jose20kay

So bow season starts the 24 of September and I just bought two decoys buck and a doe should I try and use it on opening day? Tips ?suggestion on calls for it?which should I use

JoeA

A buck and a doe? Let us know how they work out.

BarnesX.308

I would probably stick with just the doe in the early season. Get the buck out there in mid-October or later.

rockport

Here is the most fun Ive ever had with a decoy.

A farmer asked us to take out some doe for him late season a few years ago.

Were talking 100 doe coming out in the field every evening so its just a matter of sitting and waiting.

Four of us got together and put up a couple popup blinds 2 in one and 2 in the other. One of the guys in the blind brought a decoy.

So there we are sitting in those blinds probably two hours before we expect to see deer and we can see the guy in the other blind staring at his decoy so we open fire and shot the head right off of it.

The look on his face was well worth the price of the decoy.


Ive had decoys work but what they seem to do best for me is trick me into seeing a deer out of the corner of my eye every few hours.

Hatfield Hunter

I tried a decoy once on a park like oak ridge--very little ground clutter, basically it scared every deer off the ridge. I gave it away, then shot a nice 9 point the next weekend H H

BarnesX.308

One guy I know has consistent success with a buck decoy. He puts it on the edge of a food plot they have in the woods. He doesn't mess with it until November. He is looking for a big mature buck or nothing. And that's what you'll get. I think it scares off young bucks and doe. He lives on his hunting land and owns his own business so he can be very selective and be out there whenever conditions are right.

My one buddy tried a decoy a couple times on one of our fields. Every deer came out, looked at it, stomped, snorted and never came near it....or him.

mrbb

man played with decoys since the late 90's(back was 3 d archery targets I used)
have had a bunch of different one's
buck, doe, laying down, feeding??

I have very mixed results, and personally I have had it spook more deer them bring them in
For a few yrs off and on I used to set them up on places I wasn't hunting but near by, and placed 2 trail cam's over them, just to see what MIGHT have happened in a food plot I don't hunt

once I had a bear knock it over by well, smelling it and I think it rubbed too hard??
second time I has a FOX< knock it over, and third time, NOT sure what knocked it over , NO pic on either cam??
good cam's too, but something tore the head of and dragged it about 80 yrs into a winter wheat field on me??

after using them in States like MO< SD, ND< WV, Oh, NY and PA
I gave up on them, and sold all mine
as more bad experience's than good
used in the rut, sen bucks look from far off and run away, doe's snort and stomp at them, and just more negatives overall
there a pain to carry in too, all I used were LOUD if in cold weather you touched a twig on them?
always stored them scent free, so take up a LOT of space doing so
the Montana Decoys are smaller , but again never had much luck

I personally think a TON has to do more with the area you hunt and the age of your deer on that land
OLDER deer seem more interested in them at times, but that interest can be BAD OR GOOD
many young deer in my main hunting places seem to NOT even care there out, so no draw or spook, ? so more or less NO help
as by that time I have live decoys out in front of me with them??

so, IMO
there is NO RIGHT way to use them, comes down to your local deer's desire to investigate or spook from them!
I know on 3 occasions in Ohio, I had a 170 class buck, stare down a doe decoy mid rut, and decoy just had a fresh spray down , with doe in heat scent applied to between its rear legs, on cotton balls
60 yrds down wind of it, for 15 minutes , it stood stone still staring at that darn decoy
it was coming into me on a string till it spotted it, and turned and left!
pretty darn sure if I DIDN"T have the decoy I would have had a chance at that buck

and had like experiences in same area over a few yrs trying them
after the last time I sold em LOl
NOT worth the hassle or Gamble IMO

alleyyooper

Seems like another extra thing to carry afield to over come not scouting properly and often.


Al