Let me start off saying this is my first year to chase turkeys and i had a question abot decoy set up.

I went out friday morning and was working a couple of birds with no decoys. They came into my calling looking for the hen
(me) got close enough shot the biggest one...no big deal. I was pumped to get em.

Fast forward to this morning.. I set up a hen and jake decoy. I'm calling all morning not hereing a darn thing. I give it one more series of yelps and i bout had my head goblled off. Out of nowhere this turkey shows up about 60 yds away. I'm thinking he was coming in all morning but just silent. SO he finally breaks through the tree line and he is in full strut. It was a thing of beauty and he was a hoss. Looked like his beard almost drug the dang ground. ANyway he gets to about 50 yds take a good look at my decoy setup and that was all she wrote. Puts his feathers back in and slowly walks away.

We talked back and fourth for another 25 min or so but he steadily kept walking away.

SO what gives? Was my choice in set up worng, do my decoy suck... it just kind of stumped me.

This was my 3rd hunt ever as a self taught turkey chaser. The first 2 i connected and thought, "well heck i don't know what all the fuss is about"

This was a humbling experience to say the least.

I dont have much experience using decoys but

First what type of decoys do you have? I dont think it matters if he ( Tom is hot enough )

Second were you in direct line with the decoys ( being was he on the opposite side from you to were he could have seen you )

Third if youre hunting on public land it could have been that he ( Tom ) might have just had a run in with another hunter using the same type of decoys and that hunter did not kille him ( Tom ).

They are very unpredictable at times I have been in a setup before were I just drove up in my truck and got out of it and putting on all my gear ( 10 Minutes Passed) then made a call and had one to answer right away about 200yds from me and came in so fast that I could not get far enough away from my truck and the Tom walked 20yds away from my truck in a clear open pasture and I had to wait until he passed my truck so I would not shoot it.

I would echo 7mm's comments, if the turkey could see you he would and if he has seen those decoys before, he will remember them for a while...

i was hunting private.. and you may be right he could have seen me.

When he put his fan back in he made a soft sound kind of sounded like "derp derp" I noticed this same sound the day before when i shot the other tom. I guess i called in 2 that day but only saw the lead bird when i shot. After i shot and stood up (was in some really tall grass) the other turkey walking away made the same derp derp noise.

This was my last hunt for this year...but the monster tom that got away has alreadt got me shomping at the bit for bext year.

Yes the "derp derp " you are talking about is there alarm sound they make to comunicate to each other that means somethings not right.

The softer sound,they are not for sure but definatly not on red alert its just something they seen they dont like.

When they make the sound louder its definatly RED ALERT get the heck outta here fast.


Congratulations on the Spring Turkey bug, I'm the same here if I were to killl nothing or if I were to Kill 4 the very next day I'm ready for season to start all over again. I just cant get enough of it.

thanks for the feedback, as i am still very new to turkey hunting and enjoy soaking up as much info as i can.

You probably got busted somehow. Circa late 70s being a duck hunter Dad got the idea of building a hen turkey decoy. We made a plaster of paris mold - he was a toolmaker - put some holes in it for the expanding foam to ooze out to indicate complete fill. Mom being the "landscape oil painter" painted it. On her first attempt she got the blue-grey head area right but the body was a little too dark but she lightened it up and made it a little more greyish. It worked for the Turkeys would trot right on in. He had a metal stand like a dowel which was loose enough where the decoy would swing in the wind every now and then to get some movement.

These days I look at how realistic today's decoys are and think back to this and can't help but smile when someone worries too much about how real their decoys look to the turkeys. Actually Turkeys are dumb birds but if you move or not hid well enough, or look out of place they will bust you every time.

Good luck.

JT

just a thought but could have been your jake deke, late season toms may be like big bucks during rut and arent looking for another fight, just a girlfriend. I use one or two hens later in season and leave the jake at home but use him with a hen early in the season. Maybe someone with a lot more experience and success will tell me if I am learning or just guessing?

do the same thing, usually 2 or 3 hens.

Another thing if this the gobbler can see the decoys from a long ways some I think expect to see a more movement than stationary decoys provide. I think decoys work best especially in late season for finishing the bird off, getting it that last bit comming into range.

Then again we over think turkeys way too much, they are equipted with birdbrains, never been called that as a complement

This is a great story. I hope to get a chance to hunt turkey, thanks!

Single hen this weekend fooled three gobblers had em all in bow range from ten to twenty yards. I put my decoy at about ten feet from my blind so if they hang up their still usually in bow range.

that's

Turkeys are very mysterious animals to hunt and can either be the easiest or hardest to kill. I have this habit of always facing the hen or jake decoy towards me. If a long beard looks into my decoy's eye he will get uneasy and usually high tail it out of there.

This spring season, I called up 5 gobblers within about 4 yards of me without spooking them using this method.