Decoys

Silent_Death · 03-26-2007, 05:40 AM

I am not cutting anyone down so please do not take this post the wrong way. However, I do have a question after reading numerous posts in this forum. How many of you use decoys?

I have never used a decoy in my life and have never had a problem taking a bird. Is this like some new and great thing? I'm not sure I even know anyone personally that uses decoys. I've also taken people hunting without decoys and they have gotten birds. I'm just curious why everyone is using decoys. To me that seems to take out the challenge of the hunt or something. I must be getting old because hunting seems to be becoming too commercialized.

MKMGOBL · 03-26-2007, 06:21 AM

I carry at less one hen decoy in my vest all season. I don't use it on every huntbut there are times that I will use her. I've taken plenty of birds with and without using adecoy. I believe the answerto why those that use oneis, it just another trick in the bag to take a turkey

Why do turkey hunter carry two box calls, more than onemouth call or a few different friction calls & strikers? They carry multiple calls in order to increase there odds of harvesting a turkey. I feel the decoy is just that, helping to increse their odds. That"™s just my personal take on the subject of decoys. I hope nobodytake that the wrong way

Silent_Death · 03-26-2007, 06:34 AM

Are you working on your Web site? It's definitely messed up when viewing in Firefox and I can't get IE to even load it..well it's been 3 minutes and it hasn't loaded.

MKMGOBL · 03-26-2007, 06:44 AM

No [

] It pops right up for me. I have had aone person that had trouble loading it before.Hetold me he tried it on anotherserver and itopened up justfine.

I also had a member of my NH based forum with that had trouble viewingour forum. I thought he was using that Firefox or something that sounded close to it. He was telling us the screen was flashing different colors and it was all messed up but nobody else could figure out what he was talking about. It was only with his computer that it was doing it on.

Sorry you're have trouble with it [&o]

MK-M-GOBL

r33h · 03-26-2007, 06:50 AM

I use decoys...not everytime, but I do use them. The reason I use them is because there is a lot of open fields where I hunt with tree lines and thick patches of tress here and there. Putting a decoy on the edge of a wheat field grabs thier attention and they comeover to investigate.

I had one expierence with my decoys that I won't forget. It was the first time that I had ever used them and I put them out and sat down about 15 to 20 yards from them. I gave a call and a gobbler responded and in about thirty seconds, he came out from behind this one tree line and he was a good 150 to 200 yards away. Since this is a big open field, he was able to plainly see the decoys and he came to them in a full out sprint! If you don't think that will get your heart pumpin, then I don't know what will. To see a bird running at you as fast as he possibly can and then stop about 50 yards out and go into a full strut is definitely a sight to see. I landed up not shooting the bird because he was a little further than what I felt comfortable shooting at the time.

Decoys can hurt you, too. Turkeys are known to come running to them and then hang up just out of shooting range. So, if you do use them, try to position them where you can get the bird just a little bit closer.

I shot my biggest bird using decoys. 28lbs, 2 beards...one at 10.25" and one at 6.5", both spurs measured at 1.625". Took him to the taxidermists shop and he said that he had never seen one that big and he had been doing taxidermy since the early 70's.

turkey harvester · 03-26-2007, 08:14 AM

I use decoys on pressured gobblers. If they can see what is making the sounds they may not hang up and come on into shotgun range. Plus it takes his attention off of the caller, and maybe some movement with a gun.

RDHunter · 03-26-2007, 09:42 AM

Decoy's help seal the deal on stubron toms , they may not work all the time but it doesn't hurt to have one or two out.
I know at diffrent times of the breeding season when a love sick tom is looking for the hen thats yelping to him , he'll continue to wonder until he finds her.