Flextone Thunder Chicken Decoy

[Uncle Nicky2]

I'm thinking of buying a lightweight, portable gobbler decoy (Don't want anything big & bulky like B-Mobile or Pretty Boy). Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with the Flextone Thunder Chicken Decoy?

Thanks! Nick

[retranger]

I have only used a cheap roll up hen decoy and it is getting a little beat up. Have had to repaint the head but it has worked well for me.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

I've not had the pleasure of using one, but they look ok, better than the Montana roll up silhouette style. I've used the Flambeau king strut which is a soft bodied light weight full strut decoy that you can flaten out and put into your vest and still have a full body decoy that birds can see from any angle.

[stankyolgobbler]

I haven't used the thunderchicken. Realism is not a problem to my knowledge and I have seen people kill birds with it. My thing is beware of full strut decoys, some gobblers will shy up if they aren't the dominant bird in the woods and if it strikes a more aggressive pose than the big boy on your property, he may shy away too. I say this because I used pretty boy for a week one season. 2 birds on 2 separate occasions came to the calling, saw the decoy, and tucked tail and ran. Also, there is nothing more important to me than mobility,make sure it fits in your vest if you do use it. But hey, if the thunderchicken works....USE IT! Good luck.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

My thing is beware of full strut decoys, some gobblers will shy up if they aren't the dominant bird in the woods and if it strikes a more aggressive pose than the big boy on your property, he may shy away too. I say this because I used pretty boy for a week one season. 2 birds on 2 separate occasions came to the calling, saw the decoy, and tucked tail and ran. Also, there is nothing more important to me than mobility,make sure it fits in your vest if you do use it. But hey, if the thunderchicken works....USE IT! Good luck.

Sage makes a very good point about adult strutting decoys. As with anything in turkey hunting you must pay attention to the birds in your area to have a successfull hunt. If you use a full strut adult gobbler decoy with an adults tail and beard, you will find sub-gobblers shying away from them early in the breeding cycle for fear of getting their butt kicked. Where if you have a jakes tail and beard on your decoy they may come in for a closer look and challenge that jake. Through the peek and close to the end of the breeding cycle, a boss tom will challenge any and every thing that struts, a sub-gobbler will come in, but they come in cautiously and will circle around the decoy keeping a distance. The end of the breeding cycle, even your boss gobbler will shy away because of being wore out from battling and breeding all season, but your 2 year olds and jakes will challenge a strutter for the right to breed. That is why you must pay attention to the birds you are hunting and where they are in the breeding cycle for your strutter decoy to do it's full job.

[Uncle Nicky2]

Thanks guys for the replies.

I probably should have gone into more detail, the reason I'm looking to get a full-strut decoy is I'm planning to make another trip out west (Kansas, Texas panhandle, Nebraska) in a year or two. Last time I was out there early in the season, (mid-April), birds were kinda flocked up, had to try different tactics than what we do here with Easterns. A buddy I was with used a Pretty Boy with fairly good success, I'm thinking a more lighweight decoy I can use to close the distance across open fields might be another trick I can pull out of my sleeve if necessary. I can't see the need for a decoy like this where I live & hunt now (PA, NY, NJ), unless I'm hunting a large field on PRIVATE land (too dangerous).

Sage- looking forward to hunting with you this spring (April 4 & 5).

[Spur Man]

Like the guys have said the full strut decoys work best on the dominate gobblers. We carried one to Kansas one year and it did more harm than good.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Nick have you considered using just a tail fan, and fanning a bird in close enough for a shot?
Here is a video on fanning and how well it can work at certain times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JEjXB-T ... 81eiDtu8wA

[Uncle Nicky2]

Scott,

Actually, yes, it's definitely an option as well. And it would be a lot easier to lug around than an extra decoy. I've hunted these states before, and if the birds are flocked up (early in the season),it seemed that the toms were fanned all day long; it was kinda hard to get them come to hen decoys, they wouldn't come much closer than 70 yards. Trying to just sit & call wasn't working out too well either, I had to pretty much ambush them to fill my tags. I even killed one bird by scattering them like you do in the fall, sitting behind a fallen log, & calling one in.

I saw an article in this month's T & TH magazine that was suggesting a full-fan decoy & closing the distance, and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but probably not a great idea in some of the more crowded spots I hunt closer to home. I guess why I'm thinking of a larger decoy is it may break up my outline a little better than just a fan. But, maybe I'm just over-thinking the whole thing, LOL.

I was able to hunt this year after the flocks were broken up (Kansas & Oklahoma), calling the birds in like we do Easterns worked a out a lot better.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

I've used a fan before, and what I did was just spray paint a red stripe down the front of it, for safty reasons so a hunter can see that it's doesn't have a head just a red stripe. The birds see that fan and the red, with movement, and will come to check it out. Curiosity has killed more turkeys than anything, that's why calling without decoys works so well. Just an option for you to think about?