So my season has not got off to the level that I had hoped that it would. Since my 9 year old boy missed a beautiful bird for the youth hunt I have not been able to seal the deal. But yesterday I actually had a great time not seeing a Tom. Funny how that works.
So the story is, I had four hens come in to the oak hammock I was in about 9:30. They came right to my decoy(hen only) and at first just kinda scratched around and cleaned themselves. About 10 minutes later started moving away. I called back with a quiet yelp and they came back. They started moving again but I wanted them to work for me. I cut twice at them and one hen came running right back to my decoy. We shared the battle for a few with her cuttin and I cuttin and threw in some fightin purrs for fun. Man was she pissed. One of the others came closer for the show as well. I of course was hoping that she would bring in ol Tom. I was amazed at what happened next. She layed right down staring at my decoy. The other hen layed down as well while the others stayed about 15 yards away. My question is this.Did I win the fight? Was she being submissive by laying down? Did she think my decoy was a small jake? I dont know as I have never been fortunate enough to see this before.
After they tried to leave a bit later I did it again. She came running right to me at the base of tree with little brush as a blind. Stared me down, checked behind me, clucked cut yelped purred. I think I heard every sound a turkey makes in that few minutes. They never made me or putted away with fear at all. She again lay down. It was an awesome show but never brought in Tom. When the wind picked up they took off and the show was over. If anyone has any experience or thoughts on this I would love to hear about it. Was she being submissive or just chillin? Anything that I could have done differently in your opinion let me know.
This is the link to the decoy that I have. I believe that this decoy is alot of the reason for yesterdays show as well as some of my past birds taken.
http://www.floozieturkeydecoys.com/index.php?page=mods/Products/itemdetail&itemid=1
The hens could be laying also.When a hen is ready to lay an egg, she will sit down multiple times till the egg is ready to come out. You may have caught them in the middle of their laying schedule
I doubt she thought your deke was a jake. that thing looks more real than a real turkey does
Huh, interesting. I did think that maybe at some point they no longer felt any threat and could relax as they were preening themselves. Thanks for a possible explanation.
