I am thinking about getting a decoy to use this year. What is everyones success rate while using a decoy...and second, what is the best brand decoy to buy?
A live doe or two works best. You have a 50-50 chance that you are going to get a negative response to a decoy, I have had my best luck hunting bucks by hunting does.
I have heard that. I try hunting does. It is a real challenge where I hunt due to low heard numbers as of late. My small patch of woods has been hurt by the surrounding hunters taking too many deer each year.
Make a good food source and provide a bit of cover and they'll come to you to get away from the pressure
My boyfriends dad brings a turkey decoy out when bow hunting deer. I think he is a little crazy but his theory is that a lot of times in early to mid bow season, he sees a lot of turkey and deer together so the deer are obviously comfortable around the birds. Last season he was telling us about a big doe walked right up to his turkey decoy and proceeded to wonder around it just nosing through the ground cover looking for something to eat. Maybe he is onto something but I don't think I'll start carrying a turkey decoy out while deer hunting anytime soon!
I love love love decoys. I killed a buck last year over one. They can be finicky to use though. It's kind of like fishing...presentation can make a big difference. When I have a few minutes later today I'll post the story of how my hunt went down last year. Decoys are like anything else....they don't always work...but when they do, it's incredible.
I agree with boonerville. Decoys are great when used at the right time in the right place. I like the primos scarface decoy. Its a little bulky to get in and out so if you are hunting somewhere that its really tricky to get into it is a chore. I like the "lifelike" look (as much as a piece of plastic can look real!) and you can use it as a buck or doe decoy.
I am going to try it this year. I saw this decoy in person at the Harrisburg NRA show and it was AMAZING in person and on video. D-4 Signaling Deer Decoy | Tattle Tail Outdoors They should be getting them in any time now...
Just bought a flambeau boss buck for $87 on Walmart.com. Usual cost $167. Maybe a bit pricy at the $167 mark but worth every penny if you see it on sale for $87.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
http://mobile.walmart.com/ip/Flambeau-Outdoors-Boss-Buck-Deer-Decoy/21854580 Still on sale at Walmart. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This is very interesting. The Biggest Buck I have ever seen (I missed the shot) while bow hunting followed some turkeys in. I am going to try this coming Bow Season.
Here is the story of the buck I killed over a decoy last year. I copied the post from the deer contest thread. so here's what happened..... Last night I hunted a spot where there are ALOT of deer. I have permission to hunt a field but not the woods around it. So I have a tripod sitting at the end of a finger of woods that shoots out into the field. Half the field (corn) has been picked, the other half is still standing. The deer have been walking the edge of the standing corn, which is 150 yards away. Usually there are deer pouring into the field for an hour and a half before dark, but last night it was 30 min before dark and I hadn't seen a deer. My wife was hunting 300 yards away and I texted her and asked where all the deer went. Just then a doe comes out and starts walking the edge of the standing corn. Within a few minutes 16 more does came out. They all started walking away from me across the field. Then a yearling buck comes running out of the woods towards the does. I look back to the woods and see a tree shaking. I throw up my binos and see a buck standing in a scrape, thrashing his antlers on the overhead branch. I saw he had g4s and decided he was a shooter, so I didn't look at him again. He started working out towards the does 150 yards away. He was definitely not coming my way. I had my decoy out to my right, so I mustered the loudest snort wheeze I could with my mouth. He put on the brakes and spun around to face me. He stood there for 10 minutes, meanwhile all the does start walking towards the decoy after hearing me. The buck started to walk away so I grunted at him. He whips his head back around and walks to 80 yards, then locks up again. The does are fanned out all around me now staring at the decoy. I just knew they were going to blow and run. The buck started to walk away again, so I gave him another snort wheeze. That did it. At that point the decoy was closer to the does than him, so he started walking straight at the decoy. Now my problem was 19 deer within 50 yards staring my direction. I knew if I moved it would all be over. When he got to 40 yards the buck bristled up, pinned his ears and starts walking real stiff legged right at the decoy. I knew I would have one chance to shoot because of all the does. When he hit 30 yards I stood up and drew in one motion. I knew the does saw me and would blow any second. The buck was focused on the decoy and didn't see me. I bleated with my mouth and he froze. 25 yards....I let the axis eat! Heart shot him and he piled up 80 yards away. Sounded like a stampede when the field cleared. Not my biggest buck, but without question the coolest experience I've had hunting. Without the decoy or my calling......zero chance I would have killed him. He is a 3 year old 10pt.
Decoys can flat out work. I like to use them in the open and have had much better success in fields than in the timber. I wait until the rut is on and put out a bedded doe and a boss buck decoy standing nearby as if he is tending. Most bucks that come in the field will give that setup a good look. I have killed a couple of target bucks with this method. Here is a picture of a typical setup for me. The deer don't even give the wagon blind a second look. Makes field hunting with decoys really mobile and comfortable. You can use your cooler for a footstool on those long hunts.
If I am trying to kill a buck during the chasing period I will use them here and there. The first picture is a small 8 point coming to check it out and the second picture is looking to the north where he came from.
If you were going to use decoys, either use a doe and a buck or find a smaller buck decoy. If you use a buck decoy I say use a small one because you want to make it beatable. Same with calling, don't buy into all that dominant buck calling you see on tv, you always want to seem beatable.
