Make Your Turkey Decoys Work Harder For You

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One could argue that the refinement and ease in obtaining commercially made turkey calls transformed spring turkey hunting. The same argument could be made for the improvements and widespread availability of realistic decoys. Although turkey decoys have undergone a revolution in realism, it seems turkeys have gone to school to notice the difference between plastic and real.

To get more close-up attention to your decoy setup, consider tactical moves that bring credibility to your good-looking poultry partners.

GRAB A TURKEY'S ATTENTION

Start out by choosing the right decoy or combination therein. Sure, you cannot go wrong with a single hen any time of the season and the same goes for a strutting tom or half-strut jake, but at certain points in the spring, your decoy selection says a lot.

In the beginning days of the season, turkeys adhere to large flock mentality. As toms surge in testosterone, they have the urge to breed well before hens feel the impulse. On unpressured turkeys, a roost setup with a single hen near the roost landing zone could be all you need. A half-strut gobbler also has appeal.

Nevertheless, wily turkeys may need more. A strutting tom decoy, such as the Montana Decoy Wiley Tom 3D, with a hen or two, has power to pull any bully tom into shooting range as it defends its flock masculinity. A jake decoy and a hen can also create tension as any dominant tom will see the jake as an invader.

These can be set up near the roost landing zone. An equal strategy is to use your preseason scouting and set up at a midmorning travel route location. This could be in an oak hollow, an agricultural field edge or near a livestock pasture, all great areas for turkey scratching.

By midseason, turkey behavior changes from large flocks to smaller groups with one or two mature toms in the groups. Hens cozy up to toms more and breeding has commenced. In this period, a lone hen decoy will attract the full attention of any tom or jake, but a lone hen being courted by a jake could really irritate an amorous tom.

Why? With breeding underway, hens slowly begin leaving the flock. At first, they begin searching for a secretive nesting site. And in case you did not know, a hen can be bred a single time and store the semen to efficiently fertilize an entire clutch of eggs. That sounds depressing for males, but efficient for Mother Nature.

This secret exit from the flock increases as hens begin laying one egg daily. Breeding may continue throughout the two-week period it takes a hen to accumulate approximately a dozen eggs. Throughout this period, tom anxiety increases as they notice the missing hens and fewer breeding opportunities. Your lone hen in company with a jake is a sight to put any tom into UFC mode. To make the setup even more irritating to a tom, set it up as a feeding or even a sitting hen if vegetation allows it to be seen. Place a jake decoy over it in a position to breed and it will light the fire of a mature gobbler.

Finally, as breeding concludes and toms truly find themselves wandering solo, consider a lone hen. Hens have become increasingly absent from flocks that have mostly disbanded as they tend to nest 24/7 after the final egg is laid. They may leave for brief feeding trips and move occasionally to rotate eggs for uniform incubation. Lone birds are the norm now and your setup should be in an area toms visit with regularity. A lone hen or you could even stage the setup with a pair of hens, has merit now. Any tom attracted to hens talking and coming upon this sight will likely strut over, oftentimes silently. Keep your calling subtle and only increase excitement if the tom increases his volume for a season ender.

MAKE TURKEYS HUNT YOUR LOCATIONS

A common manifestation as the season progresses is for turkeys to become more paranoid to decoys, particularly if they have chance to gaze at them for extended periods. The traditional field edge setup may work for young or unpressured birds, but a better strategy is to make the turkey hunt the decoys.

The night before your hunt, scrutinize your hunting app to find any smaller openings, lanes, old forest trails, small ridges and glades adjacent to fields for decoy placement. Continue the search for off-field locations as you sneak toward a hunting setup. Constantly review the topography and environment. You want to keep the decoy out of sight and lure in any turkeys to almost within shotgun range before they see the setup. Once they eyeball the decoy(s), they will not have time to scrutinize with paranoia.

Instead, they may take a few more steps closer and at the very least, keep their attention focused elsewhere as you line up for the shot. By not allowing a turkey endless time to analyze, their instincts of lust or social interaction take over.

One of my favorite turkey memories took place 100 yards into the timber off a giant alfalfa field. An old trail led from the field and I set up the hunter I was guiding ahead of the decoys and off the trail. The field turkeys heard our calls, took the trail (the path of least resistance) and walked right past the hidden hunter as they inspected the decoys near my calling. Boom and end of story!

ADD SOME ACTION

Your final way to make decoys work harder for you is to add movement. For simple and easy, let Mother Nature come to your aid. Most decoy companies now include a “motion stake” with a decoy package. Specialty manufacturers also sell stakes separately to facilitate movement and tackle terrain issues. These stakes allow the decoy to swivel with the slightest wind. Some newer decoys take a bit more wind due to their weighty plastic form to accentuate realism, but most rock or swivel with a breeze. After you discover the best location, make sure no vegetation impedes movement with a slight tap to test decoy action.

More than a decade ago I hunt tested a strutting tom decoy that included a heavy cord to tug on to lift the tail. It worked awesome, but the cheap manufacturing failed and the decoy fell apart after a short run. Regardless, I saved the heavy string and now use it to tug many of my decoys when the wind is absent. It especially works great when attached to a decoy and you unroll the string back to a ground blind where any tug is discreetly hidden. By setting up a hen or jake decoy pointing away with the string attached to the decoy chest, you can spin it around when a tom shows up. It also serves well to lift a tom’s tail up and down ever so slightly for a show of decoy dominance.

Your decoy’s construction will determine how your puppeteering show goes off, but just the slightest bob or swivel often makes a gobbler take the parking brake off. Tug movement is affordable and easy. Options include using heavy monofilament fishing line or high tensile string. Secure one end to the decoy and unravel a length back to your ambush site.

Decoys add reality and excitement to your hunt. Despite their lifelike appearance, a few extra considerations make your decoys work harder for you. That adds up to a tasty pair of drumsticks for your season finale.

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