Turkey decoy setup
Your turkey decoy setup can make or break your chance of getting a turkey. Pay attention to your turkey decoy setup for maximum action.
Morning turkey decoy setup
If you can place your turkey decoy setup where the birds can see them from the roost you will have the best luck. Scout the birds the night before and get
in early early early. A typical morning early in the season has toms and hens grouped together and that is how they start the day. The toms fly down, the hens come next, and they all walk off to wherever the hens want to go. If you can place your turkey decoy setup where the birds can see it, they could very well fly down into your lap. It’s difficult to call the birds off their chosen route early in the day, so it’s best to be as close as you can get without spooking the birds.
Turkey decoy setup expert Dave Constantine told me that he has found that most wild turkeys tend to fly down from the roost away from the rising sun. They think it is so they can better see predators when they fly down. Keep this in mind when picking your turkey setup, make sure you use this to your advantage.
Mid morning turkey decoy setup
After a few hours of being pestered by the toms, the hens often split up to go lay eggs or nap or whatever, and the toms have to search out love on their own. Now is a good time to have a few prime strutting areas scouted out. Nature says the tom should look like a puffed up sexy beast so the hens want a
little and comes looking for it. Because of this, mature birds select areas to strut and occasionally gobble so ready hens can find them. Look for wing drag marks in the sand or roads to pinpoint these locales, and use a turkey decoy setup with an arrogant jake to anger them. This is their turf and they will defend it.
Try this pattern from about 10 til 2 and then break for lunch or a quick nap before the birds begin regrouping and heading slowly towards the roost, where you may try a different turkey decoy setup.
Early evening turkey decoy setup
Around supper time the birds are regrouping for the night, and I like to have at least one hen out to try and mock and aggravate the lead jenny. If you can identify the lead hen and imitate her every sound and cadence, she may drag the whole group over while she trys to put you in your place. Your turkey decoy setup will optimally be someplace you know the birds travel through to get in their way, as it is always easier than trying to coax them into altering their established patterns.
How many hens and jakes and toms you use in your turkey decoy setup is a matter of choice, and part of the spring chess game you are playing with the birds. Your best bet is to try and evaluate your goals, the population of birds, and pressure the birds you are hunting receive. If there are very few birds such as mountainess areas out west, often times a lone hen is a great turkey decoy setup. The birds travel a long ways and are eager to mix with any
hen they can find. If you find yourself in an area with lots and lots of birds, a tom or jake decoy may be required to get their attention. One more hen will not pull them over to you, but an arrogant jake may get their attention.
If you are hunting heavily pressured birds your turkey decoy setup better be ultra realistic because it’s are going to be heavily scrutinized. Real mounted birds or the jake we sell online are almost your only choice. If you are running $20 foam decoys I would leave them in the truck to be honest. Pressure is everything and a 2nd rate turkey decoy setup won’t cut it on heavily hunted toms.
Time of year has a lot to do with how many turkey decoys we should run. Remember to put some thought into the time of year and your turkey decoy setup .