How to Make Your Own Turkey Decoy

Turkey hunting is an exciting and challenging sport. One way to increase your chances of tagging a big tom is to use decoys. Decoys can draw in wary gobblers and convince them to come within shooting range. While you can purchase turkey decoys from sporting goods stores, it can be rewarding to make your own. Read on to learn how to craft ultra-realistic turkey decoys that will fool even the savviest old tom.

Why Make Your Own Turkey Decoy?

There are a few key benefits to making DIY turkey decoys:

Cost savings – Purchased decoys can be expensive, with high-end options costing over $100 each Making your own allows you to save money.
Customization – When you build a decoy yourself, you can customize it to match the turkeys in your hunting area. You can choose realistic colors, shapes, and postures.
Durability – Commercial foam or inflatable decoys can tear or deflate. A homemade decoy made from wood or other rigid materials will stand up to repeated use.
Pride – There’s a special satisfaction that comes from harvesting a turkey over a decoy you crafted with your own two hands.

Decoy Design Considerations

When designing your homemade turkey decoy, keep these factors in mind:

Species – Hen or tom? Choose a gender that matches your hunting strategy. Toms work well for calling in lonely gobblers. Hens are less intimidating for pressured birds.
Realism – Focus on lifelike colors, proportions, and postures. Avoid anything that looks obviously fake. Study photos and videos of live turkeys as references.
Durability – Select weatherproof materials that can withstand moisture, sun exposure, and abuse from excited turkeys
Portability – Keep weight and bulk manageable for carrying to your hunting site. Folding or collapsible decoys are ideal.
Movement – Decoys that sway in the breeze or move via a pulling string can add realism But avoid anything motorized that could spook turkeys

Materials for DIY Turkey Decoys

You’ll need the following materials for most homemade turkey decoy projects:

Body material – Plywood, rigid foam, plastic, hardened paper mache
Feathers – Real turkey feathers, feather-patterned fabric, feather-textured paint
Adhesives – Wood glue, multipurpose spray adhesive, epoxy
Paint – Acrylic paint in appropriate colors
Stakes – Wood, metal, plastic for inserting into the ground
Hardware – Nuts, bolts, washers, wires, pulleys, if incorporating motion

Tip: Check craft stores for useful materials like foam, fabrics, paints, and adhesives. Recycle materials when possible – an old plywood board or plastic bucket can become your decoy’s body.

Steps for Making a DIY Turkey Decoy

While every homemade decoy will be unique, most follow a similar basic process:

Shape the Body

Cut out the desired decoy shape from plywood, foam, or other rigid material using a jigsaw or bandsaw. Hollow out the interior to reduce weight if desired. Seal and smooth the exterior with filler and sandpaper.

Add Feather Details

Glue, pin, or paint on feather patterns made from real turkey feathers, feather-printed fabrics, or textured paints. Carefully study feather placement on live birds.

Paint the Decoy

Use acrylic paints to add color and realism. Blend multiple paint colors to match the complex hues of actual turkeys. Add accents like the head color and barring on wings.

Insert Support Stake

Drill a hole in the bottom to insert a wooden dowel, metal rod, or plastic stake to secure the decoy in the ground.

Add Motion Elements

Optional: Insert wires, pulleys, or other hardware to make part of the decoy move. This added motion can help draw in warier birds.

Weatherproof the Decoy

Seal painted surfaces with polyurethane or spar varnish. Check that all materials are moisture and UV resistant.

Transport to the Field

Build a carrying case or stuff the collapsed decoy into a backpack. Bring stakes and motion hardware as needed.

Decoy Design Ideas and Inspiration

Looking for specific homemade turkey decoy designs to replicate or draw inspiration from? Here are a few clever ideas:

Fan decoy – Use real or artificial feathers on a folding wooden framework. The fanning action entices toms.
Full taxidermy mount – For the ultimate realism, use the tanned skin from a real harvested turkey stretched over a molded body form.
Head and neck decoy – Just replicate the head and neck portion to keep the decoy lightweight and packable.
Feeding hen decoy – Make a hen in a lifelike feeding pose with its head down pecking at the ground.
Collapsible 3D decoy – Use panels of foam or plywood that fold flat for transport but snap together to create a 3D decoy in the field.
Silhouette decoy – Cut a 2D profile silhouette from plywood or cardboard and paint to resemble a turkey. Lightweight and easy to store.

Expert Turkey Decoy Tips

To maximize success with your homemade turkey decoys, keep these pro tips in mind:

Set up decoys in open areas near trees or brush where turkeys feel secure. Avoid setting up right next to thick cover.
Make sure the stake securing your decoy is sturdy. Frustrated gobblers will attack and could dislodge a flimsy stake.
Set up multiple decoys together in small flocks, positioning hens closer and dominant toms farther away.
Add slight imperfections so decoys don’t look obviously man-made. Pluck a few feathers or make the colors slightly faded.
Shift your decoys occasionally during the season to change up their look, especially if hunting the same birds.
Be in position well before fly-down time so turkeys don’t see you set up the decoys.

Constructing your own turkey decoys is deeply satisfying and can give you an edge over pressured late-season birds. Follow the steps and tips outlined here to make realistic, durable and effective decoys. With a bit of creativity and effort, you can craft decoys that will fool those gobblers into giving you the shot you need. So get building and good luck this turkey season!

how to make a turkey decoy

Step up your turkey decoy game this season

When it comes to turkey decoys, I’m a minimalist. Though I understand that some movement in the spread can create interest, and a small spin can draw birds, I’m just not the guy you’ll find with a spool of fishing line connecting a decoy and my setup. Truth be told, unless I’m bowhunting turkeys I rarely carry decoys at all, and most of the time when I do it’s only in the early part of the season. When that time does come, however, I employ several strategies to stack the odds in my favor.

First and foremost, my turkey hunting philosophy has always been quite simple: I rely on my calling to do most of the work, and the overall endgame is to get them to hunt me. I’ve learned over the years that 2-year old longbeards will come quite readily to decoys and heavy calling, but older toms that have played the game before are harder to convince. The rub is that every bird is a bit different in his likes and dislikes, and you never know what gobbler will show up. All toms at some point will gobble or otherwise show some enthusiasm, but a decoy standing in the middle of a field or opening can look too good to be true.

Here are a few turkey decoy hacks and strategies to try on your next setup.

This may seem like an overreaction to putting them out in the middle of a plowed field, but it’s worked very well in the past, especially on early season birds. At the beginning of a turkey’s breeding season, pecking order among both males and perhaps more importantly, females, may still be getting worked out. I’ll often pair a tom decoy with a hidden hen, or run just a hidden hen off to the side of me along a fence line, area of taller grass, or back in the woods behind me a bit. The idea is to make it visible, but only occasionally so to an approaching group of birds. I’ve killed more toms over decoys on account of frustrated hens that are actively seeking out that high-pitched little homewrecker jenny, than toms that come in and respond actively to the male decoy. This is definitely an early season technique for me that’s effective in turning big flocks and steering lead hens and the resulting toms in my direction.

How to make a real life turkey decoy like Cedar Spur Decoys

FAQ

How to make turkey decoy more realistic?

One way to add some life to your fakes is to attach real turkey feathers to different parts of your decoy. “You can glue the down feathers from a turkey on the head or the legs of a decoy to add a little movement,” Peterson said.

What is the best setup for a turkey decoy?

My go-to setup for bowhunting turkeys is what I call the love triangle. The love triangle consists of two hen decoys set very close — say three to five yards — at 45-degree angles. Directly between the two hens, but farther out at 10 to 15 yards, I place a male decoy over a bedded hen.

Why won’t turkeys come to my decoys?

A key factor in making a decoy look realistic is movement. If a wise gobbler comes in to your setup, but the decoys are not moving, he may hold up and refuse to come in. “I’ve had turkeys step out and study unmoving decoys for five to 10 minutes waiting for movement,” he said. “Motion is always better.”

When should you not use turkey decoys?

Use them in open areas such as field edges, logging roads and sparse timber. If I am working a bird in heavy cover, it’s probably one of the few times I will not put a decoy out. In these situations, the longbeard is searching for my calls and we are in close quarters. If he stumbles on a decoy, he may get spooked.