Whats going on?
 

I had four jakes that came to my decoys,they walked up to about 10feet from the decoys and just looked at them.I mean no gobbling,displaying,nothing.Could it be that the hens have not started nesting yet? We have had a lot of rain in the past few weeks.

Lol nothin wrong with that... How long you been turkey hunting?

Not all Jakes gobble or display. Jakes will be in packs at this time of year as they have been shunned and chased off by the mature Toms.

Jakes may attack decoys en mass and can be very aggressive as a pack or complete panzies!

Bad thing abouy Jakes ~ they come to calls quicker than Toms do and when they see something they don't like ~ they leave just as fast too. And if they have been a satelitte group, holding on the fringes of a nice Tom and his harmen of hens ~ Well when the Jakes leave - they help pull that Tom away from you. See it many times......

JW

I agree with Mr. Longbeard, Normal behavior, they will do what they want and feel safe doing. Good luck!

What you have are inexperienced decoys...

Package them up and send them to me and I'll fix
them for you....

I like that nchawkeye! Virgin Decoys! :confused0024:

The guys are spot on. The jakes in my area seem to know what the pecking order is. Had a jake with about a 5 inch beard come into my decoy this morning but you could tell he knew he was doing something he should not of been doing. About an hour later, another smaller jake came by but really kept his distance.

This is my third year turkey hunting.The first turkey I shot,I had four jakes come in doing the full on display,gobbles and everything.One thing I did notice about these guys were there beards were small even for a jake so maybe they were just young.The other thing is the gobblers are only gobbling for about two hours in the morning then nothing.
Thanks for the info I'm going back in a couple of days and hope I have better results.Another question?I have a jake decoy,should I put him out with the hens?

Some guys have good luck with the jake decoys and others do not. I prefer not to use a jake decoy. I have heard of less dominant gobblers being nervous about coming into a set up with a jake decoy in it. The area that I hunt has had a number of the dominant gobblers killed and this will cause an adjustment in the pecking order. I would not want a jake decoy to cause the next dominant bird in the area to shy away. Just something that I feel works for me but I'm sure others will give tactics that works for them. Have fun and be patient.

Kind of what I was thinking,thanks.

As for me if I use decoys I always have a jake, I go turkey hunting for a few reasons 1st the fun of the hunt 2nd to share the experience with my daughter and lastly( well not lastly LOL) for a long beard so I don't care if a jake wont come in.

I have had good luck with just a hen and a jake even had a jake with just a stub for a beard beat up my decoy as a small gobbler walked around close to my decoy. I have this encounter on youtube if you'd like to see it at rockymtngobbler.
I'd say stick with a small jake but as RPD63 said all hunters have different tactics that work for them. Good Luck!

Ive had both gobblers and jakes come running into a jake decoy before. At the same time ive had both shy away from the jake decoy. I think alot depends on the birds in a certain area. Maybe even has to do with the breeding cycle and what stage its at. For me its all trial and error. If i notice birds shying away from the decoy on a given day ill take the jake down. If they dont seem to be bothered by it ill keep using it. The last few years ive had my best luck with just hens early in the season and jake decoys with a hen later in the season. Just my experience and best of luck to you!

RPD63 you were right.The next trip I had two more jakes come in and I could see one on the edge of the field doing something.I leaned out and I could see he was in full display but he didn't want anyone seeing him do it.LOL