New to Turkey Hunting---Question about Decoys
 

Well Im brand new to Turkey Hunting, going to give it a try this year in May here in NY. Just looking for some opinions here.

Whats the best basic setup I can use as far as Decoys go? Here in NY for Spring Turkey hunt we can shoot 2 bearded Turkeys during the Springtime.

Decoys range anywheres from about 15-20 bucks a Decoy up hundreds of dollars for just one decoy. The cheaper rubber ones seem to be what im looking for as they would be much easier to fit right inside my backpack and haul out to the field with ease, but is there a reason why theyre so cheap?

Also, how many Decoys should I use? 2, 3, 4? Hen? Jake? Tom?

Also looking for a basic call for a newbie Turkey Hunter. I went to Dicks the other day, theres an entire shelf of nothing but Turkey calls. Seems extremely overwhelming to me.


Thanks for any advice

here is my setup. 1 feeding hen decoy, 1 standing decoy, 1 mating hen decoy, & a flextone funkey chicken jake decoy. i setup the jake a few feet behind the mating hen decoy like its fixin to breed it. and i set the feeding & standing hen off to the side aways. the beuty of the funky chicken is that its so wimpy no tom is afraid of it but if he sees it tryin to breed one of his hens he gets all over him real quick. i also do not spend alot of money on my decoys. the feeding hen is $20 dollars from walmart, the standing hen is a $10 dollar foam decoy, the mating hen is the montana decoys TEASER hen, its $25 off amazon. and the funky chicken is $30 from walmart or flextone.com

One thing to realize about decoys is sometimes they
help and sometimes they hurt. They seem to be
most effective early in the season and hunting fields
in my experience. Sometimes your better off not
using a decoy and hunting in open woods especially
latter in the season. I use 1 or 2 hens and a Jake
when I use decoys. Set the hens facing away
from you and the Jake nearby facing towards
you. The Tom will usually approach behind the hen
and in front of the Jake. Being well camoflaged,
learning to call and when to call and not over
calling and sitting still until the right moment
are all much more important than decoys.

Thanks for the info guys.

Should I take the decoys and blind down after every day or is it ok to leave it there for the next day?

I leave the blind up if I know birds are consistently using the same field. I throw the decoys in the blind when I am done for the morning. No sense in the birds getting adusting to seeing the same decoys in the same spot. The most difficult thing to learn is not to over call. You will hear and probably see hens putting, purring and yelping. There is no better learning tool than listening to the real thing.

makes sense, thanks man.

I just use a single hen and a single jake. If I notice the toms not willing to approach the jake, then I start just putting out the hen. When using decoys, make sure they are in a visible spot where they can be seen for long distances such as from down a long fence row or across a large field. Otherwise, they are there so the tom will have his eyes on the decoy and not looking around for the hen he can't see and happen to see you. Good luck.

Is there a specific brand you guys recommend? I was actually at Walmart today and they have some pretty cheap ones. One was by Cherokee Sports Fusion Series for 12 bucks a piece, and they also had "Turkey Thug" decoys by Mossy Oak for 9 bucks a piece. They seem nice in the fact that they are inflatable and will pack up nice in a backpack.

Some wise ole Tom's will run away at the first sight of a turkey decoy --- or on the other hand --- will try to spur and wing flap beat a turkey decoy.

Cabelas has a vast array of turkey decoy's for sale.

I use a hen and jake. The hen is a bobbin head hen and the Jake. I attached my own Jake tale to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQUwL_K7vU