JW

Well as you scout and witness the birds you see - place your decoys likewise.

At times I use 1 or 2 feeding hens and then one hen at attention. Don't put them to close together either. Birds when nervous flock tightly together before flight. Make your set-up look as natural as you can.
AND always pay attention to safety! We do have hunters out there that do hunt decoys and it is not fun!

JW

SnakeEater

That is exactly why I've never used decoys. It's the other people I'm worried about, since I hunt public land. I KNOW for a fact that I'm going to get peppered if I use decoys or a blind...not a good idea if you're anywhere near the Chicagoland area. Luckily, I found a farm in southern IL for the spring. I'll be getting a small blind and decoys soon.

JW

My rule of thumb - Blind right out in the open and from my pictures you can see I place it on the fields edge "easily recognizable as you don't need to brush it in! A blind allows you to hunt areas where no sitting cover could be had!
Decoys in front of blind no more than 10-15 yards - closer if you like.

I can see anyone coming at me!
Anyone coming from behind the blind covers the decoys!
Still worried - well put a blaze orange marker on the blind itself. As long as it does not flap in the breeze it ain't gonna scare no turkey out there. But should keep the other Turkey Types away.

JW

dckhnter

ONE OTHER TIP = most blinds are not camo inside they are black, so black clothing is great to keep you hidden

14 ga

i use a blind a lot. shoot my turkey with either a bow or muzzle loader and i get the birds to come in really close. turkey, many times do see the blind and won't come near it, other times i have had them trip over the support string. i alway brush the blind, in the west, all the blinds are the wrong color. if you use a chair and camo netting, the turkey see right through it and will pick you out. decoys are about a 50/50 deal. as often as not they will make the birds wary, nervous or just plain scare them. after shooting nearly 30 birds i have yet to see a turkey interested in my decoys. i watch the films so sometimes i guess they do pay attention to them, don't count on it. i frequently set up on a known travel route and many days you can see the turkey look at the blind, stand there a while and then make a detour around it. brush it, be safe, it's a long time to sit there and have that happen. if you are new at calling don't use a cluck, it sounds too much like a putt. want to see a turkey high tail it, try a putt

cheers

Topgun 3006

"if you are new at calling don't use a cluck, it sounds too much like a putt. want to see a turkey high tail it, try a putt"

Actually a single putt or multiples of anything other than two are no problem. A double put right together and fairly loud are what they use as their danger alarm and they won't stck around if they hear that double putt!

14 ga

don't kid yourself, turkey do see the blind and sometimes it bothers the heck out of them and they won't come near it. i have found that nearly all blinds seem to come in the wrong color and over a number of hunts, days, brushing is necessary, true, i have had turkey actually trip over the tie down ropes but them i have seen others make a large detour around the blind cause they noticed that it wasn't there yesterday, having all the windows open is a mistake, turkey can see through it then see you move, surely turkey can see at least some color, certainly red, blue and white, if you don't think turkey see the blind then don't shoot the next batch that comes in and watch how nervous they get being around it as compared to how they acted while coming into it.

cheers

LBADG

great post I have so many brush blinds with seats in them and the enclosed built blinds I rarely use the pop up..but I take my chair blind with me to camp...love it..

FlDeerman

My umbrella and beach chair seem to work for me.I have a blind still set up since deer season and I'll see if I can get one near it.

VTBoneCollector

I do everything that JW suggest over the course of my time turkey hunting but I take it one step further. To help make less noise in the early morning, I will watch where the birds roost and once it's good and dark, I will head directly to the turkeys. They won't fly off the roost in the dark and I'm able to set up my blind so that when the turkeys pitch down in the morning, I have a very good chance of filling a tag. You just have to make sure you go in atleast an hour before day break and stay quite once your in your blind. I started hunting this way because my dad is getting up there in age and I wanted to make it as simple as possible for him so he can continue to hunt with me. Some might say it's not fair to the birds but I guarantee you, we don't always come out on top. We've pulled off a double this way and we've done it the old fashion way and it makes no difference to me. I just love to be able to spend time in the field with my hunting buddy and dad.