First time turkey hunter
 

I have been an avid deer hunter since my childhood, but i am trying turkey hunting for the first time. In Vermont the season starts 5/1. I took my nephew out this past weekend for youth hunt. We used a ground blind with 2 hen and a jake decoy. We had four hens come right into our setup on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. one old fat hen came running in to the decoys clucking away, the hung out feeding for about an hour. We never saw a tom or heard one the whole weekend.

i guess my question is is this a good setup? I always see toms with the hens, why not this weekend?

May be just one of those things - You certainly are in the right area as yo are seeing hens!

Find the hens - The Toms are not that far away!

Now in all my hunting - I have had terrible luck with a Jake decoy - so I got rid of it!
I do use a strutting tom decoy at times - but never a Jake.......

Did you hear any gobbles?

JW

Definitely stick with that area. If you saw the hens then the toms are around. It could have been one of those weekends that they just didn't want to gobble or hang around the hens, but DEFINITELY stay in that area...

We did not hear any gobbles. You think i should get rid of the jake and only use the hens? my wife will shoot me if I buy anymore stuff this season as I already got a new shotgun, groundblind,decoys and calls

I personally like jake decoys. I set them facing me. When a tom comes into your setup many times he will go straight to the jake in full strut and get face to face with him before he whups him which will put his head behind his fan and it will allow you to raise your gun up if he has caught you with it down.

Ok Thanks for your input. I will hunt out of the same spot as my groundblind is still set up. I know there are some big toms around there as I have seen them in my scouting efforts.