Decoy tactics: a few suggestions

[KitsapCaller]

I own a hen and jake hardshell set from Flambeau which I bought several years ago. I noticed when I placed the stake inside the plastic insert inside the decoy and set up the decoy, the decoy would set level and almost in an alert position.

So I took a screwdriver and removed the screw which holds the plastic insert in place and reinstalled the insert back about 3 inches behind it's original location. By doing this it changed the center of the decoy and now it sits with it's head facing down in a "feeding" position. I did this to both decoys so they look like a feeding pair.

I used some Testor's model paint and added some detail and realism to the decoy in general.

Finally, I'm adding a small dowel with about 30 feet (a little more than what I need) of fishing line tied to the decoy so that I can give it a little tug if I need to add motion. I will also have a couple lengths of coat hanger that I can stick in the ground next to the decoy to prevent it from spinning around 360 degrees which would spook any turkeys that see it do that.

[Fan Club]

Nothing like good 'ol Yankee ingenuity.

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[webfoot]

I did the same thing with some soft decoys (from Delta I think) a few years ago. I moved the grommet back like you said and it definitely made the decoys look like they were feeding.

I now use Carry-lite decoys and the hen's posture is feeding and the jake's upright. I haven't changed anything on the jake due to its body positioning. It wouldn't look quite right to move its stake location.

When I used the Delta decoys, I also did the anti-spin trick, but I just used some sturdy sticks picked up from the woods and carried around in my vest. The Carry-lite decoys have a short string attached on the bottom breast area to which I added a 3" piece of stiff wire. When setting up the decoys, I push the wire into the ground, leaving some slack in the string to allow 25-30 degrees spin.

I also have the handle section from an old gun cleaning rod (about 12" long) to use as a "hole starter" for the stakes. Sometimes the ground is hard enough to need a little help getting the stake in.

[swpatrkyhunter]

I took that fihing line idea one step further a couple years back by takeing a Knight and Hale tom coffin push-pull call and makeing a bracket for it so I could stake it under the decoy. Ran the fishing line back to my set up and gave it a tug now and then. It worked! I also use that call set up when I'm not useing decoys to sound like a moving hen or multiple hens in two seperate areas. I'll place the call set up a few yards behind me. That way if a tom seems like he wants to hang up I can make him think the hen has lost interest for him not commiting and is starting to move away from him. Had that work for me twice.

[T.W. Houk]

I bolted a pair of gobbler wings to the side of my by b-mobil. I also caped a tom and dried the cape. I then sowed velcro to the underside of the cape and stuck velcro on b-mobil's back. i could have permanteley attached the cape but i didn't want to have a soggy wet decoy on rainy days. When it is nice out and Im hunting an open area i break out my homemade stuffer. I did get the pleasure of watching a tom get whacked while standing on the back of my decoy in western IL last year. This project is very simple and much cheaper and in my opinion conveinant that a stuffer.