Sheridan

If you use a male decoy make sure it's a "Jake"; if it's a Tom you will run off most younger birds who don't want to get their butts kicked.

If you use a full tail fan Tom decoy the only male that might come into your set-up is the dominate Tom in the area.

As you have already heard; once most of the Tom's have "covered" the hen (mated) they will go off and nest.

Once they go to nest the Tom's will be out & about looking for hens who have not yet been covered (mated).

That's when your hen decoys should start to get more attention from the males - both Jakes & Toms.

Luck never hurts !!!

entropy4money

I am shooting 3 mag #6 with the flight control thing. and tested the pattern seems pretty good with just the modified choke. I am limiting my hunting to 30 yards. Thx for the advice. I did consider adding a Turkey choke though. Maybe primos jellyhead? idk. I'll be setting up a red-dot on the gun this afternoon and testing a turkey choke on it.

entropy4money

UPDATE:

I went back on Saturday. I change my strategy by adding a second (feeding) hen. I did not bring any Tom or Jake in the early morning this time. Hens weren't calling at all, all morning. Gobblers were gobbling at the crows really early.

However, 7 hens came to my decoys and hanged around for a bit feeding in the area. I was pretty excited cause I've never been able to get the hens to come, and I thought the toms were going to come hang out. To my surprise, nothing... hens never called, eventually they moved, they were wondering around the field all morning without gobblers. what the hell is going on!?

kellyguinn

I use the Jellyhead with Winchester longbeard 3" shells and its great. The more shot you can get in the target the better

younggun308

I recall a few years ago seeing three toms all by themselves in the middle of a field, 80 yards from our blinds on a field edge with a couple hen decoys, not unlike your setup.

They never approached, despite our best efforts calling. After 15 minutes of this, one of my buddies got so frustrated, he exclaimed something suggesting that those toms had, as we say in Bulgaria, "Turkish tastes."

Strut&Rut

Are you positive they were hens and not jakes? Seeing 7 hens together - with no males - at any point during the spring mating season is odd anywhere in the country. If they were hens, the only possible explanation I can think of is these are all young hens from last year's brood and not breeding yet - if that's the case, you're in for a very, very long and difficult season. The toms will have hens the entire month and will be very difficult to call - an ambush may be your best bet.

Regardless, at this point I would personally change the location of your setup, change your calls, and ditch the decoys. Turkeys don't have a great memory, but they can get conditioned (like Pavlov's dogs) and get wary of an area. The toms are not visiting your setup area for a reason, which none of us can determine online...

Quick question - can you get closer to the roost? I've set-up at 30 yards from the roost before - it requires scouting and woodsmanship, but it's definitely possible to get closer than 100 yards in the spring woods. Cloudy mornings really help...