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Decoy Setup?

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TrkDeerHntr

New Member
I am new to turkey hunting well i started last year and we didnt hunt very long but i bought a double bull blind last fall and plan on hunting 2 seasonsand am just wondering what a basic setup for. I have 2 jakes and 1 hen will be my setup! Do you face the decoys away or towards the blind? Does it really matter were you set the blind up could i set it up in the middle of a field or is it better to have to near cover?


Thanks for the help
Joe
 
Joe,
As far as the decoy set up I would put one jake very close to the hen and one further back. A trick that has worked well for me is to cut an old arrow so it will be just long enough so the hen looks as if she is sitting for the jake and put the jake right behind her with the other somewhere in the same area. Usually this will create a scene that will make an adult gobbler extemely jealous. I have experimented with a lot of different set-ups and some work sometimes and some don't as soon as you think you have em figured that is when they look at the set-up and run into the next county. That is what makes it fun.

I have set the DB out in a field and in some cases it has worked and in others it hasn't. If you put it in some cover/fence line it doesn't seem to bother them.

Turkey hunting stays interesting because like deer they all have different temperments and different things bother different toms. They can make you look really dumb or they can make you look like Ben Rogers Lee. But now you have a starting point. Good Luck.
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I've had a lot of luck facing the decoys twards the blind. Toms love eye contact with the hens they are with...facing the deeks twards the bling pulls the tom in front of the hen, facing away from you
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Jakes in the mix is a great idea if you know you have a dominant bird coming in. Jake decoys will stall younger toms many times. I'm not a big fan of playing the anger card when trying to lure a gobbler, it had failed for me more times than it has worked. I personally like a hen or two in front of me and I leave the jakes at home. A lot of guys have had much better luck using jakes than I have. Experiment and see what works.... I've found the most risk-free way to decoy is with hens alone. I'm definately not saying jakes don't work.... they do! The risk of stalling a tom increases when other males are added to the equation.
 
Good post with two good replies also.Some claim decoy posture is very important,as Limb gave a good example of a breeding type posture.I've heard of a lot of hunters having success with this setup also.If you elect to try a different setup,like a couple hens or so,they say to stay away from the upright decoys.Try to use ones with the head in a feeding position,if not all, at least the majority of them.Some say 2 or 3 decoys all in the upright stance with their heads up,can appear to other turkeys as if their on alert and something isn't right.

Good point also with eye contact and facing them towards the blind.If the decoys were facing another direction and the gobbler makes eye contact out of range,he's liable to dance there all day.If you think about it,a gobbler is happy just displaying if he thinks the hen can see him.So he displays expecting the hen to come to him,as a willing hen would normally do,and might lose interest in her after displaying awhile out of range.
 
While we are on the topic of decoys I will also mention that I will also put out as many as 11 to 12 decoys. Many hunters in my area will hunt with three decoys and the birds, even though not that bright, will pick up on that and sometimes shy away. We put out 6 deltas feeding and added two buckwing jakes then added 3 buckwing hens and it spelled disaster for three toms last year...
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Hey Limb... have you tried the flock set-up in the fall? I bet it would work great! ( kinda makes me want to go get more decoys)
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PA, you're right about posture....too many hens looking alert can be a warning to other birds for sure. I always made sure if I had multiple hens in the spread that I always have at least one feeding. I'm also convinced that if you are using multiple ,alert hens, that they should not be set to appear as though they are looking in the same direction. It gives the whole spread the appearance that they are alerted to danger and not just scanning their enviroment like they always do.

Joe, I think we got going pretty heavy on decoys and were a little light on the second part of your question. Turkeys are much more tolerant of blinds in the open than deer are. I have had great luck with setting up in the wide open in my blind when hunting birds....they just don't seem to care.

Good luck this season guys! I'm pretty stoked!!
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Thanks for all the great replys so far I am very excited to hunt turkey out of my new blind and an extra bonus would be nice if i bagged a nice tom too! As long as i get out longer than i did last year i will be happy

Joe
 
11 or 12 decoys?

hrmmmmm......

There is merit in that idea.....

*begins to count up and save his money again*
 
...Limb, do you use a 'J' Hook with that many dekes or just separate them into two groups with a landing spot in the middle - do I have to have my back to the wind, too?...
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...last year I had two hen decoys out - one feeder and one upright...a hen came storming in and came nose to nose with the upright...she puffed up and engaged in a stare down with the decoy...she ended up beating up the decoy and knocking it off its stake...the hen then unpuffed and made its way to the other decoy where it fed beside it for 10 minutes...it was awesome!...

...by the way I was in a DBL Bull that was set up under a tree in a pasture...I seem to get better results when I have the blind setup near or under some sort of cover as compared to in the wide open...
 
After 2nd season last year the flock I was hunting had seen so many decoys and been called at by so many guys that even hinting at them was going to net you birds heading the other direction. It got to where I would set up before light and try to catch one coming down off the roost or back into the timber after their first feeding. No calling, no decoys. I have had my areas patterned well enough the past few seasons by opening day that I don't know if I'll even carry decoys this year.
 
Bukket.....you make a real good point about pre-season patterning/scouting!

If you decide to use decoys or not, your chances for success are greatly increased by lots of time scouting roost areas and strutting zones prior to season.

Setting up where the turkeys want to be is half of the battle. Good luck this Spring regardless of your set-up or weapon choice.
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Amen to that guys. That old saying is gold... "It's a lot easier to call a bird somewhere he wants to go."
 
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