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Run and Gun Public-Land Turkey Decoying Tactics

 

How to gear up so you can cover ground and set up for maximum success this spring.

By Bob Robb

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the key to the gate of some fabulous private farm or ranch, where the turkeys are thick and hunting pressure low? It sure would! But if you’re like me, a hunter surviving on a workingman’s budget without landowner connections, you spend most — or all — of your time pounding public ground. Here, success is as much about outmaneuvering other hunters as it is outsmarting the turkeys.

In big country on public land, simply seeking out and finding turkeys to start with is a key part of the game. Photo credit Bob Robb.

To up your odds, you have to do some pre-hunt research and planning. Part of that planning process is anticipating what those who show up opening day stumbling around, hoping for the best, will do. I want to avoid those wannabe gobbler-getters at all costs, which is why I want to be as mobile as possible. My plan is to be able to attack a spot, and then, if nothing’s shaking or I find that I’m being bothered by others, be able to cover ground quickly searching for birds that have yet to be molested. At the same time, when I set up, I want to do so giving myself the very best odds that I can to get a gobbler into my comfortable shooting range. That means I want to have decoys along.

When it comes to turkey decoys, nothing beats life-size dekes for deadly efficiency. They’re also bulky and cumbersome to pack any distance along with the rest of your essential stuff. They can also be difficult to set up on a moment’s notice without being detected. This is especially true if you’re trying to hump around a full-body strutter with a detachable, real fan that has to be coddled while humping it over hill and dale.

Safety First

Public-land hunting often means you’ll encounter other gobbler-getters — especially when a tom sounds off, drawing everyone within earshot to the same locale. So, when choosing a spot to set up with your decoys, bear in mind that it’s possible some yahoo will shoot at the dekes without first identifying them as fakes. I try and set up with something solid behind me — big tree trunk, large rockpile — to protect my “6.”

When setting up, put some sort of solid screen behind you in case other hunters put a sneak on your calling and decoy setup. Photo credit Bob Robb.

I also shy away from using strutter decoys with real turkey fans, instead opting for a fake jake and laydown hen combo, which hopefully will discourage someone stalking my calling and decoys from taking a potshot at them. Lastly, if I am set up and see another hunter nearby, I call out to them, so they know where I am and that those are my decoys, not real birds. Better to blow a setup than risk an accident.

The Jake and Breeder Hen

So, while a strutter is by far my favorite all-around turkey decoy, when I hunt on public land, I leave it in the truck. Instead, I pack along a jake and breeder hen combination. I can pack both in the game pouch of my turkey vest, slung over a shoulder in carry bags, or as I often do, in a medium-large daypack (which I use instead of the traditional turkey vest), then cover ground quickly and easily, and set up rapidly with a minimum of movement. And this combination is super deadly. I also like to add another hen decoy to round out the realism.

Terrain Dictates Tactics

How to hunt is largely dictated by the terrain. Public-land hunting, first and foremost, requires locating turkeys to hunt. My friend, the late John Higley, killed more public-land gobblers in heavily hunted northern California since the state’s first seasons opened in the late 1960s than any man I ever met. I remember him telling me one way he found birds was to drive dirt roads through turkey country and look for tracks in the dirt road. When he found them, he’d stop, hike a bit looking for more sign, make a plan, then brush the tracks away so other hunters would not see them. He would also go for walks through the timbered country scouting and calling, marking locations where he found sign, heard birds or spotted them, on his maps.

I do the same, but I also try and get away from easy access points that draw lazy hunters. In big woods the best bet is to move and call, but wherever there’s more open terrain — big valleys, little meadows, open grassy areas around creeks, etc. — hunters should glass. Getting on high vantage points and glassing and listening may sound more like western deer and elk hunting, but it’s a great way to spot turkeys without getting busted. Calling to try and elicit a response is standard, but these days I do as much listening as I do calling. Better that I know where they are before they know where I am.

Hunters must be flexible enough to quickly develop a plan to hunt the individual gobblers they find. If I get a bird gobbling, I try to close the gap between us to a couple hundred yards, then locate a place to set up where I can place my decoys so they can be easily seen by approaching turkeys. Edge cover is ideal, providing open space for decoys and cover to hide me.

Controlled Aggression

I have often called my hunting style “controlled aggression.” By that I mean that I like to aggressively move until I find turkeys, then slow way down so that I don’t inadvertently bust them. That may mean hiking, glassing and calling for all or part of a day, but once I find a “sweet spot” — obvious roost trees, strut zones, fresh sign of scratching and feeding — I often hang around that area all day, waiting for the birds to show up. Setting decoys out ups my chances that when the birds return to the area, they’ll head my way.

A loud friction call can be a real asset when trying to locate gobblers in big country — especially on windy days. Photo credit Bob Robb.

Just how much and how fast I move depends in no small measure on the size of the tract of land I am hunting. Here’s an example. One sunny spring day I was hunting some public ground in South Dakota. It was mid-season, the birds, pressured by earlier hunters, would gobble before first light on the roost, but once they hit the ground they clammed up. Using my HuntStand smartphone app I found what looked like a little pocket of terrain that turkeys might like to spend the day in. I spent all morning scouting it out, found some fresh feeding sign — and no sign of other hunters. Backtracking, I found a roost tree with fresh droppings and feathers under its limbs.

So, I took a guess, built a small brush blind near a small creek that looked like a travel route back to the roost, set out my jake and breeder hen 35 yards in front, got comfy, took a nap, and waited. Sure enough, about an hour before fly-up time — I was about a quarter-mile from the roost trees – here they came, a little flock heading for home. A couple of soft yelps, the gobblers saw my decoys, and about minute later I was packing one of them back to the truck.

Setting Them Up

Set the breeder hen at an angle facing away from you, with the jake or strutter a step off her tail at a 90-degree angle to you, more or less. When a gobbler comes in, he’ll get nose-to-nose with the jake, giving you a broadside shot. Put the decoys up on a high spot so they can be easily seen by approaching turkeys from as far away as possible. Motion is always good, so let a breeze move your jake on its stake. If the wind is strong, you can place a couple of sticks or rock on either side of the jake’s tail so that its movement is controlled. You don’t want it spinning wildly.

The author with a public-land Merriam’s gobbler from South Dakota, and the decoys he used to lure the tom in. Photo credit Bob Robb.

On hard ground, getting a standard turkey decoy stake into the ground can be difficult, if not impossible. So bring an 18-inch long metal spike that can be driven into the ground with a rock. One reason that I like the laydown breeder hen decoy is that it doesn’t need any stake.

Finally, scope out the setup before placing the decoys. Ideally they will be in the sun and you will be in the shade; if the sun is at your back, so much the better.

Basic run-and-gun gear, clockwise from left: Avian-X breeder hen and jake decoy; 2,500 cu. in. daypack; padded seat with shoulder strap; 10×42 GPO binocular; laser rangefinder; turkey calls; shotgun with sling; 12-gauge, 3-in. Federal TSS turkey shotshells. Photo credit Bob Robb.

Gear: Keep It Simple

On long hikes away from the road, pare your gear down to essentials only. For me, that means my hunting license and turkey tag (if required), toilet paper and a few paper towels in a ziplock bag, large daypack or turkey vest, a few calls, jake and breeder hen decoys and stakes, carry decoy bags, binocular, laser rangefinder, shotgun and shells (or bow and arrows), an inflatable seat I carry using a shoulder strap, water and snacks, a 2mm plastic garbage bag for my turkey, a sharp knife, and smartphone with hunting app and/or maps showing the area. Spare gloves and facemask are in my pants cargo pockets, and a light jacket round it out. Anything else is extra weight and bulk I don’t really need.

Top Run & Gun Decoys

Avian-X decoys (www.avian-x.com) have become my go-to dekes for a couple of reasons. They’re extremely lifelike, and you can get them in either Rio Grande (which also serve as Easterns) or Merriam’s versions to “match the hatch” where you’re hunting. They are lightweight and inflatable, which means I can collapse them and save a lot of bulk when packing them long distances. I also like Dave Smith turkey decoys (www.davesmithdecoys.com). They’re incredibly lifelike and durable, but not inflatable. Both come with carry bags with shoulder straps (that I reinforced after failures), which makes packing the decoys back to the truck with a big gobbler in my pack or vest pouch a snap.

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