Turkey Decoys Sucker — Who?
April 21st, 2008
Serious turkey hunters will do anything and everything they can within the law to draw a gobbler in close. Lately the hip technique has been using full-bodied strutting tom decoys dressed to the nines with a real fan, beard, and sometimes even real body feathers. These decoys are selling like hotcakes, and they aren’t cheap. But the question is, who is the real turkey – the gobbler or the hunter?
I have seen hot gobblers literally attack strutter decoys, running at them from a hundred yards away to pick a fight. Man, is that exciting or what? Then it is like shooting fish in a barrel. On the flip side, I have seen gobblers shy away from these dandified fakes like they had the worst case of buffalo breath on earth. When that happens the hunt is ruined. And it happens more often than you might think.
Oh, I still carry one with me. It has the real fan and beard and I have even modified it so that it dances enticingly in the slightest breeze. This spring it helped me shoot a dandy bird, but I also saw a couple strut well out of range and refuse to come closer. So the question is, instead of the one bird I shot over the decoy and the two that walked off, would I have killed all three relying solely on my hunting skills and not the decoy?
They may be marketed as about as guaranteed a technique as you can buy in the turkey woods, but truth be told, too many folks buy these things thinking they will help them overcome a lack of scouting, poor calling skills, and lack of hunting experience. They can certainly be a part of your hunting plan, but not a backwoods sort of government bail-out plan that magically will solve all your problems.
12 Comments Add your own
1. TheGobbler77 | April 21st, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I agree with your way of thinking. Good stuff!
Can’t wait to read your next blog!
2. Kevin | April 21st, 2008 at 4:07 pm
True that brother! Love the humor!
3. HuntNow | April 25th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Common sense among all the marketing hype. We could all use more of Mr. Robb.
4. Gobbler King | May 4th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Boy, that’s the truth. Right on Robb!!
5. ShadowHunter | May 20th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Too fancy, I go decoy-less
6. Turkey nut | May 20th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
well if we did not use decoys, we would have less to blame when we are unsuccesful.
7. OKie deer hunter | May 21st, 2008 at 8:57 am
Preach it Bob! I did that exact thing this year. Had a bad start to the season and thought a strutter decoy would fix all my woes. Good old fashion scouting would have been a better solution.
8. +AFw-')/*&hellip | June 28th, 2008 at 1:59 am
ekibastos
ekibastos
9. str8shot | August 9th, 2008 at 11:15 am
After knowing Bob for longer than either of us would like to admit I have to say that he knows his stuff..
10. cheryl | August 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Right on! I got snookered the same way this past spring. Let’s have more of this kind of thing on this website, OK?
11. binocular comparison&hellip | September 19th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
binocular comparison
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12. Robbin Abbott | November 12th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
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