Turkeys...to decoy, or not to decoy? Any help from the experts please!!

[Overspined]

I have killed a ton of turkeys. That said I am having a problem!!! With a shotgun it is easy, so this year I am trying with a longbow and no blind. I have the camo nailed down and can remain totally concealed, but I cannot decide how to proceed to get the birds close enough to shoot.

I am hunting the edge of a hayfield and/or a plowed dirt field. So one big field, 1/2 hay, 1/2 nothing(dirt). This is the focal point for the birds. They are there almost every day at some point and love both field types. Timber on a couple of edges and usually I know where they roost. I have had luck just ambushing them (just out of range!), but something is just not right with decoys. The toms will not commit to them. They hang up at 60 yds, so I quit using them.

I called a lone tom across the field to a no decoy set-up, and at 80 yds he veered to another part of the woodlot and came back 1/2 hr later with 2 hens...gone.

I don't overcall and I would like to have some input as to if, and what types of decoys to use to get some response. The bird my dad killed 2 weeks ago was a big 3 yr old, and the birds I am hunting are equally mature, some maybe more so. Are they scared of getting their butts kicked? Have they been overcalled/decoyed? Just old and smart??

How do you call in hens?? This property has the most birds I have ever hunted, but the most difficult as well. I saw one other hunter so far in 3 weeks of semi-frequent set-ups. Most with ambush in mind and no decoys and extremely little calling so I know I have not burned them out. Only used decoys twice.

Thanks in advance!!!

[Overspined]

I am thinking they really don't like the woodlot edges so I am considering setting up against the wheels of the giant sprinklers in the middle of the field. They like to spend a lot of time waay out in the middle as well. Decoys?? I am considering it again.

[Guru]

Definitely get out there by the "wheel"...

What are you using for decoys? Is there a jake included?

If it were me....I'd be out there by that wheel  with two hens and a strutting jake decoy.  

Good luck!        

[Overspined]

I have considered that after seeing your set-up Guru. I don't have a strutting jake, but have a feeding one with a bobblehead. I do have real tails that are fanned saved from other birds I could set up for the effect though. I own a full body hen staning up, a feeding hen with a bobble head, a jake with a bobble head, and some of the hens and a full strut tom in the fabric 2d (got em very cheap and thought they would work but haven't tried them yet)

[Overspined]

One of the times I was set-up and not calling with decoys out, no blind,  and 2 big toms (one my dad took later) walked by at 60 yds and really paid ZERO attention to the flock. They seemed to shy away.

[Friend]

When hunting seemingly decoy shy birds and I still insist on using a decoy, the following set-up has worked on more than one occassion. Set the dekes where they are mostly hidden and can not be seen from any distance longer than 20 yards. Don't give the birds an opportunity to study your dekes. The dekes may be partially hidden in vegetaion, in a isolated low spot in the field or just around a corner. The object is to make the birds suspect that a live bird is really there before committing and making the final approach.

[Overspined]

Friend, that is what I typically do in the woodlots, but fields are tough. You can see for a very long way. And if they hear calling and there is nothing there, they become suspicious.

[Friend]

I use the same techniques for field hunting. Tomorrow, I will be hunting a plowed field. There is a short sharp depression next to field which the dekes will be partially hidden in vegetation. The birds will be within 20 yards of the dekes before they can actually see them. My blind will be backed in several yars from the field edge and I will be positoned where I will have a greatly reduced field of view. Bird watching has never produced many birds for me. The field set-up I used yesterday was setting up on an inside corenr low depression area. The dekes were hidden in burn boundary vegetation just around the side of the inside corner. These kinds of set-ups have worked well when not using decoys.

I hunt a public bowhunting WMA. The birds here a well trained as a result. This part of the season the birds run from normal calling, dekes and blinds.

[Overspined]

hmmmm. good ideas. the field is rolling slightly so I can have just "parts" showing from a distance. the hay is higher now as well.

[Friend]

Good luck. Let us know how you do. The better the set-up, the less likely you need dekes.

[Osage61]

Excellent advice. I have been setting my decoys out so that they could be seen for miles in order to get a bird interested. I'll remedy that on Monday morning !!  

[Friend]

Overspined

One of your questions was 'How do you call in hens?' Calling in hens on occassion has been the only way a shot opportunity was presented. If you know a gob has hens and he is not responding yet the hens are vocal and repsonding . Then try to mimmic the hen that is reponding. She yelps twice..You yelp twice. She cuts...You cut. I don't get fancy but just try to mimmick her. As she gets more aggresive, so do you. I guess it is like mocking another person, they don't care for it either. Seems like every other year I have a hen pull in a gob like this.

[Bowmania]

Forget those male decoys this late in the season.  

Put some birds to bed and let 'em sit in the tree for about 10 min.  Then chase their butts to the wind.  Next AM, set up in the direction they went.  Make sure your the first call.

Bowmania

[Skipmaster1]

I often times use a lone hen decoy and i have been very successful at calling in hens. if they are vocal I just mimic them  and try and cut them off, finish calling after they do. It really drives them nuts

[Overspined]

I went out tonight with my 5 yr old daughter and we called in a hen quite close, and another within range, and some others skirted out about 100 yds. About 13 hens in all and not a tom in sight...very windy but not one tom went out in the fields that we could see. I have also noticed that they seemed to have changed their roosting locations for the most part. I wonder why. More foliage? We aren't chasing them anywhere and really I don't think anyone else is either. I know there are several really big toms around here, but they seem to have been thinning out. I went ahead and placed the decoys in plain sight today as the wind was blowing very heavily and they had a lot of movement. Seemed to be okay.

[Shakes.602]

Well, "Expert" I am far from being, but a Jake and a Couple of Hens  DO  get the Toms Attention!! Gets His "Blood Up" so to Speak!!