Full or half?

[Buckeye1977]

Looks like I'm gonna have HOPE for my annual Kentucky Turkey hunt this year! Very excited because it's the first time I've been a part of this great cause for the kids. I've never killed a turkey with trad equipment but have killed my share with other weapons. I usually start the week off with my recurve but as the hunt wears on I cave in to the pressure of not filling my tag! This year I'm committed to sticking with HOPE whether I kill or not. I've had some frustration the last few years with my decoys. I started using a full strut Tom about 10 years ago and had nothing but good luck with it for the first 8 years but the last couple it seems like the birds don't want to close the distance. Sometimes they shy away completely as soon as they see it so last year I bought a dsd half strut Jake to see if it would make a difference. I had some birds commit to it but seemed to take them forever. It was the first season of using it so don't have a lot to compare by but really didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference. Just wondering what some of you use and why either full strut or half and reasons why as I'm looking for any advantage I can get to try to tag my first trad bird.

Nick

I am not a big time turkey hunter, but when I use decoys, I usually use a hen or two and a jake.

Bisch

[Nantahala Nut]

I think if you throw a hen or two in with that Jake you are gonna have an easier time getting them to commit. I try to set the hen close to the ground in a submissive position. I aim to get that Tom fired up thinking a punk is gonna breed his hen.

[Buckeye1977]

I usually use a hen with my full strut decoy but was told by a buddy to use it either way and wouldn't matter. I figured I'd try it without the hen so I would have a lighter load to carry into the woods. My next step was going to be trying the hen but hadn't thought of putting it close to the ground. What usually happens to me is the birds will hang out of range for the first few days and I get frustrated and pull out the boom stick and then they walk right in usually well under 20 yards!!!!

Nick

[Orion]

I use the DSD half strut jake as well, sometimes with a hen, sometimes without. Our seasons here extend over a six week period.  I've found that as hunting pressure and the seasons progress, the Toms are less likely to come in to a decoy and may even shy away from them.  

The first two one-week periods, they come in fairly readily.  Less so in the second two one-week periods, and by the last two, they usually clear the area as soon as they see the decoy.

Last year I was using one of those old foam fold up jobs.  I put my lunch in it, so it was on the ground behind me.  That tom came right in when I least expected it, and no sir, I did not get him, even though he was only four feet from me, on the wrong side of the cedar.   I set my good jake decoy so it is head low and tail high,  I have had late season toms jump all over that thing and I have also had them completely skirt around me when I had  all four of my decoys out.  I am not any kind of an expert on turkeys, they baffle me at times.

[Friend]

When a gob races in on a strutting decoy, it can be the greatest show on earth. A remarkable and most effective video selling point.

More times than not, a strutting decoy will not be 1/3 as productive as a jake/half strut decoy. A couple of different large decoy company pro's have quietly relayed than when they are pressed to make a kill, they leave the strutter at home.

No setup is ideal for all situations and especially if the birds have witnessed the identical setup day after day. Yet, hunting a critter that doesn't even know itself what it may do next presents its challenges. A setup that failed to produce earlier on the same bird may be the ticket later.

Have merely successfully arrowed 34 birds. An insignificant harvest number in comparison to the high number of hunts. Have missed twice as many in the earlier years. There are Trad Gang members that have harvested more than twice as many as myself. Perhaps they will chime in. Their input should prove to be most valuable.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

I have two tails for my strutter, full for certain dominant birds and a Jake tail. The Jake strutter with a hen or two will pull just about everything versus the big full fan will get hangups.

They both have there purpose and both tails are from real birds I've taken. I think that will make a difference to or maybe it's just me    :D  

 

 

Tracy

[Buckeye1977]

Originally posted by K.S.TRAPPER:

They both have there purpose and both tails are from real birds I've taken. I think that will make a difference to or maybe it's just me  

That's exactly what I did with my strutter also and seemed to make a difference with the real fan. Have always heard that turkeys have short term memory but if that was the case I wouldn't think they'd be so dang hard to hunt at times!

Nick