Turkey decoy experiment

[Rob]

I was invited to go on a turkey hunt in April.  I got to thinking about decoys.

There is a flock of about 50 birds that come by my place (I toss out corn from time to time so that has a lot to do with them dropping by!).  I noticed the jakes and Toms gathering round my truck from time to time pecking at the bumpers.  Took me a day or two to figure it out, but I have chrome bumpers they have been interested/irritated in the reflections.

That got me to thinking.  I wonder if a mirror would work as a decoy.

I picked up a cheap 16x20 acrylic mirror on Amazon, mounted it on a stick and put it on the lawn.  The turkeys marched up and down my driveway but the angle was wrong and they were not seeing their reflections.  I put some corn up by the mirror and that drew them in. 

I would not say they were enraged by their reflections, but they definitely reacted!   The Toms would stop and stare, then start to puff up, then go into full strut.  After 3-4 passes, they moved on. What was interesting was the hens also reacted and went into a full fan/puff.  One hen got within 2 inches of the mirror and tried to stare herself down.  (last photo, bird on the right).  The mirror seemed to also trigger a big competition with the other jakes and toms and they proceeded to strut and chase each other all over the driveway cutting the whole time. 

Not sure how practical a mirror would be as a decoy, but it was interesting.  Angles are important.  If they cannot see themselves in the mirror, they will not react.  I think a set of 3 arranged in an outward facing semi-circle would be most effective.

[Dan-o]

That's hilarious!

They love a chrome bumper. 

Thanks for sharing. 

[Pathfinder101]

I've wondered about this as well.  Unfortunately, I think your experiment showed that by the time the mirror "works it's magic", the bird is already within shotgun range (and probably has been for a while), so it wouldn't really work for luring them in for hunting.  Pretty cool pics though...

[Rob]

yes.  I wonder however if I could set it up about 30 yards from me with a hen decoy nearby. 

I guess the deal is, the angle has to be perfect for the turkey to see it's reflection.  Otherwise it is useless.

I suppose it would also be useless on vampire turkeys

[Pathfinder101]

yes.  I wonder however if I could set it up about 30 yards from me with a hen decoy nearby. 

I guess the deal is, the angle has to be perfect for the turkey to see it's reflection.  Otherwise it is useless.

I suppose it would also be useless on vampire turkeys

[Ridgeratt]

Do a search for turkies attacking car doors on YouTube

[Rob]

Pretty funny - some of those birds are leaving marks on the paint!

[hunterednate]

Looks like a bearded hen in that last pic 

[brokentrail]

Since they can seem to pick me out and freak from the sun reflecting off of my watch face in the timber... I won't be attempting mirrors 

[Rob]

Seems like a lot of bearded hens around here.  Probably 1 in 5-7 hens. 

Good point on the reflection issue spooking birds.  Something to think about.  Perhaps best on overcast days.

[Ridgeratt]

Since they can seem to pick me out and freak from the sun reflecting off of my watch face in the timber... I won't be attempting mirrors 

There is a "reason" why people who were in the service wore their watches with the face on the inside of the wristband or they had a flap cover over it.

[HikerHunter]

With a mirror or multiple mirrors placed around a decoy and angle of approaching bird, you could potentially multiply your decoy spread without having to lug around a bunch of decoys!

[Rob]

I was thinking something like this as a setup, with 3 mirrors

Not sure it would be better than bringing a couple three decoys, but I guarantee it would be something they had not seen before!

The mirrors would give the illusion of movement of birds near the decoy.  Even with this setup, there would be blind spots where the target tom's reflection disappeared.

And minimizing reflections/flashing would be something to consider that I had not.

[Rob]

not sure the juice is worth the squeeze, but it has been an interesting mental exercise.

[NOCK NOCK]

just for fun I tried this at a MD cam with a mirror like on the back of a door. They paid zero attention to it. prolly cause of placement.....they never seemed to even look at it.