Decoys? Whats a good place to start.

[GrampasGuns]

What decoy do you guys recommend I start with, A hen? A jake? A gobbler? I will be doing my best this year to get a tom, last year I got skunked. Hoping to up my chances and visibility this year so what do you guys suggest?

Grampasguns

[Mfowl]

 A good hen decoy will work for starters. Some guys I know prefer a single jake to a hen. Haven't had too much action using the strutting type decoys however I seldom deploy them. Usually only use a decoy when hunting open areas. Less than half of the birds I've been a part of harvesting actually came to a decoy. I would recomend a DSD or Avian X hen.

[SB]

I prefer a single hen, using a stutter decoy is hit or miss because if it's not a dominate bird you're workiong, it could spook him off. 

[Big game archer]

  although i have found that a couple hens and jake decoy work pretty well.. All depends on the situation.

[turkeydancer]

I prefer not even using decoys in the early part of the season (especially if it was a late spring and the toms are still henned up) as many times the birds will shy away from the decoys. However a jake with one or two hens can be effective later in the season.

Point the jake towards you and the hens away from your position, because the tom will most likely face down the jake or less likely try to mount the hens.  Either way he will be faced away from you, putting you in his blind spot for last minute shotgun adjustment if needed.  I also spread the decoys out enough that tom won't sense the danger of bunching birds like they do when a predator is near.  If you know what direction the tom is likely to come from, set your decoys just on the other side of your position to draw him past you.  If windy, stake your decoy to allow a little movement and realism, but to prevent them from spinning which isn't natural.  I set mine at 15 to 20 yards to keep his focus on the dekes and off of me, but again its not natural for him to hear hen sounds in one location and see the decoys 40 yards away.  It will also give you a shorter shot and less chance of a miss.
 

Good luck ...

[GrampasGuns]

Thanks for the advice all, gonna do my damndest to slam a big gobbler!

[turkeydancer]

Should be a turkey hunring clinic smetime on Sat Mar 16th at Cabelas in Tulalip.  All the basics will be covered.

[HoofsandWings]

Speaking of dominant toms, sometimes those toms have a supersized opinion of themselves.
Last year, I put out my pretty boy a few hundred yards from a roost. There were at least a dozen hens with this one tom that I could see fan from about a half mile off the prior day.
At first light, the tom few over to confront the decoy. I looked at the tom and was dumbfounded to see a jake with the beginings of a beard. No waddle.  But he had hens. I passed on the shot. He did not look like he could fill a turkey sandwich. I had seen him in a field a few days earlier, but figured I had missed seeing the tom.
Hopefully, he will have grown some by the time April 15th comes along, or a tom  showed up and put that jake in his place.

[HoofsandWings]

Should be a turkey hunring clinic smetime on Sat Mar 16th at Cabelas in Tulalip.  All the basics will be covered.

Turkeydancer puts on great clinics. He is a wealth of information. Before my first turkey hunt, I went to his clinic and bagged a turkey the following fall.

[h2ofowlr]

I like the DSD ones.  Great looking decoys.

[turkeydancer]

Thanks HoofandWings ... glad you were sucessful.  Wasn't able to go out last early or late fall hunts, and spring looks a little iffy at present.  But I hope I can get out and try my new Killer B full strut decoy with real fan.  Last years spring hunt lasted just 4 minutes for me so the fever is building.  see picture of Killer B & last years 4 minute double below.

[GrampasGuns]

turkeydancer that is freakin awesome. I am really gonna work my ass off this year, I hiked A BUNCH last year and didnt see a damn thing. Its what got me hooked on hunting tho, cant wait to get back out.

[turkeydancer]

Thanks .. not always like last year, but I usually do fairly good ... was a learnig process.  I've done many clinics for the last decade trying to make it easier on newer hunters with many having good first or second year results.  I most likely will be doing a hr seminar Mar 16th at cabelas -Tulalip they way it looks right now --- when I have a better idea of a firm time, I'll add a separate post.

Good luck out there this spring ...