hen decoy placement

[Spurred]

Which way do you face your hen decoys?

I've read advice to place them facing away so that when a tom approaches from behind he has his back to you. However, I like to face mine away from where I think the tom will approach (which often happens to face them at me) because I want him to think she hasn't noticed him. My idea is that he will then be forced to come closer instead of standing off and strutting for her.

[doublegobble]

I've read that you should face the deke toward you so the tom will come around to the dekes head,--- he wants to be face to face with the hen.

[RNC]

Good question. This spring is my first for turkey hunting. I have used deer decoys while bowhunting and have had decent success with them. For deer you set a buck decoy facing you because other bucks will usally circle the dec to challenge it head on. A doe dec is set facing away from you because a buck will circle it to smell he to see if she is ready to breed. Do these rules of thumb also apply to hen, jake or strutting tom decoys?

[silvestris]

Wouldn't have a clue.

[Otsdawa_Ridge_Runner]

I've always done it with the deke facing me for the same reasons stated above.  However, on windy days it can be hard to do that especially if you are using feather flex decoys like I use because they spin/weather vane with the wind.  It's a crap shoot either way with dekes anyway...some days they work and other days the ole boy see's it and does an about face.  There is an excellent article in Field and Stream (March issue) about how to place multiple decoys and the ever so popular strutting dekes.  It's a good read and I highly recommend it.

Mack

[outdoorsmen]

which ever way you fce them it will be the wrong way 99% of the time.  so if it don't work out for you you will swear that it was cause of wrong decoy placement so you will dot the opposite next time. opps didn't work again. now your up in arms. so now you don't use a decoy at all. but the bird now hangs on you looking for the source of the sound, wish you had a decoy out.  it's a slippery slope.

[Fan Club]

if you are using feather flex decoys like I use, they spin/weather vane with the wind.

 
Ridge-
 
Try putting some small, bare sticks in the ground about 3 inches on either side of your deke's tail. This will allow about 45 degrees of movement without the total 180 spin effect. Pieces of wire coat hanger work well for this, you can keep a few bundled with a rubber band in the bottom of your vest and won't even know they are there until you need them.
 
Jeff

[moco]

I've read that if you are using a Tom or a Jake decoy you face it away from you cause a Tom with circle and face up to the decoy to intimidate and with a hen face it to you cause the Tom with approch the hen from behind.

[Otsdawa_Ridge_Runner]

ORIGINAL: Fan Club

if you are using feather flex decoys like I use, they spin/weather vane with the wind.

Ridge-

Try putting some small, bare sticks in the ground about 3 inches on either side of your deke's tail. This will allow about 45 degrees of movement without the total 180 spin effect. Pieces of wire coat hanger work well for this, you can keep a few bundled with a rubber band in the bottom of your vest and won't even know they are there until you need them.

Jeff

 
Jeff,
   Thanks for the info on that one.  I will definately try it out next time.
 
Mack

[JPH]

From what I have read, [font=arial]hen decoys should be placed in such a way as to take advantage of the tom approaching it from the rear. When I was bow hunting, I always faced the deke away from me and I had several gobblers try to mount it. Now that I only gun hunt, the position of the gobbler is more important to me when considering decoy placement. I usually try to make her look like she is moving away from him.
 
Just my two cents. Good luck.