to use a Jake decoy or not? I normally use a Jake and hen decoy and am noticing the younger birds (Jake's) will gobble and come to call but not fully puff up and display and seem to be afraid of coming near the Jake decoy, maybe it's a good thing as it keeps away birds you wouldn't really want to shoot anyway, or I'm thinking of using hen only decoys. any opinions.
it is always a gamble with jake or tom decoys. i use a Carrylite Pretty boy most of the time with a full fan, jakes if in group will gang up on it usually sometimes a lone tom will be skittist because the pretty boy looks big . dominant toms will sometimes not even look at a hen if they see another tom or jake they just want to fight makes for an exciting hunt
If you are hunting wide open property(which I think you are), you may be better off decoy-less. If the bird can see a long ways off, and can see your decoys for a long ways they may be a hindrance. Turkeys are moving constantly. They almost never stop. If a decoy is not moving at all, it looks unnatural to a turkey. My opinion anyway
I agree with Iluv2hunt I hardly ever use decoys anymore. I have had success with the full strut decoys with a jake fan and the beard cut down but I have also had birds run from it. If he sees a set of hen decoys normally hes going to lock up and start to strut telling the ladies here I am come and get some which in nature is the way its supposed to happen. The longer those hens sit there motionless the more leery he gets with the situation. When I do use a decoy its always a jake in the comination. To me it makes it seem more natural for the hen to not be moving much when she already has a man and a gobbler has got to fix that situation. If I use only one decoy its a jake also.
My favorite decoy setup is to take a hen decoy and short stake it, and stick a jake decoy right behind it, like she is squatting for him
