Oct 16, 2014

USE A TURKEY DECOY FOR DEER HUNTING

At the end of deer hunting season last year, we asked if any hunters have tried using turkey decoys with their deer decoys. The reason we asked was simple: we were seeing both deer and turkey in winter food sources together.

We didn’t give it much more thought until we read this article by fall turkey and deer hunter Gary Clancy. When he hunts turkey in the fall, he uses decoys. When he is bowhunting deer, he uses a Montana Decoys – a deer decoy with a couple of turkey decoys in case one shows up.

“Turkeys and deer are always interacting, so there is nothing strange about this set-up to either deer or turkeys,” said Clancy in the article titled Be ready — and licensed — when turkeys appear. “In fact, I am so convinced that the presence of the turkey decoys make deer even more relaxed around the deer decoy that I often set up the turkey decoys even if I am not looking for a turkey.”

It took nine months, but we finally have a definitive answer from Clancy, an outdoors writer and author of nine books including Rattling, Calling & Decoying Whitetails: Putting More Excitement Into Your Deer Hunts.

That’s enough for us to give using a turkey decoy or two along with our deer decoy setup a try. We think it will add realism and give bucks more confidence to step out into the open. Plus, if you have a fall turkey tag, it may get one into to come into bowrange.

We love this about decoying deer. It is a relatively new tactic for today’s hunters, but evidence of decoys being used go back to the Stone Age. We have a lot to learn about setups and what works and what doesn’t. That’s part of the fun.

We’ve heard stories about using Kojo coyote decoys in the fall to block the exit routes of deer as well as stories of still-hunting whitetails like you would an elk, calling and rattling behind a decoy (this is Montana Decoy founder, Jerry McPherson’s favorite deer decoy tactic). Also, there’s this video of Mark Drury setting up a herd of deer decoys to shoot a mature buck.

Are there any unusual deer decoy setups you have used with success? Let us know below. And to see some tried and proven deer decoy setups check out this guide: