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Pretty Boy: To use or not to use...

This weekend at the SYC hunt, I filmed a young kid shoot his first turkey and the tom came in after 45 minutes of coaxing and ran straight past the jakes to the B-mobile...bumped his chest next to it and then proceded to get blasted by 4 shot...

Can't wait to get the video up to show everyone...
 
it has been said, but ill say it again causei like to talk....
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It really is a bird by bird basis, the right longbeard in the right mood will come in and beat the snot out of PB, i have had both positive and negative response with him. the good far outweights the bad as there is usually a dead bird in the decoys....

also when you set it up, make sure he is facing you, many birds will "sneakily approach if they dont think the PB can see them. at least curiousity will take over. if Jakes are alone, i highly doubt they will come in, but if they are with a bunch of thier buds i would think most likely they will come it.

I also attach some fishing line to PB to add some realism and movement. there are pluses and minuses to both aspects. I am a firm believer in PB and decoys in general, but this time of year i only use a single hen or a couple feeders. the down fall to that is there is no aggressive reason for a Tom to approach, if he has hens with him, he is unlikely to leave the hens he has for others.....

but i usually dont fully decide till the morning of, if there is LOTS and LOTS of gobbling, id put it out!

but thats just me!
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: muddy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I think it's such hit and miss with full strut or jake decoys. One day they work, the next they don't, they're turkeys who can figure out an animal with a walnut sized brain.
Anyone who is selling their PB an PG let me know! I don't need another PB but I'm in the market for a PG! </div></div>

I agree. I have even had toms spook to hen set ups! It's all in there mood! Since last year i have seen 7 birds shot due to the pretty boy! I think the toms that are running away from the pretty boy set up has just got it's A$$ kicked and it's still fresh in there mind. That only means there a bigger bird out there to get! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Any of you sell your pretty boys let me know i'll fight muddy for 1. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
I've also had mixed results with PB this year. We have had 3 or 4 toms come into about 60 yards and then stop and walk off. But last Wednesday I shot my tom after he came in and started fighting PB. Also the bird I shot last year, in the same field as the bird I shot this year, came in and fought with PB.

I agree with THA4 that it depends on the bird and his mood. But I can say that the when you do get one to come in and fight the PB it makes up for the ones that hang up.
 
Just as everyone else has said I too have had mixed results. A couple of birds have tucked tail and ran. However another bird came right in and as he was getting close the hub of my DB blew in with the wind, he spooked and I rushed a shot that hit way to far forward in the breast. 10 minutes after the hit and me getting ready tear down due to the wind he came running back in and did a kick/wing beating on the PB decoy and proceeded to run off into the timber quick to never come back.
 
We had excellent luck with the PB during second season, buy my mission for 4th season is to shoot a jake and dry the fan out. I am drying the fan from the tom 2nd season, but maybe a jake fan would be less likely to spook a 2 year old tom later in the season. Who knows....

NWBuck
 
After hunting with the pretty boy this year, if you have one you need to sell let us know. It has absolutely been the bomb for me and my hunting partners. Every bird we have killed this year basically could not wait to come in and strut or kick the living daylight out of the PB. I agree with some of the comments made regarding the mood the birds might be in. If you haven't given it the benefit of the doubt you are going to loose out on some tremendous opportunities in the future. Its hard to change a hardened turkey hunters ways but if you stick it out you will see that it will do the job. You would be scared to if you got your %$#@ kicked a few times during the season. Just means there are bigger birds around and when they see the PB it will turn there heads read and you will have to put a stopwatch on them! HA!

Trper
 
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