Has anyone had luck turkey hunting without decoys? I have been turkey hunting and have had multiple longbeards come within 40 yards of my decoys and then just stopped and wouldn't come in closer. I was thinking about trying a set without decoys and see how it goes but wanted to check and see if anyone has had luck without decoys.
I've never killed a bird using deeks... I'm sure they're plenty effective in the right scenarios, but I must not be hunting those scenarios. My deeks seem to have done nothing but keep gobblers away. I've had far more luck with calling softly and sitting still. It takes patience, but it has been effective for my situation (big woods, public land). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last year they were being decoy shy for me so I pulled them. Next day no decoys some aggressive calling and they came running in 5 yards. Some times it pays to pull them and just sit still sometimes pull them but call aggressive. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Older foam HS Strut... think I paid around $50 for a Jake and two hens. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Shhhhh!!! Kat's gonna kill me if I spend any more money this month... lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've had the same problem this year. Called a nice tom in on 3 occasions so far. He comes in gobbling his head off then just stops out of range when he sees my decoys and/or blind. He'll hang around for a bit then just turns around and walks off. Going to have to try no decoys or blind hopefully it works out.
If I'm in the woods I rarely use a decoy unless it's pretty wide open. In fields i do use them. I have a mix of DSD and AvianX decoys.
Don't need no stinkin' decoy, 3 1/2 inch shotgun with a $ 300.00 scope and some kinda super dooper load, with a $ 125.00 vest full of six different pot calls eight different strikers, an automatic putter and one box call, one owl hooter and one crow call and four different triple double single diaphrams and finally of course ...the portable blind. but ....if it works for you I'm happy!!
I've had success with and without decoys. If they wanna come to a call, they'll come and know where the call came from. If you're in a state where "baiting", (if you call it that) is legal, sprinkle out a butter tub of cracked corn. If they find that, they will come back for sure. I put it out early season to get the birds used to coming through my setup and into the area. Hunting over a "baited" area is illegal in CA but you can put out food withing some certain restrictions. It's kinda convoluted, like most laws in CA, but it can be done. Just make sure to check you local regs before doing so, but if you can I'm telling you, cracked corn to turkeys is like alfalfa, beans, beats and anything else you could mix into your best food plot for deer. I've seen birds on a dead sprint from better than 50 yards like the police were chasing them if they know it's there.
