How to turn your average decoy into the perfect decoy
I got tired of watching my decoys scare birds away, some times they work and most times they wouldn’t. A lot of the time it wasn’t the tom that figured it out, it was a hen that got too close to the decoy and freaked out. I finally decided to do something about it…
How to taxidermy the skin:
First you need to separate the skin from the meat. Take a semi sharp knife and slowly separate the skin from the meat. Starting from the belly to the back, the skin on the back is easy to tear so you have to be careful. Make sure to take off as much fat and meat as you can but be careful not to tear the skin.
All you need is “
borax” and “
mineral oil.” The process will take 2 days to 1 week.
In the mornings I spread borax over the skin, and in the evenings I clean it off and rub in the mineral oil. I sometimes flex and stretch the skin lightly while the mineral oil is soaked in.
Fitting the skin on the decoy:
First I took my old “delta” turkey decoys and cut off the tail and stuffed it full of old Walmart bags, the plastic bags are far lighter than newspapers, and I needed the decoy to be stiff.
Next I took light wire and shaped the decoy the way I wanted it. Note: the jake didn’t need to be shaped. The two hens had a huge hump behind the head that didn’t work with the cape.
Next I took the skin and fitted it on the old decoy. I used wire to poke through the skin and then through the plastic decoy and twisted it tight.
It isn’t an exact science and I asked my taxidermist how to do it a year ago, I have been real happy with the results as I have watched toms mount my hen, jakes loose control of body functions, and hens puff up and strut for dominance.
The one best thing that can be added to this is to tie a fishing string to the decoys head and then loop it to the spot you are going to sit and then back to the tail end of the decoy. You can easily spin the decoy with a hidden hand and you will get more reactions from a tom watching it move than his reaction to your calling.
