I wish it were so simple. Throw a hen turkey decoy out. Maybe two hens. Sit down. Call a little bit, and get ready ’cause that ol’ longbeard’s coming at a full run — mesmerized, as it were, by that little girl turkey he’s looking at and those wonderful melodic siren sounds he hears. Doesn’t matter that that “girl turkey” is plastic; he doesn’t care. All that’s left is to pull the trigger, high-five yourself, sling ’em over your shoulder and start the walk back to the truck.
Sometimes it almost seems that easy — this turkey hunting game. And what’s behind all this? The decoy, you say? Just stake it out and he’ll come running? That’s true sometimes, but not always.
Sometimes you have to work at it. A little strategy. Finesse. One hen. Two hens. A jake. Jake and a hen. Half-strut gobbler … not a full-strut tom, but half-strut … off to one side. Decoy in full view? Semi-hidden? And which way is “she” — the hen decoy, that is — looking? Away? At you?
This week Slayer Calls takes a look at turkey decoys — hens, jakes, half-strut, full-strut — and how they might be used to better your chances at giving ol’ Mister Tom a ride home in the back of your pickup.
As a turkey hunter, one of the most important gear decisions you’ll make is how many turkey decoys to use. Decoys can be extremely effective at pulling in wary toms during the spring turkey season. However more decoys isn’t always better. The ideal number of decoys depends on factors like terrain season timing, and hunter strategy. Use this expert guide to determine the optimal decoy setup for your hunt.
Terrain Matters
The terrain you’ll be hunting should play a major role in decoy planning. In open fields a large spread of 4-6 decoys can look very realistic and appeal to toms from a distance. In contrast heavily wooded areas call for a smaller setup with just 1-2 decoys.
Setting one or two decoys up in an area where a gobbler can easily spot them when responding is ideal for hunting wooded areas. When a tom sees the decoy, he often will use the road or pathway to strut and show off while responding. Many hunters will often use a hen and a jake decoy in wooded terrain.
For field hunting, a flock of 3-6 decoys total works best. Try mixing hen, jake, and strutter decoys to mimic a small flock. Spread them out in a loose formation 15-30 yards from your blind or setup to give toms plenty of room to strut and display.
Early Season: Go Big
During the early weeks of turkey season, a gobbler’s aggression is sky-high Big flocks with multiple dominant toms are still intact This makes early season a prime time to use large decoy spreads of 4-6 total decoys.
Aggressive toms are looking to battle rival males and gather hens, so they’ll be attracted from a distance to a mixed flock of hen, jake, and strutter decoys. Using 4-6 total decoys in an open field is a deadly setup in early season since toms are bold and eager to approach what looks like a flock of live turkeys.
Late Season: Go Small
As the season progresses, gobbler flocks break up and birds become call shy and hunting pressure takes a toll. This makes minimal decoy sets more effective in the late season. A lone hen or jake/hen pair works better than larger spreads.
Wary late season toms often won’t leave their real hens to approach a large flock of fakes. However, decoying with a single hen or jake decoy can still pull in dominant gobblers looking to drive off competition. Keeping things subtle with 1-2 decoys makes more sense than full spreads late in the year.
Try Different Setups
While less is often more with decoys, don’t be afraid to experiment with different numbers, poses, and combinations until you find what works. Setup variations to try include:
- Lone hen
- Jake & hen pair
- Small flock of 2-4 hens
- Jake & 2 hens
- Strutter & 1-2 hens
- Mixed flock with hens, jake, and strutter
Pay attention to how toms in your specific hunting area respond and adjust decoy numbers and placement accordingly. Be ready to tweak your spread if one setup doesn’t draw the desired response.
Consider Decoying Strategy
Your decoying strategy will also impact ideal decoy numbers. If you’re staying mobile and using decoys for calling, up to 4 decoys is optimal for visibility while keeping weight manageable. For stationary blind hunting, you can afford to set out larger spreads since you won’t be carrying the decoys long distances.
Run and gun hunters relying on decoys to call in roaming toms do well with a jake/hen pair or two hens. Leave the full flock spreads for field blinds where you can drive or ATV right to the setup location.
Follow Regulations
When deciding how many turkey decoys to deploy, be sure to check your state’s regulations. Most states allow up to 4-5 decoys for turkey hunting. Many prohibit using full body gobbler decoys that fan or move by mechanical means. Know the specific decoy rules in your state and don’t use more decoys than the limit allows.
Decoying Done Right
Picking the ideal decoys and setup for the situation will put more gobblers in range. Be flexible in your decoy strategy as the terrain and season changes. Follow the expert tips in this guide, and your decoys will fool more toms into range this spring. Just don’t overdo it – remember that less can definitely be more when it comes to turkey decoying.
What’s the ‘right’ number of turkey decoys?
What’s the “right” number of turkey decoys? Like so many situations when hunting, the answer is … it depends. Over the 31 years since I killed my first gobbler, I’ve staked anywhere from none (0) to 12 fakes out in front of my hide.
But, first things first. Why would you want to set a turkey decoy in the first place? With a turkey call, you’re creating an illusion. You’re trying to convince that gobbler it’s a real live sexy hen he’s hearing, and it’s imperative he waddle on over to meet her straight away. Now, the only thing better on his part than hearing a hen is both hearing and seeing a hen. Enter the decoy. Now the illusion is ramped up a notch. Now you’re providing both audio (the call) and video (the decoy), and hopefully completing the illusion to the point that he does wander over.
But wait! Biology now. You see, Mother Nature designed the spring play to work this way: He gobbles, and she goes to him to be bred, build a nest, lay a clutch and propagate the species. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. NOT him coming to her. So we’re hoping for the best here as we deliver a 180-degree blow to Mother Nature.
I say this to explain why, sometimes, Mr. Strutter will see a decoy, stop, strut, gobble and wait … wait for Mother Nature to play out and the hen to come to him. Understand? Every time you set a hen decoy, you’re running the risk of making him stop, strut, gobble and wait.
Which brings us back to our original question: How many decoys? Well, it depends. Let’s take a look at the different turkey decoys and the pros/cons associated with each one.
Types of turkey decoys
These are probably the most popular and most widely used decoys in the spring. Why? Because they mesh nicely with the sounds we’re making and, as mentioned earlier, they give that gobbler what he expects to see. It all makes sense — most of the time, that is.
Nine times out of 10, when I set a turkey decoy, it’s going to be a hen. Or two hens — one feeding and one looking around casually. It’s what that gobbler expects, and it lends an air of security — Nothing wrong here! — to the setting as a whole. Additionally, turkeys — especially hens and jakes — are gregarious (i.e., birds of a feather flocking together). Thus, one or two hen decoys can attract the attention of a hen or group of hens who have with them a gobbler that, up ’til then, had been ignoring my best yelps and clucks and purrs.
Where do you set a hen/two hens? In an open-field setting, I’ll partially hide the decoy, if possible. I don’t want him to top the rise, see the decoy and stop at 100 yards to strut and gobble. I don’t want to hang him up. Rather, I want him to keep coming, searching, hunting for the hen he hears. In the timber, this is easy; use a tree, a clump of ferns or blackberry bush to partially hide the decoy.
And here’s something a veteran turkey hunter told me years ago: When you set that hen decoy, point her “face” in your direction — not away from you. That way when that gobbler works his way in front of her, showing off just how handsome he is, he’s got to come close … not stand 75 yards away to prance in front of her beady little plastic eyes. True story? I think so, as I’ve tried it both ways and had it work as the old man predicted enough times to be a believer.
The use of jake (year-old toms) turkey decoys is a territorial thing. A dominance thing. No adult gobbler worth his 12-inch beard is going to let any young kid wander around his ground putting the moves on his girls. So, theoretically, when an adult gobbler sees a jake — and hears you making low-pitched jake yelps and clucks — he’s going to scurry on over to assert his authority. Present him with a jake and a hen decoy together, and he’s not going to be able to resist the urge to pummel something.
On the flip side of this, we’ve hunted farms that held shark packs — groups of four to eight mean and angry jakes — that have, as a single unit, terrorized even the adult gobblers on the place. In this case, a lone tom coming to a call sees a hen … then a jake … and starts backing away from the setup. He’s afraid, plain and simple. So again, you’re running the risk of your decoy plan backfiring when you set a jake.
Is there an answer? It depends on how well you know the birds you’re hunting. Is there a shark pack or two running roughshod on the farm? Or are the adult gobblers in charge? Here, it’s a combination of decoys, scouting and knowledge of your particular flock(s) of birds that pave the way to success.
Tips to Setup Your Turkey Decoys – Michael Waddell | SCHEELS
FAQ
How to arrange turkey decoys?
Why won’t turkeys come to my decoys?
How effective are turkey decoys?
Should I use a male or female turkey decoy?