Turkey Decoy Hunting Tips 

From the maker of premium hunting decoys, Carry-Lite Decoys

• Put your turkey decoys where turkeys can see them from far away - at the edge of a field, in a logging road, or in the open woods.
• Put the Tom close to the Hen.
• Keep the decoys fairly close to you. The gobblers are going to come right to the decoys, so they'd better be in your shooting range.
• Call to get turkeys' attention, then once the birds see the decoys keep quiet unless it appears they are loosing interest.
• Don't use more decoys than one Tom and one Hen.
• Realism matters. You know how well a gobbler's eyesight is, and you'll see better success with a decoy with the correct color scheme.
• Even when hunting private land, place your turkey decoy at least 20 yards from your location, and keep an eye out for other hunters stalking your deke.
• If your foam decoy has dents and doesn't look as good as you'd like, take a hair dryer and heat up the dent while pressing it out and back into shape.

Hunting with a Turkey Decoy 

Hunting with a Turkey Decoy

Decoy strategies that can even the odds when you're tangling with a wary gobbler.

Question for Turkey Hunters 

Choosing a Turkey Decoy 

Choosing a Turkey Decoy

Here's a quick review of your choices and how they can best work to make your time in the field well spent.

Turkey Hunting - Decoy Setups 

Decoy Setups

We've developed a love-hate relationship with decoys over the years. Granted, some lovesick toms run to fakes. But we've watched far too many birds stop 50 yards out, explode into strut and wait for the "hen" to walk the rest of the way to them. This article points out a few good ways to cut down on some of those hang-ups.

Turkey Hunting Tips 

Brought to you by Realtree®

Turkey Decoys

Decoys are a great aid to turkey hunters. In particular, bowhunters find they focus an incoming gobbler's attention on the decoy rather than on the hunter, allowing the bow to be drawn. Light, flexible, foldable and packable decoys are easily transported and will move a bit in a light breeze. This movement greatly adds to the decoy's life-like appearance and effectiveness. Combined with a good blind, a decoy can help your turkey hunting success across the board. For dedicated bowhunters like myself, it doesn't remove all the challenge but it sure helps. Hunters should use turkey decoys with care and caution. Always set the decoy up well away from your location and have a long view in a straight line beyond the decoy in case it lures in hunters with hair triggers. Never carry the decoy around exposed to plain sight in hunting terrain. With today's super-effective camouflage, the decoy stands out and you don't. Carry decoys totally concealed or in an orange bag.

Set-Ups For Gobblers

For wild turkeys, the set-up or blind location is just as important as it is for trophy bucks. Basically the set-up must be where a gobbler is willing to come and with an acceptable travel route to it. Ideally, it should be in a place where the gobbler is accustomed to being. Turkeys can be called downhill, but they seem to prefer to stay on their same level or walk uphill in mountainous terrain. Hunter concealment is critical. Some carry pruning snips to set up a natural blind while others use commercial blinds. Either one is a good idea and decoys can be a great help. Being ready to shoot also is critical. Be prepared to shoot with a minimum of movement when the gobbler shows up. The "90-degree rule" is for right handers to point their left shoulder toward the area where the bird is expected. For bowhunters, a blind helps cover the necessary movement of drawing the bow.

Woodcraft For Gobblers

Given the choice of good woodsmanship or good calling for turkey hunting, a lot of Pros would have to grit their teeth and say woodsmanship is more important. In fact, really knowing the terrain and knowing the behavior of the local turkeys can make you look like a great caller. The simple truth is that it is hard to call a turkey to where he doesn't want to go no matter how good you are. However, it often seems easy to get a gobbler to come to an area he knows and is comfortable with. Survey your turkey hunting tract carefully. Learn the ridges and the hollows, creeks and fence lines and how best to get around on that piece of land. In the course of this, you should learn the movements of the local birds, where they roost, feed and loaf This makes you less dependent on finding that hot, gobbling bird. Even if he doesn't gobble, if you know where he hangs out, you can go hunt him there.

Patterning a Tom

Most hunters are every bit as much an advocate of patterning a gobbler as a trophy buck. That means a real and ongoing study of that gobbler as an individual rather that the general knowledge gained by regular pre-season scouting.

Of course it must all start with scouting. However, once you have located a gobbler (or gobblers), you should keep on learning their particular habits, movement patterns and preferred places.

Be cautious about this in the pre-season. Just as with a big buck, too much of your intrusion will alert the gobbler, influence his pattern and make him more wary. Never practice calling a gobbler before the season. You will teach him a lot more than he will teach you.

As the hunting season progresses, note which way the gobbler travels when he leaves his roost, where he normally meets up with hens and his preferred strutting grounds. By knowing the gobbler's routine, you considerably raise your chances of bagging him.

Carry-Lite Turkey Decoys 

Our only real competition is Mother Nature!

Easy Fold Turkey Decoys

Collapsible turkey decoys you can take anywhere

Pretty Boy & Pretty Girl Turkey Decoys

Effective & realistic hunting system

Decoy Safety 

Decoy Safety

While decoys increase chances, they can also increase danger. Today's decoys are very real looking and can draw fire from unknowing hunters.

Trophy Room 

Mark's Tom

Mark and his daughter Sera admire his bird.

Chris' Tom

Turkey Hunting in Chester Country, South Carolina.

Rickey's Tom

Rickey and his son Chris with their 19 lbs. Turkey.

David's Tom

Johnny and son David with David's turkey

Turkey Hunting in Maryland

The Pretty Boy and Pretty Girl even fool mother nature!

Opening Day of Alabama Turkey Season

Glen bagging two turkeys during the first two days of Alabama Turkey Season.

Turkey Hunting in Alabama

Brett hunting turkeys in Alabama.

Pretty Boy does it again!

Josh and Jonah's Turkey

Turkey Hunting with the Pretty Boy

Boyd's 23.3 oz Turkey.

Turkey Hunting in Missouri

Bill's 24 1/2 lbs. Turkey.

Product Video Demonstration 

Seeing is Believing

Turkey Decoy Hunting Tips - Part I

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Turkey Decoy Hunting Tips - Part II

Runtime: 4:44
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Turkey Decoy Hunting Tips - Part III

Runtime: 9:15
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Harvesting a Real Fan for the Pretty Boy Turkey Decoy 

Installing a Real Fan on the Pretty Boy Turkey Decoy 

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Visitor Feedback 

A place to share your turkey decoy tips or turkey hunting experiences. Also, if you have any suggestions on how to improve this lens just let me know.