New Gear For Gobblers

Joined
Oct 9, 2016
Messages
373
Location
Alabama
Coming off my most efficient season in 30 years of arrowing turkeys, I don't plan to make many changes but am going to cut out some potential problems. About the only problem I had was the occasional pissed off tom would knock my decoy off the stake or knock the stake over and once it was on the ground it would loose its effect. Shot a couple of toms in departure mode, a shot that has proven to be trouble in the past and led to a bad hit last season.

My plan to fix that is to use a couple of sections from a trekking pole and secure the decoy to the pole via elastic on the decoy and hook secured to the stake. One end of the stake is large diameter for soft soil and small for rocky soil. It has the capability to extend for a high profile when hunting I tall grass. When retracted the stake packs smaller pieces Jan standard stakes for easier transport. Should be my best decoy stake ever.

Another change I'm going to make is in the way I carry my gear, mainly the decoy. I hate the decoy bag...takes too much time to remove and re-stuff when taking down. I am going to use my Badlands Diablo some and also experiment with my cargo panel on the Bikini frame. The cargo and bikini is actually lighter but has more potential to make noise because of the fabric on the panel, but it sure will be nice come packing out time, especially if I kill 3 in one setting like last years Nebraska hunt...80 pounds turkeys and gear. Hopefully this will shave off 10 seconds of setup and takedown time and I know it will help with pack outs.

Everything else proved most dependable... Dakota jake, my homemade blinds, 3.5" Turkey Tom O Hawks, Gold Tip arrows with 100 grain brass inserts proved much more dependable than standard inserts.
 
I do a lot of "run and gun" hunting where I hike gobs of miles each day. I've had fantastic luck with Avian X hens. They inflate/deflate pretty quick and look super realistic. However, a pair of inflated Avian hens plus Dakota jake take up an incredible amount of room in the largest volume pack I own. Last year I decided to cut the weight and volume in my pack by trying Miss Purr-fect hens. They are super light and fold up the size of a human hand. They also look pretty darn realistic with material that moves like feathers in the breeze. If I can find a jake to replace the Dakota...I'll be set!
 
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