Turkey fanning?
 

Anyone ever heard of this.I saw it on T.V. and the guy laid down in the middle of a trail with a fan in front of him.The gobbler came right at him!
No call needed.

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

never heard of it.........sounds exciting, but i doubt i'd ever do it.

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

Sounds like an invitation to get shot at

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

In scouting for my first client to roll in for WI's spring opener last year I found myself in a unique situation that this wing-thing reminded me of. I had aquired 640a. lease just days earlier and I was scouting it a bit for later in the season. I walked into my first field at noon and pushed a decoy in the ground. I called once with my slate and was instantly greeted by a long beard just yard in the woods on the other side of the field. He came running as if he were the dumbest bird in the world. He circled the decoy for a long time before sneeking back down the hill. I was pumped as this was a 15 yard encounter after 5 mins on the property. I began to belly crawl to the decoy after the bird was out of sight. Then, the bird instantly popped back out and circled me as I lie face down holding the decoy in my hand. I began bouncing the decoy around as though it was a live bird and the tom walked within feet of me. As soon as he looked away, I stuffed the decoy under my arm which drove the Tom nuts. He went nuts when his girl was gone and started running around looking for her. It took me over an hour to get off that field. So, if your on private land and your not going to get shot...you may have something! For the record, that bird was shot minutes into the spring opener. 21#, 10.5" beard and 1.25" spurs. This was the first bird for a retired vet.

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

Ditto!!

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

hhhhmmmm.... I wonder. I kinda doubt it, and doubt it even more I'll try it. I think I will stick to locating them in the roost and calling them in....seems more exciting.

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

Yea,I forgot to mention that they realy stressed the private land thing and make sure nobody else is hunting there.But arround here,ya realy never can be too sure?

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

Most of these great Bono ideas are something that just happened and at the time there was a camera rolling. On the top note if you were to try this at every location , most likely it would only work on a low and maybe even lowest percentage. It was like the old Fanned out gobbler decoy. They come running when they see that bad boy over the hen, Well they never came running when I ever added one to any of my setups.

As the others say, spend your energy on setups and working the birds as you have been taught and play it safe and don't get shot. Why make yourself a target to a trigger happy turkey hunter that knows he's got a fan in front of him....

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

Turkey hunting is kinda new to me.Last year our tactics began calling arround fresh sign.That got boaring,so we started hearing toms in the woods going off.We got as close to them as we could ,(50yds) andstarted calling.Then they came in to get shot.When we called from a long ways away they would answer but they werent going to come in.We didnt have any decoys,and only a borrowed cutter.Were fanatics now.What a rush!

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

I saw a turkey hunting show a couple years ago where they did this. I'm sure it could work under the right circumstances, but it has to be THE MOST DANGEROUS WAY TO HUNT! Its a good way to get a face full of #4's. Yeah, yeah, but if I'm on private land and nobody else is hunting there... Well, 2 years ago I was on private land that nobody else was supposed to be hunting on so I did what I consider dangerous if I was on public land. I broke out a gobbler shaker trying to get a tom to respond. Well, I didn't get a Tom to respond, but what I did get was someone walking the road cutting away on a box call trying to make me gobble again! You could bet that if I did or if a Tom did answer, whoever that was on the road would more likely than not have tried to work that bird, possibly even stalk it (which is illegal here, but the law doesn't mean squat to some people.) I have a turkey fan actually sitting on top of my computer monitor with a beard and legs just waiting for me to mount it, I could use it but would never ever consider holding it in front of my face while hunting. What I Might try sometime is this- mount the fan on a stake and put it in the ground. I never tried this, but I hear that a Tom will approach a fan decoy and continue circling it trying to go face to face with the intruder. Since the fan is just a fan on both sides, the turkey just keeps going around it in circles looking for the head. Anyone have any experience doing something like this?

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

No but it sounds fun to watch!

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

Ripss,Flambeau used to make a fan decoy with just a stake on it.I had a # of fellas that describedthe hunt above,tossing the stakes and just using it with there hands...yes it did work BUT thats gotta be one of the most stupidest things I"ve heard of in the turkey woods.Might as well walk around with a set of antlers on your head during deer season too!!!The idea of possibly getting shot isn't exciting to me at all..A good set of bobblehead buckwings will get the job done just as well without putting oneself in harms way....P.S. you make a great point on hunting private land,just because its private doesn't garrunttee you are the only one there thats why we have laws against tresspassers and poachers unfortunately because we havem!![:@][:@]

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

edit

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

I've heard it called tombstoning, for a good reason. It does work, very well in fact but it is definetly(as others have mentioned) a good idea to be on private land. If anyone trys it let everyone on here know how it works.

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

I was crossing a 300 acre field one mornin when2 toms i had been chaseing,for three days came out and i had to hit the deck,, it was a green grass field about 12 in high so i pulled a hen decoy out and when i called to them they where like 300 yds,i stuck the hen up high enough they could see her and i would move her around and bob her head like she was feeding as i called ,the birds never had that trick played on them before they couldnt take it,they came on a string crossed the whole field straight to the gun. Now i can see where it could be dangerous in certain situations but i used a hen decoy not a fan,,and i was in the middle of a field.so if you try it just watch yourself and be careful .

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

my friend does it every year. he'll kill a jake, then thaw it out before the mornin's hunt and open it up and shut it again, like a jake is struttin around. he'll have turkeys walk up to him as long as he is sitting still and only moving his arms and hands as he moves the tail feathers around. killed many mature toms that way. try it, you'll never use another decoy in your life!

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

I wouldn't say he was the dumbest turkey in the world... Thats what happens when you hunt "prime private property"

My head swells up when I read these story's

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

The best decoy ever

the guy was hunting from behind the fan? that is dumb.

we do something like that, except we're not close to the decoy.

for archery turkey out of a Double Bull blind, wehad ourtaxidermist take a turkey pelt, put a plastic head on it, and rig up the fan to stick up.when the jakes and gobblers saw it they went running at it, literally. they apparently think its a dead bird. (if you don't know, turkeys uaually attack the bird that just got shot) no calling

it is by far the best decoy we've ever used. these are Merriams in open country, so it may be different in wooded areas

we shot 80 birds last year with bows and probably half of them came off that decoy.

one day, another guide took our first ever new decoy, so i just used a turkey we shot earlier in the day. it even worked.

if you don't believe it, we have it on video and i'll send you a copy (the dvd's aren't mine, so you would have to buy one from my boss)

it has made my job as a turkey guide alot easier

RE: Turkey fanning?
 

On Hunter's Choice Vicki stalked a Gobbler in a rainstorm on all fours with a fan in fron of her and she got the shot off with a bow.It was pretty wild.