Turkey Decoys - When to use what?

[TxBowHntr]

I have been ate up with turkey hunting the last 5-6 years. During my time, I have progressed from the cheap foam decoys, to a fairly substantial collection of Dave Smith/Avian X decoys.
My collection includes the below:
DS Upright Hen
DS Feeder Hen
DS Laydown Hen
DS 3/4 Jake - Red face
Avian X HDR Strutter - Red and white face options

I have experimented with the different types over the years, but am curious if others have a specific strategy on when to use the different types of decoys. Some specific questions are below, but I am interested to hear any and all advice/experiences. Thanks in advance!

When to use a strutter or not?
When to use a laydown hen?
When to use red face/white face?
When NOT to use a jake/tom decoy?
When to use the whole flock?

[Lincoln Hawk]

There's a recent MeatEater episode that addresses turkey decoy setups.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0mvoLJQiYE

[Briar Friar]

In for tactics.
What has worked for you MrBowHntr?

My first time actually turkey hunting with calling and decoying was mid April last year. I used a layed down hen and the toms I called in were very suspicious of it. They came to me and my purs and not the static decoy hen. I still wonder if it helped to give some visual draw from afar. I gather it probably helped that none of the toms were henned up.

My current turkey lease has a mess load of hens so Im figuring it might be a bit tougher this go round.

[ultrastealth]

I use a hen and a jake. They tend to ignore the hen, but attak the jake. That puts them right where I want them.

[dirtybay]

I’ve had lots of success with the cheaper foam sets with only Jake’s and hens. Put newspaper in them to keep them puffed out. I’m in East Tx Newton County so our season seems to open late.

[Gary Roberson]

I never use decoys. I prefer to run and gun and have been busted many times when trying to set out a decoy or decoys. Winds are generally high in the spring and I have had decoys blow over or take off, running off more birds than they ever helped me kill. I prefer to set up so that the gobblers have to come looking for me. I hate sitting in a blind to ambush birds almost as much as I like to sit and watch a feeder for deer. I turned 71 years old today and am old fashioned. I can remember when using decoys was totally taboo with the "true" turkey hunters.
Adios,
Gary

[TxBowHntr]

In for tactics.
What has worked for you MrBowHntr?

My first time actually turkey hunting with calling and decoying was mid April last year. I used a layed down hen and the toms I called in were very suspicious of it. They came to me and my purs and not the static decoy hen. I still wonder if it helped to give some visual draw from afar. I gather it probably helped that none of the toms were henned up.

My current turkey lease has a mess load of hens so Im figuring it might be a bit tougher this go round.

Primarily, I use the upright hen with the 3/4 jake about 6-8' behind it to make it look like the jake is following the hen. I also put the feeder off to the side, farther away as a confidence builder. This has worked pretty solidly. One weekend last year, I used the strutter jake and the laydown hen with great success and a tom came in and flying ninja kicked the strutter decoy. The other times I have used the stutter, toms came in but hung up, being a bit wary of it. Same with other times using the laydown hen.

2 years ago, I had the most success by calling in the hens (this was completely unintentional as I was just calling as I normally do) and they brought a tom in tow. This happened twice. The hens would come in and go straight for the jake decoy and strut. and peck at it. One hen laid into the jake for over 45 minutes straight, just pecking at its face.

I have personally found the birds to be more responsive later in the season than early on, with mid April being the best hunting. I am assuming this is because more and more hens are on nests and aren't looking to breed anymore and the toms are still searching for more.

[Smart]

nm

[White Falcon]

I use two hens and jake, work's for me. Don't call to often!

[Johnny Dangerr]

I use one hen. Last bird my wife shot it at 15 feet from the bush we were sitting in.
Call very little...

[bloodtrail18]

I use one upright hen.

[ClayW]

We've been using decoys for a long time and my short answer is "Its a guess"

Sometimes they're aggressive to a strutter and sometimes they'll run from it, sometimes they'll come running to a lone hen and sometimes they'll hang up expecting her to commit.

For bowhunting, most of the time I will have 2-3 hens (feeders) and a Jake. Over the years, the jake decoy has brought more birds in than it has scared off.

For running/gunning with a shotgun, I agree with Gary...no decoys and shoot him while he's looking for you

[Playa]

I never use decoys. I prefer to run and gun and have been busted many times when trying to set out a decoy or decoys. Winds are generally high in the spring and I have had decoys blow over or take off, running off more birds than they ever helped me kill. I prefer to set up so that the gobblers have to come looking for me. I hate sitting in a blind to ambush birds almost as much as I like to sit and watch a feeder for deer. I turned 71 years old today and am old fashioned. I can remember when using decoys was totally taboo with the "true" turkey hunters.
Adios,
Gary

This describes my style too. I know decoys can be useful, but I’ve found it to be more effective to tuck myself in cover and play hide and seek from wary Toms.

biggest turkey I killed I was deep in a live oak thicket and could have slapped him with my shotgun barrel when he stuck his head in an opening to see if his “hen” was in there

[glen]

I carry an upright hen with me in a pack and use it about 50/50

[MooseontheLoose]

Long response here, but you asked a lot

My strategy will depend on the place moreso than time of year. The majority of my hunting has been at a few places in the south zone, and a few places in the hill country. Everything below is based on my experiences there. On those specific places, south zone birds have been more responsive to decoys.

When I use decoys, a ¾ strut jake, a feeder hen, and an upright hen have killed probably 75% of the birds I’ve either killed or helped with killing. I’ve got the DSD white face jake, but also killed a pile off the Avian jake. Once that Avian blow-up doll got popped by some spurs I upgraded to the DSD. Both work though.

Birds respond way more to the jake than the hen decoys. Some hens absolutely hate the upright hen. Mine has sharpie colored eyeballs right now bc the paint has been pecked away by a number of hens. I have to repaint her multiple times each season. She also has a split down her back from a Sutton county tom that tried to breed her for over an hour one morning. I’ve never seen a bird in a trance like that. On the flip side, my jake has been pecked or spurred by almost every tom that’s committed and come in. He also has some love juice on him from some Kansas Easterns that got frisky with him.

At my lease in the hill country, the birds are extremely decoy shy. We have a decent population, and by the time season comes in, they’ve been gobbling and fighting for a while, so I think they just give each other space. My theory, based on what I’ve observed anyways.

I’ve called in piles of birds there, and if they see a jake or strutter decoy, most of the time they’ll go elsewhere. I quit trying to use decoys there a few years ago. If I bring a decoy, I usually only run one feeder hen, 20-40 yards past me, so I’m in between the bird and the hen decoy. It’s fairly open and I give them something to look at when they get to where they should be able to see something. If he sees her, starts strutting and expecting her to come to him, he’s in range already, which is bad news for him.

I called in a bird one time that shied away from a hen decoy. He went down a rise. I crawled and took the decoy down, called him back in and killed him about 20 min. later. He wouldn’t come close at all when the decoy was there. Once it was down, he came right in looking for the calling.

I bet I’ve tried a strutter on 40 hunts and have only killed one bird off it. I’ve tried it right off the roost, midday, afternoon, in known strutting fields, etc. Most of them seem to go the other way when they see it. I haven’t seen the responses to the strutters that other guys do. I’ve tried with both jake fans and full fans on the DSD jake strutter decoy.

I don’t think the red face vs. white face matters very much. I’ve been a part of a lot of killing off both. IMO the tom seeing a jake with a couple hens elicits an aggressive response either way, so I don’t think the head matters much there. I don’t have an opinion on strutter faces given the above paragraph.

Like Clay said, it's a guess, but that's what makes it fun