Post by: Moose-head on July 28, 2012, 08:37:23 AM
Post by: BurleyDog on July 28, 2012, 09:40:51 AM
Honestly I think that just 1 decoy is best for beginners and that should be a hen. I've personally killed 8 nice toms over a crappy looking blowup decoy from WalMart (all on public land).
The single most IMPT thing is placement. Do not set the decoy where the Tom will be looking in your direction if he's looking at the decoy. I can't overstate this - this is the single biggest mistake I see.
Put the decoy in a location where it will focus your birds attention away from you.
I hope you slay em!
Post by: turkeydancer on July 30, 2012, 11:25:57 AM
I usually place mine out about 10 to 15 yards and about 10 to 15 yards on the other side of me from where I expect the tom to approach (so it draws the tom past your position and his attention should be on the deke (vs you). Start out with a hen as mentioned and have her looking away from your position as the tom coming in will want to mount her from behind and therefore will be facing away from you. A hen will also work well with a jake or small bodied full strut tom deke ... place them facing your position as he will want to get in their face and will again be facing away from you. Remember that the purpose is to keep the attention on the dekes not you and they have great vision except just behind them, especially if they are fanned out.
Although it's said that when they hear a hen or tom that they expect to see a hen or tom, my experience is that earlier in the season the breeding groups will most likely shy away from other birds (aka your dekes). Therefore I usually won't use a deke the first few weeks of the season. I think it is more important to have good camo and limit your movement.
:twocents:
Post by: Battle Ready on August 19, 2012, 04:21:08 PM
Owning deeks is like having arrows in your quiver..can you ever have to many? That way you can choose how many you take for givin phases of the hunt..or to look totally cool to someone who doesnt have a deek. Ive got the cheapies, up to the real taxidermy types, shot birds on all types..so I dont know if one is effective more than the other. I know this however, when a tom comes in to a sweet sounding bird, he wants to see something where hes expecting something to be...no different than elk or deer. Its just a good thing turkeys cant smell or it would be alot like the elk that have come in and got a wiff of me...then poof! :bash:
Post by: turkeydancer on August 20, 2012, 09:22:13 AM
One reason you don't want to set your dekes too far out from your setup location ... not natural to hear a bird at the clearings edge and see the deke 40 yards out ... just not natural. You also don't need many dekes. At most a couple of hens and a tom or jake deke is more than enough.
That said ... usually I try to setup so when the tom shows up, he is less than 40 yards from my location and harvestable immediately if he changes his mind about coming in. When you can do your setup like that, a deke isn't really necessary at all.
I've also called toms multiple times well over 600 yards across open fields without the use of dekes. More important to trust your camo, limit your movement, call sparely using the good old turkey calling rhythm, and use his natural curiosity and sex drive against him. I've even called a tom in while sitting on a wide open slope with my son ... harvested the bird at less than 10 yards .... now that's fun there!
:twocents:
Post by: deaner on August 22, 2012, 12:09:32 PM
Post by: oldcamper on August 24, 2012, 07:54:21 PM