TURKEY DECOY TIPS FROM 'GROWING DEER TV'

Dr. Grant Woods and his team at Growing Deer TV strive to share their knowledge of hunting strategies, wildlife and land management tips, practical advice for common problems and the gear it takes to be successful. We highly recommend tuning into weekly episodes at growingdeer.tv. Recently, Woods and company shared how they use Montana Decoys.

“Good calling can convince a turkey to close the distance, but seeing is believing,” said Woods. “Using decoys can really help that turkey close the gap to within range.”

The fellas at Growing Deer TV focus on variables such as terrain, timing of the breeding season and the habitat to determine what decoy setup will work best in a given scenario. The most common setup he uses is the lone hen.

“We always have a MISS PURR-FECT™ hen decoy in our vest,” said Adam Brooke. “Since it is timber country at the Proving Prounds (Woods’ Missouri farm) we don’t want a big spread of decoys. We will often use one lone hen throughout the season to catch the attention of the gobbler and keep his eyes fixed on that decoy as he comes into range.”

During the early season, they add a male turkey decoy to their setups.

When gobblers are still sorting out their dominance, the crew will use MISS PURR-FECT™ in a feeding pose paired with JAKE PURR-FECT™ a yard or two or away from the hen.

“This is a great setup to use during the early part of the season or even mid-morning throughout the remainder of the season,” said Brooke. “As the days go on, hens are going to leave and sit on the nest. As it appears a jake still has a hen with him, it can pique the jealousy of a tom and turn a slow morning into a successful morning.”

Before gobblers split up on a property, the turkey hunting experts put MISS PURR-FECT™ in a breeder pose and pairs it with a Papa Strut tom decoy. This implicates that there is an intruder in the area.

“Typically, during the early season is a good time to use a full strut decoy,” said Woods. “And if you really want to juice that setup, use a hen in a breeding posture right in front of the tom.”

If the gobblers are not working to calls or the above decoy setups, that’s when the hunters will use the FANATIC reaping decoy as a last ditch effort.

Here’s a video where they explain how: