ORIGINAL: Wingbone
Sometimes even earlier in the season, a tom will hang up if he sees a "hen" a ways off. He knows she can see him and will stop and strut expecting her to come to him.
Yep.
Infact I think this acctually has happened to me more times than not. I have gotten to the point where if I am just hunting a field edge that turkeys have been walking along the edge of.... no decoys for me. I prefer them on roads, gas lines and smaller fields. Now full strut decoys work the other way around....
Some of the early jake decoys spooked a lot of birds for me. Most of them were big black turkeys, with bright red heads and stumpy beards. A long beard don't make you a bad bird... size, head color and posture do. One of the things I like about B-Mobile is he looks a little bit smaller, and I think that helps birds gain the moxy to try him out.
Another useful tip... gobblers will always come to a decoy "head-on", so remember to keep your decoys facing toward you when you set them up. Espeically with the full strutters. Otherwise, the bird will hang up short and expect to get a reaction out of the other bird.