Decoy design question
 

I am planning on designing and building my own decoy for this season. I was hoping to get some input or advice. Feel free to give advice outside of these questions, I thought they would be a good way to get started. Thanks!

1) What kind of turkey decoy do you currently use that has the most success?

2) What kind of features on your top turkey decoy do you like the best?

3) What features would you like to see added to your turkey decoy for optimal hunting experience?

Thanks!

Duplicate this !

http://www.davesmithdecoys.com/catalog.php?item=43

I second that. In my opinion, it's the best looking decoy.

My best decoy is a stuffed bird by my taxidermist. I also use Zink decoys, which are very good. It's my opinion that one of the reasons these dekes, and ones like dave smith makes, are so effective, is the three dimensional detail of the "feathers" , although if you look at the realistic look(eyes, heads, body shape, color) of these dekes, it's exceptional, especially compared to some of the old decoys from years ago.

Frankly, I don't think that turkey's brains are sophisticated enough to tell any decoy from a real turkey. They are birds. I think they key in on color and shape. If it looks like a turkey, it's a turkey. I've got an old foam hen decoy that I turned into a jake by spraying the body flat black and using tennis shoe paint to change the neck to white and the top of the head red. The toms attack it as if it's a real jake. Turkey hunters are, by nature, "gadget" guys. I think the expensive realistic decoys are designed to attract turkey hunters, not necessarily turkeys.

No all decoys are not the same. Sure the old foam ones will work especially early in the season. But they do not compare to the stuffed or dave smith type decoys. No it is not a gadget far from it they work and they work way to well.

But they don't work 100% of the time.......they can do the opposite and keep your intended quarry away.


Questions is why design your own when they are far too many good decoys brands on the market.

JW

Questions is why design your own when they are far too many good decoys brands on the market.

JW[/QUOTE]

It may be like making your own turkey call....there's a ton of great calls on the market but calling in a gobbler on a call you made yourself is very rewarding. That's my guess.

By the time they get close enough to realize its not a real hen, its too late!!!! Dirt nap time.

It's human nature for us to view a decoy from our perspective and think it looks great or looks more realistic to us than another. I agree that turkeys just aren't that smart. I think it's more likely that posture and/or movement are more effective than color or contour of the feathers, etc.

I swore off decoys for years because I believed, and still have a nagging feeling, that in areas with decent populations they make more toms nervous than those they entice. When I stopped using them my success rate increased significantly.

Now on to being the hypocrite that I am...

A couple of years ago I started using them sparingly and shot one of my biggest birds over them so now I'm getting back on the bandwagon. I am a gadget guy like the next, so I keep looking for that golden decoy and buying more, even though I can't say that to date I have found anything that performs any better than the cheap foam ones I started out with. My 2 purchases this winter were:

- "The best turkey decoy ever" Dakota Extreme Jake http://bestturkeydecoy.com/. I know a couple of others personally that have sworn by it, and its supposed claim to fame is its posture. There may be something to it.

- Zink Avian X Feeder https://www.avian-x.com/index.php?op...how&Itemid=331. Admittedly I got it because I think it just looks like a lifelike turkey...I know, I just said it probably doesn't make much of a difference to the turkey!

If I were you I would never have tried the DSD's because they look great to me but man they must look good to the turkeys. I have never seen a hen actually strut and attack a decoy until I used a DSD hen.

The eyes have it. You can spruce up some old foam decoys with new paint, and adding some eyes. I got some from a taxidermy supply catalogue.

I re-did 2 decoys 5-6 yrs ago.

I think that stuffers are the way to go, but be careful. My gut tells me that they increase the chance of an "accident" by a lot.

I love using my DSD decoys. Thanks to JW mentioning them and posting his set up a few times. My best is the breeding jake and hen early in the season. Then I will switch to two hens with one hen being the submissive hen. I let a friend borrow my submissive hen last year after I had tagged out. He was having a hard time with a wise tom. The Tom saw the hen and slowly worked his way into it. It made his day..

For all the years I've been hunting turkeys and the number of decoys I have owned and used. My DSD still out produces fantastic results.
It's all because of the posture (design) of what Dave Smith created

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...00001522420517

This morning is the first time I have seen any turkeys. They went strolling by my house there was two big toms and six hens. That just got my blood pumping. But the US Fish and Wildlife posted a video up here yesterday on turkey management. Up here the turkeys travel a lot. One radio attached tom was recorded going 20 miles while most hens and toms recorded traveled 6 to 10 miles. I found that quite interesting and makes it easier to understand why they are so hard to try and pattern them here. I think it is because of a lack of farmland where I hunt.. I really don’t know what the answer would be. But I am hopeful that these birds will hang around until the beginning of May.. I just thought that I would throw that out there for you all.. But I do love the DSD decoys..

Do they travel that distance regularly or only certain times of the year. I know some of the areas I hunt the turkeys travel pretty far in the fall to group up some leave the farm I hunt and travel maybe 5 - 10 miles to a different area for the winter. But during the spring and summer they pretty much hang out in a small area . If they are doing that all season it is possible that they are having to move around to find different food sources. Seems odd that a hen would be travelling that far during egg laying time. I would think a tom would possible move farther if being pushed off by more dominant male birds though.

The hens will travel until they decide to nest. Then they will hang in the area of their nest. The toms appear to keep moving around a lot. In one study a hen attempted nesting three different times because each of her nest had failed. So she kept moving around and it was doubtful that her third nest made it being so late in the year..

Seems like the hens will keep trying to re-nest I have seen some very small poults in September .

Looks like the big boys are starting to get frisky lol

Either that or their natural instincts to keep a flock going is stronger than most realize..