i hunt on public land that gets alot of hunting pressure every year. the 2 and 3 yearold toms get educated. most times they wont even gobble. i know where they are and where their going. i used to use decoys, but never had any luck with them. every time i would set up with them the toms would go the other way. i stopped using them and started calling soft with clucks and purrs every 20 minutes. i called 2 in last year using this method. what do think about decoys and pressured toms?

I think you are on the right track. Most birds that I've dealt with on public land are extremely call shy. They've had every call on the market blown at them, and every hunter in the woods sets up his decoys to draw them in. It doesn't take them long to figure things out. In order to be consistently successful, sometimes you have to operate at the opposite end of the spectrum. Very passive calling, and leaving the decoys in the bag may be the trick that fills your tag every season when dealing with public land birds. Mix things up from time to time, and keep them guessing.

I have to agree with you on the fact that every tom won't be dooped by a deek. The fact that you hunt public land is another reason, everybody uses them!! After geting shot at comming in to a motionless deek, I wouldn't come in either!! I still carry my deeks with me, and depending on the situation, I'll put them out. Good point about hunting public land!!! If I were you beretta, try to get permission to hunt on some private land, this will decreae the amount of hunting pressure greatly! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Sometime they are decoy shy. Last year my cousin and I had a tom come to us got to 60 yards, saw our jake and hen decoy setup, alarm putted twice and left. The next weekend I was alone, set up two hen decoys and got him. Not sure I understand what he putted at (we think it was the jake, just not sure why). We are confident it wasn't us.

19 lbs. • 10-1/2&quot; beard • 1-1/8&quot; spurs


Romans 8:28

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Those decoys will make nice lawn ornaments.
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