Used them twice. First time brought one in. Second time turkey ran.
If you do use dekes what brand are they?

Dave Smith Decoy and Avian X pretty good - look real

The laydown or breading hen w jake standing by her can be pretty effective

Everybody will hav own opinion - killed most of mine w out decoy

Hav real stuffed jake that works well w lay down hen

I’ve used Avian X decoys with success in fields and open areas. Never tried them in the woods. I sold mine though. Felt guilty after the fact, almost like I cheated in a way. Not knocking anyone that uses them, just not for me.

Avian X jake and hen work like a charm when the situation calls for it. The only time I ever use em is when I watch a wad of field turkeys fly up from the field edge and know they will fly right back down in the field the next morning. I can’t stand to watch them things for long and always bring along a newbie or my son as the primary shooter. They stay in the truck most of the time as I mostly woods hunt.

No.

Just go buy one at Piggly Wiggly. Less trouble and same level of accomplishment.

I already hump too much stuff with me through the woods running after a turkey that is usually running away from me to carry a bag full of decoys.
When I get too old to chase em, I may start deer hunting them a d use a blind and decoys then.

I have some cheap ones but I don't think I've carried them in a few years....just not my cup of tea.

I'll challenge anyone to BOWKILL a grown gobbler without a decoy....and yes I have done it several times but it is very difficult to draw undetected w/o a decoy. Only time I have ever used one.

You folks that bowhunt turkeys are nutty....even by turkey hunter standards. I'm not sure how many I'd have to kill with a shotgun to think I needed even more of a challenge, but I seriously doubt I ever get there. Not to mention, an arrow silently zipping through one just doesn't seem like it'd be nearly as satisfying as the *thud* of shooting one in the face and watching his head snap backward.

like ya said..nutty. I have been a bowhunter all my life, before I started turkey hunting. I have shotgunned a couple hundred gobblers, tried bowhunting them and love the challenge. One just has to accept that you won't kill near as many turkeys.

Modern or primitive arrows?

a real hunter would kill 'em with an atlatl

. Now that's funny.

there ya go short thinking. A REAL hunter would grab em by the throat and twist his head till the neck breaks....been there done that and have the shirt and two witnesses.....

Ned, I have kilde exactly ONE with a longbow and flint point...after a LOT of trying.

I don't know if one COULD kill a gobbler with an atlatl. The large arm movement required to launch the dart would cause a gobbler to be 100 yards to the side by the time the dart got there.

I believe it, only because I had a hen practically crawl into my lap one afternoon. She was well within arm's reach.

I blinded one one time and had no ammo. Grabbing the neck and trying to kill it was much more difficult than I ever would have imagined. Well, chasing it down probably wore me out and I hadn't really game planned what I was going to do once I caught it. None-the-less breaking a 25 lb gobbler's neck while he is trying to fly away is something I'm glad no witnesses were able to record.

Gomer, I called up the gobbler and then proceeded to MISS him at 15 yards shooting left handed with a black powder shotgun. It was one of those still, foggy mornings and the whole world went white at the shot. I couldn't see the gobbler but I could hear him flopping. I ran to the sound and found him tangled in a bunch of honeysuckle vines so I dropped on him. I grabbed his head a twisted it around about 25 times !!! till it broke his neck. I still didn't realize I had missed him. Took him to the camp and was telling the tale when one of the guys there said there is no shot in his head. WTH? He then skinned the head and neck and there were NO shot holes. No hit. Complete miss. Pure blind luck and bad shooting.

I may try and wrestle me one down this spring