how many decoys

[Dustin07]

I'd like to know how many turkey hunters are also waterfowl hunters because with waterfowl I use a lot of decoys. I realize Turkeys are a completely different animal, but I noticed a lot of Turkey hunters are not waterfowlers and I'm trying to figure out if the lack of decoys is because it is a bad idea, or because of different hunters ideas of what is right...


long story short, is a flock of 10-12 decoys a bad idea for Turkey? I usually see people hunting with only 1-3 and I'm wondering if its an expense issue, or a strategy.

[SpokaneSlayer]

10-12 turkey decoys is a lot.  I'm not sure what the effect would be on the birds, but that would be really cumbersome to carry into the woods.  I've used between 1-3.  If I used 3, it was 2 hens and a jake.  When I killed my bird last year, I was using a single hen.

[Diehard0123]

1-3 is ideal, there is a difference with waterfowl and turkey in that turkeys will respond to one decoy where waterfowl are flying over and like to see many other birds on the water or in a field before they come in (safety in numbers I suppose) Anyway, when a tom hears a hen and he comes looking for her its good to give him something to focus on.  If he spots what he thinks is a hen he will usually be zeroed in on her.

[Dustin07]

many thanks you guys.

our hunting party may be as much as 8 guys. so another thought I had was for 4 pairs of two to break off into their own hunting zones and each group take 3 dekes with them. thanks for your input.