One of the most exciting, and effective, ways to lure a gobbler into shotgun or bow range is the use of turkey decoys. That’s no big secret. But successfully decoying gobblers is more than randomly putting out a couple feeding hen decoys and hoping it all works out. With today’s incredibly lifelike decoys, you can vary the type you use, how many you use, and where you place them, depending on the time of the season and how birds are acting. Here’s how to go about provoking the right reaction when gobblers see your dekes.

Choosing Decoys

A turkey’s first line of defense is its incredible eyesight, right? Thus, above and beyond all else, the key to maximizing decoy success is to use the most lifelike decoys you can buy. Decades ago, decoys were cheaply made, with little thought given to attention to detail. While you can still find el cheapo decoys, today’s very best are so realistic it is hard to tell them apart from a real bird. Look for precise feather detail, spot-on coloration and true-to-life head and body shapes. Don’t settle for cheaper models with unrealistic color schemes, or crude or awkward shapes. Get models with various body postures, including upright, feeder, breeder and relaxed hens, and standing, quarter-strut, half-strut and full-strut gobblers and jakes. Strutter decoys that let you use a real tail fan will increase their effectiveness tenfold. The more different types of decoys you have, the more you can vary your setup as the season progresses. Decoys also need to be durable enough to last for many seasons, as well as easy to both transport and set up quickly in the field.

Finally, natural-looking movement can seal the deal when a turkey decoy that remains still as a statue may keep wary birds away. Find decoys that turn or bob softly in the wind, like a bird slowly walking through a field, pecking at bugs – but avoid decoys built so lightly they swing or turn wildly in the breeze. There are also ways to add motion both physically and electronically, where legal, that are dynamite – see below for more on this.

While there are lot of decoys out there, I have found that decoys from Avian-X, Dave Smith Decoys, Mojo Outdoors, Higdon Outdoors, Primos, The Grind Outdoors, Hunter’s Specialties and Montana Decoy are all excellent.

Adding Motion

Turkeys are perpetual-motion machines, always bobbing and weaving as they feed along. That’s why adding a little motion to your decoys can trigger an aggressive response when a static decoy can create caution. Natural motion caused by the wind is great. Set your dekes up so they rotate slowly on their stakes. On days with strong winds, jam a stick on each side of the decoy so it will spin and move in a controlled manner, the sticks preventing it from spinning wildly.

Where legal, using manual and electronic motion is unbelievably effective. One example is the Dave Smith Mating Motion Jake and Mating Motion Pair, which allows you to add motion using a pullcord attached to the jake. The Higdon TruStrutter XS uses a remote control and lithium battery to allow you to add motion at will to a very realistic strutter decoy. The unique magnetic fan holder on this decoy makes adding a real turkey fan as easy as pie. There’s also an awesome device called the STRUTT’N 360, a small battery-powered box into which an included decoy stake is set, that uses a remote control to add motion to the decoy. I’ve used this device a lot over the past three seasons, and all I can say is that it is a game changer. Be sure to check regulations where you hunt, as this type of device is not legal in all states. But it works, big time.

The Big Picture

Maximum success means mimicking what turkey flocks in your hunting area are doing at any given time during the season. In general terms, turkeys start the season out in big flocks, then splinter off into smaller groups as the season marches on. So when using decoys as part of your strategy, it just makes sense to deploy multiple dekes early on, but by the end of the season using just a single hen, or perhaps a pair of hens with a jake, will produce better results. The weeks in between opening and closing days of the season are where you should observe the turkey’s behavioral patterns, and choose your decoys accordingly.

“No doubt, during certain periods of the season, specific decoy setups make a difference,” said Chuck Sykes, director of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and one of the most accomplished wild turkey hunters I’ve ever met. “Early in the season, when most birds are trying to establish dominance, a strutting gobbler with a real fan can be dynamite. Even the birds that might be a bit gun-shy later on will often be aggressive enough to come to this setup early – especially if it is a little group of 2-year-olds. As the season moves along, though, a better choice is a jake with a laydown hen and maybe an additional feeding hen or two. Then, later still, after a bunch of the younger gobblers have been killed, going back to the strutter and laydown hen can work on an older gobbler’s aggressive breeding tendencies – especially if that strutter incorporates a real jake fan.”

Here are some scenarios you’ll likely encounter, and how to attack them.

The Jake/Breeder Hen

While I love using a strutter with a real turkey fan attached, this dominant look can, at times, spook birds – especially 2-year-old gobblers. Where I do most of my hunting, the single best decoy setup you can use is a submissive, half- or quarter-strut jake a few feet behind a laydown hen decoy – especially during the first few weeks of the season. Pretty much any gobbler or group of jakes that sees this setup is going to come running, trying to kick the jake’s butt and take over the lady. The key is to make sure the laydown hen is set up high enough so as to be easily visible to approaching birds. Later in the season, I might add another feeder hen or two to the mix. Position them facing your setup all in the same direction, with the jake in last place, which simulates a little flock walking away, with the only male in the flock about to breed. When gobblers come in, they’ll pretty much always go to the jake decoy first, so I place it right where I want to take the shot.

The Strutter

I love using strutter decoys with a real fan attached. When that tail is lit up by the sun and moving gently to and fro, you can be sure every turkey that comes within visual range will see it and react. How they react is the key.

“Use the strutter with other decoys,” Sykes advised. “A breeding hen is dynamite, along with another feeding hen or two. I also like using smaller-bodied strutter decoys that won’t scare off 2-year-olds that will want to come in and fight for breeding rights. Adding a real jake fan, as opposed to the fan of an older gobbler, can help sell this scenario.

“I also will go to the strutter when using the jake/breeder hen combination sees a real gobbler come into that setup and spook,” Sykes said. “It might be that there is an overabundance of jakes in the area. A bunch of jakes is like a gang of testosterone-loaded teenagers, which to a gobbler means trouble, and he will sometimes avoid the jakes like the plague.”

Less is More    

As April rolls into May, the days get longer and the weather better. Turkey flocks have broken up, there’s lots of nesting going on, food in the form of insects and new green growth is abundant, and the gobblers really don’t want to fight anymore – but they do love a sure thing when it comes to breeding. This time of the year you’ll encounter many single hens out cruising, or maybe a little group of hens feeding along, and mostly loner gobblers or small groups of jakes.

This is when using one or two feeder and/or upright hen decoys can pay off. This is what gobblers expect to encounter when out cruising, and when coupled with some soft yelps and purrs, will draw their attention. Adding a quarter- or half-strut jake that mimics a jake trying to pick up a girl at closing time can get a gobbler to come in at a run.

Notes on Setting Up

Decoys need to be visible, which means setting them up in the sunshine, while you hide in the shade. Set them up on little humps and hillocks in fields, on bumps and hills in the woods – anything that helps elevate them to increase visibility.

In spots where the brush is tall, don’t be afraid to rip some out or chop it lower, so the decoy can be more visible. If the brush, rocks, sticks and fallen branches will impede the decoy’s ability to move in the breeze, remove it all. In brushy areas I’ll sometimes kick out a little clear space maybe 3 to 4 feet in diameter and set the decoy stake in the middle of it, so that my decoy can both be set up on the level, and move in the breeze without impediment.

If I am going to hunt a morning spot near a roost – and I never set up closer than a couple hundred yards from a roost tree — in the prior afternoon I’ll sometimes pre-set my decoy stakes in front of my blind. Then flag them with the same reflective bright-eyes trail markers that I use when deer hunting, so that I can locate them and set my decoys as quickly and quietly as possible in the dark.

Lastly, when you set up the decoys, make sure they are upright, and not tilted at an odd angle. The key is to make the scenario appear as natural as possible, and decoys leaning like drunken sailors are sure to alert wary turkeys that something’s not right.