your decoys up at 3steps/yards and he hangs up at 10-20yds...you still have an easy shot, whereas if you put the decoys up at 10-15yds and he hangs up at that 10-20yd range it makes your shot that much more difficult.
I have killed a bunch now (lost count) with the bow and the furthest shot has been at about 9 yards. I typically shoot for 8 yards to my jake decoy because that is the decoy they go to 9 times out of 10. But I've set the decoys as close as 5 yards. Run quality decoys, put the sun to your back, wear black, and keep your window openings as small as possible, let the bird come to the decoys and engage the decoy, then he will settle down and offer you an easy shot. You won't have birds hang up at 20 yards, instead you will shoot them all at under 10 yards.
