I don't think "regularly" and "successfully" go together when it comes to decoys. When they work, they work great. However it seems more often than not they don't produce the desired results. In my experience anyways.
I tried it once, didn't have a good outcome . Carrying it with my climber, bow and everything else into the woods took me longer than anticipated, made a bunch of noise banging into things, took longer to get set up, got more sweated up. And then to top it off had a doe blow at it when she saw it. Maybe setting it up in a field next time I would have better luck.
We have too many deer in MD and the buck:doe population is way out of whack. In my experience, the bucks don’t seem too aggressive due to there being an abundance of doe to breed. Even grunting and rattling is spotty. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Had a buck decoy set up on the edge of a 7 acre field, my cousin was sitting on the opposite end, about 500 yards away. 180” came out right in the middle of me rattling, saw the decoy, my cousin grunted at that moment, the buck turned and ran straight toward the grunt, instead of a decoy and rattling. My only experience with a shooter around a decoy. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I have been using a buck decoy the last couple of seasons. For me the results have been very good. I typically use it in a cut corn/bean field. I will have bucks come a long way to check it out. For me this is the greatest strength of this set up. I can position myself appropriately with regard to the wind and let the decoy bring them to me. Does it always work? No. It’s a fairly aggressive technique in my opinion but it has its place. There is nothing like seeing your target buck bristle up, fold his ears back, and walk stiff legged into your trap. I bought my decoy several years ago but was to afraid to use it. Now I can’t wait to hunt over it. I also purchased a doe decoy to use with the buck decoy. I have only used that set up once and don’t have an opinion on that set up yet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Years ago I had a bear attack mine. It was a 3-D target that i was attempting to use as a decoy. My limited experience with deer is they mostly seemed nervous around it. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I’ll say it’s 50/50 whether it’s going to elicit fear or the will to fight into a buck. When it works though, oh boy is it fun to watch. A favorable wind and the ability for the deer to see it a long ways off are the keys. For what it’s worth, I rarely ever use one anymore. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
