1.) bluecat - 05/26/2015

Everytime I go turkey hunting I spend my time watching toms strut in front of me with their hens. They are generally a couple hundred yards away but there is nothing I can do to pull them away from a sure thing. I try to predict where they are heading and head them off but I just don't have a lot of strategic options.

I'm bout half tempted to create a giant paper mache' hen costume and see if they'll let me walk up to them.

2.) bluecat - 05/26/2015

I may have to pull out the bubba decoy with full real fan. Maybe that will make them mad.

3.) bluecat - 05/26/2015

Most of the time they are too far away to even see my most excellent hen decoys.

4.) Swamp Fox - 05/26/2015

I know costumes and umbrellas painted with pictures of animals on them work with antelope, so maybe...

Or you might have to man-drive them toward a pinch point. :-)

What about some motion in your decoys?

Or call to the hens. When they're vocal, figure out which one is the ringleader and mimic every call she makes. Usually noticeably pisses her off. When they're quiet, keep up your calling in hopes she'll get curious or mad, rather than walking away. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Not sure this will work out there, but you could also try to scatter the flock. You'd probably have to crawl to get close enough, or have a buddy do it, LOL. See if you can identify which way the gobbler goes, and hope he goes in a different direction from the hens he's most interested in. This can also be done at night, scattering them off the roost, but of course your roost areas are more concentrated than mine in most places, so where they gonna go? But maybe you can get some turkeys on one end of a corridor/windbreak/strip of trees and others on the other, and get in-between them at first light.

That's about all I got this morning without more coffee...:wave:

5.) bluecat - 05/26/2015

Those are all good options. These hens are not vocal. I have had good luck with talking over the ringleader and getting her to come my way but these hens are silent.

The motion is also a good option but I can't get them close enough to view my decoys.

I've thought about getting a hen decoy and mounting it on a tiny sled with about 100 yards of paracord and reeling her in. Or mounting a hen decoy on an RC car.
The problem is the ground is never level or unobstructed. My hen would flip on her back after the first dirt clod encounter.

I think I missed my only chance when I was asleep at the wheel two weeks ago when those jakes walked into the decoys.

More coffee?

6.) Swamp Fox - 05/26/2015

There are some neat motion dealios I've played with...not so elaborate as an RC car or 100 yards of paracord, but if interested I can give you one or two links this afternoon.

I think a friend of a friend rigged an RC car...Not sure what the final verdict was. If they make a tracked vehicle RC, that would be the ticket....Big wide Tiger tank or something and pop the deke's butt on top of that...As it rolls up to the flock, the hens be all like, "Is that an 8.8 cm gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

7.) bluecat - 05/26/2015

That would be pretty cool to rig a Go Pro on that tank.

8.) Swamp Fox - 05/26/2015

How about a Go Pro, Hydrogen balloons and fireworks? :grin:






Or, land a hen decoy from the air...

9.) bluecat - 05/26/2015

Sweet!

10.) Swamp Fox - 05/26/2015

I figure if French catfish can catch pigeons on land. an American Bluecat can get a turkey on the prairie...:-)

11.) bluecat - 05/26/2015

LOL! Good point.

12.) bluecat - 05/26/2015

What sort of man can summon fire without spark or tinder?

13.) Swamp Fox - 05/26/2015

LOL...Well played, sir? Well played?

:wink

14.) bluecat - 05/26/2015

LOL?:wink

15.) Deerminator - 05/26/2015

It should get easier as the season ends. the toms will be looking for hens that have not been knocked up. So my experts tell me.
Also a fanning tom decoy or just a fan can bring in a tom.
Perhaps alot of hens and a free beer sign.

16.) bluecat - 05/27/2015

[QUOTE=Deerminator;32075]
Perhaps alot of hens and a free beer sign.[/QUOTE]

:tu: Good one D

17.) Deerminator - 05/27/2015

One of those goose hunting blinds were they lay down in a field , and [B]BLAMO!!![/B]

Can't happen with out the [B]BLAMO!![/B]

18.) Swamp Fox - 05/27/2015

Before you build a hen suit, try a mirror blind to sneak up on them...and before you spend the money on that or try to build your own, try sneaking up on them in a regular blind. Who knows, it could work. Save it for the last hours of the season when you have nothing to lose, LOL

Pack very light that day, put only one stake down at the door, hope the wind's not blowing, and when you've determined the turkeys are not coming to your zip code, undo the stake from inside the blind, sling your bow and your chair, and pick up the blind using two of the tension poles and start marching toward the birds.

You can do the "cartoon sneak" where you tiptoe and then stop every few yards so they don't notice you getting closer until it's too late, or you can plod right up to them. Maybe.:-)

They say turkeys don't pay any attention to a blind...Let's see how true that is. :wink

I await your report.

19.) bluecat - 05/27/2015

[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;32089]Before you build a hen suit, try a mirror blind to sneak up on them...and before you spend the money on that or try to build your own, try sneaking up on them in a regular blind. Who knows, it could work. Save it for the last hours of the season when you have nothing to lose, LOL

Pack very light that day, put only one stake down at the door, hope the wind's not blowing, and when you've determined the turkeys are not coming to your zip code, undo the stake from inside the blind, sling your bow and your chair, and pick up the blind using two of the tension poles and start marching toward the birds.

You can do the "cartoon sneak" where you tiptoe and then stop every few yards so they don't notice you getting closer until it's too late, or you can plod right up to them. Maybe.:-)

They say turkeys don't pay any attention to a blind...Let's see how true that is. :wink

I await your report.[/QUOTE]

I can't say that I've killed a bird that way but I've done it. I'm kinda embarassed to say I didn't think of that last Saturday. I've even marched forward with the decoys, plopped them down and then retreated 5 yards so the decoys are out in front.

20.) bluecat - 05/27/2015

We need to talk about all the crap I'm carrying. It's way too heavy and I need every bit of it. Blind, chair, decoys, bow, pack. The only thing that isn't super critical is the chair but if you are going to hunt for any length of time, you need a comfortable chair. I've tried the fold out ones that look like a little triangle. My butt falls asleep on those. I can't see out of my blind without a chair and my knees can't crouch for hours. What to do, what to do.

21.) Deerminator - 05/27/2015

a beer assistant

22.) Swamp Fox - 05/27/2015

Assuming you can't set up the blind and chair the night before, I'm not sure there's much you can do except winnow your calls and use lighter decoys, unless you're into shopping for a lighter chair and blind. I'm not super into cutting down toothbrush handles (old backpacking trick) and never was, but there's always something you can do to shed a few ounces here and there.

I almost insist on adding a pound or two by carrying a thick cushion to put on top of my fold-out seat. It makes a huge difference on a long vigil. I'd have to investigate who made mine, but it's da bomb. At least 14 years old now. You could check out the Fat Boy at Cabelas for something that looks similar, except the Fat Boy has gel. Mine is just some sort of good foam. Muddy's treestand seat is also a very decent alternative for less money, and probably a lot lighter.

When I'm really trying to shed weight or bulk, I weed out all the duplicate calls and narrow my selection of strikers before going in. So, I'll only carry one box call, one pot call, one scratch box, etc. instead of the usual full arsenal. If hunting two days in a row, I switch out what I used yesterday for what I left behind, to give the turkeys something different to listen to. Unfortunately, camera gets left behind most of the time, etc.

Except for my Double Bull, my blinds are all what I'd call light. The lightest is a piece of crap from Ameristep that I somehow haven't managed to break the hubs on the way I've quickly broken the hubs on every other Ameristep I've had. The window layout is pretty good and if the tension system were better (i.e. didn't break on set-up/takedown) it would be a very good blind. But if I don't have forever to set up and take down very carefully, I usually use something else. My Primos blinds have served me well without the weight of a Double Bull. Maybe Ameristep blinds have improved in the last 15 years, but I wouldn't bet on it.

23.) bluecat - 05/27/2015

When they make foam decoys with the detail of Avian X or Dave Smith, please call me. Doesn't matter what time of night or day. LOL!

24.) bluecat - 05/27/2015

My double bull is the old Apex style. Very light and of course, no longer made...
For one person or two max it is perfect. Wish I had another one. It's the decoys and chair that really put a strain on me. I'm down to two decoys, the breeding hen and a feeder.

The chair is, well, you would laugh but it is full fold out chair. Very comforable for long sits. Perhaps, I should just bring an aluminum chaise lounge...

25.) Swamp Fox - 05/27/2015

I knew you were pretty married to your dekes, so I didn't bother to mention this: my favorite collapsible, pretty light decoys are the blow-ups from Primos. I think they're called PHDs (?) maybe for "pretty handy decoys." Very decent detail.

I have no complaints about my tri-fold chair(s) from Dicks or wherever, as long as I add a cushion. It doesn't have to be the fat cushion, but I do like to add something. The old-style one-inch closed-cell foam (extremely light) will work if you're into minimizing weight.

The good thing about the tri-fold chairs is that you can slip them in the side pocket of your blind bag (assuming your blind bag is so equipped) or lash the chair directly to the loaded bag.

26.) bluecat - 05/27/2015

I checked out that decoy. It looks pretty good actually. I think Phd stands for pocket hen decoy. I might revisit my tri-fold with a pad.

Thanks for the input Swampy.