RE: The ethics of decoys
 

I think decoys are fine. I dont use them much anymore but have had good success with them just like a lot of people have. Decoys are part of turkey hunting. Youll never see a turkey hunting catalog without decoys being sold. As far as electronic calls, im 50/50 on them.

RE: The ethics of decoys
 

Legality aside, since we are talking ethics here, the differnce to me is vast.

Another person can be there to show you the ropes, show you what calls mean what, when to use them. An electronic call.... you push a button.... you get a call. Its not going to teach you anything. You can use it as a sound reference when you are practicing.... but other than that, you gain nothing from a knowledge/betterment of your abilities standpoint.

Not everybody was born a great turkey hunter or turkey caller. You have to learn somehow. You can be a stubborn ass like I am/was and take 10 years to screw ups and mishaps to learn it, or you can latch on to a mentor and enjoy a hunt together and learn from their experience. Which you choose is just like your ethics... it doesn't matter, its up to you.

RE: The ethics of decoys
 

Since I posed the question I think it only right (or shall i say ethical?) to throw my two cents in - I think the question of ethics in turkey hunting (or any hunting) has very little to do with legality (as a few have already suggested) but whether or not a certain technique gives one hunter an unfair advantage over other hunters and/or the animal. sort of how, fishing with dynamite would be consider unethical (and illegal).

With that in mind - I wonder, on a theoretical level, if a decoy, or any type of 'trick' would be consider by some purists to be unsportsmanlike.

thanks,
John

RE: The ethics of decoys
 

How is a decoy any more of a trick than using a turkey call or camo for that matter.

RE: The ethics of decoys
 

I believe that the ethics topic on all aspects of hunting has gotten out of hand. Every time a new product comes out to aid hunters in their pursuit of game it come under fire by people talking about ethics. Electronic calls.. ok, I agree, not too classy, and that is the reason that they are not allowed. But decoys? like huntma said, If there's a little voice telling you that it's wrong, you probably shouldn't be doing it. I'd love to hear someone tell some of my duck hunting buddies that decoys are not ethical!I use decoys very often in the turkey woods with many successful hunts and some failures also. I don't lose any sleep over it.you shouldn't either.

RE: The ethics of decoys
 

In general, if something offers such an advantage as to be detrimental to the resource or the good of the sport, it will get the chop in the general assembly.

Spinning wing decoys come to mind with duck hunting. Still legal in most parts of the east and even parts of the south.... but as someone who has been using them as needed since the mid 1990s... they don't work nearly as good as they used to. They have made the birds smarter, and more weary than ever before. It used to be that all you needed was a Mojo and you could shoot ducks in places ducks normally wouldn't go.... now if you don't have two or three and have them on a remote to turn them off at the right time you can forget about killing birds..... unless you get smart like I did and pull out a few old tricks, but I'm not giving secrets away today.

Turkey hunting remains difficult, and fair in my opinion, due to the circumstances and natural odds under which all turkey hunters operate. The fact is that hens go to gobblers ten times more often than gobblers go to hens. When a hunter goes to a gobbler, the gobbler almost always wins (and we are talking 999 times out of 1000). Turkey hunters rely on stealth and curiousity to entice a turkey into range. If a hunter decides to rely on a more ambushy style of hunting (I made that word up), he still has to understand his quarry enough to put himself in the way of a bird.

To me, unethical is baiting with corn in the fall in states where fall hunting is legal. For the most part, that has been deemed illegal. Touching back on duck hunting quickly.... I wasn't around, nor was my father, and my grandfather was only around it as a small child, but I don't even see the problem with live duck decoys. Keep in mind.... I've never been around a real Judas duck, and the duck of today is much smarter than even the duck I hunted as a kid. Who knows....