Decoy Time

If I would've had a decoy last night I think my son could've closed the deal on a nice 8 point. Here's my question...
What is better? A buck decoy or a doe decoy? I was rattling and he was responding, but never closed the distance enough because he couldn't see a deer by us.

Any thoughts?

I am going to try and decoy sat evening on the field edge. Mike, I would personally rather havea buck decoy, just so it pulls a buck in thinking there is a stranger in his territory.

You hear so many say a buck decoy this time of year, especially when combining it with rattling. Great post Mao, will be looking forward to hearing how things go with the decoying!!

OK, any suggestions on what to buy? To be honest, I've never even looked into one because most of the time I'm hunting deeper woods, but this field we've been in lately has all the makings of a decoy setup.

I picked the Scarface one up off of Craigslist a couple years ago for dirt cheap. Only used it a couple times so far with no luck other than the neighbor sure thought it was real.

I've had one for years but really never used it. I also have a closeout Montana Buck and Doe foldup decoys. I bought 2 Buck decoys on that closeout and cut the horns off the one to make a doe decoy. I used the Montana foldup in my woods one time. A doe came in behind it and of course she couldn't see it because of the 1/4" cross section. She got beside it and turned inside out and jumped straight up in the air. Ran couple yards and just stared at it. She was jumpy but calmed down. Funny as hell. The decoys have several shades of blue and I always thought that was weird. Then later I read they believe deer see certain shades of blue and they use it as a attention getter. They do the same blue tones on their turkey decoys.

10-12 yrs. ago we had a guy who just was home from the Army working for us. He never deer hunted before and on the last evening the neighbor was picking corn beside my woods. I took him up in the woods hoping the corn picker would push a deer to him.
Nothing showed. We were leaving the woods right at dusk and there stands a doe in my pasture field. He pulls up my Ruger 44 Mag and fires. The doe just stands there. He fires 6 times with me giving him sighting directions. I reloaded and said here you shoot and I shot once. This damn doe never moved. So I said the hell with it's getting too dark.
We walk towards the doe and she doesn't move. Unknown to us my son put my doe decoy down there and he was setting on top of the cliff hunting too. He said he was laughing so hard he couldn't have even taken a shot at a buck of a life time it he had to. I was really pissed at the time but it's funny now.
To this day that damn decoy has 7 perfect holes in the kill zone. Good shooting. My son brings it up every now and then when a new friend comes over. But hey I can brag we hit it every time.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

LMAO that's hilarious MK111

Lmao mk!

I concur what Mao said. Always a buck decoy. It's a ton of fun hunting with a decoy and rattling. You definitely want it out in the open where they can see it from a distance. They don't like to be surprised. Face the deke quartering to you and I put it a good distance out, usually about 35-40 yards. When the buck comes to face the deke he should be about half that distance away and either broadside or quartering away. Mine is a Delta that I paid about 100 for 10 years ago. Not sure if they still make them but it works great. I add some white plastic that I cut out from a trash bag to the tail area and both ears(small pieces). That adds in a bit of movement with a breeze and is water/rain proof.

Also, be super careful with scent. You don't want it smelling unnatural. I love using a decoy in NW Ohio with all the small wood lots and open terrain you have awesome potential to pull in a buck from a long distance away.

The only negative is they can be cumbersome to carry in and a bit noisy to put together. Mine is always put together in advance. Also, probably not advisable during gun law. Lol

The biggest buck I have gotten to date came into a decoy set up as doe. The biggest deer Dad has seen to date spooked because of one of those montana decoys. Pivoted a little and spooked the deer. Dad was not happy...lol...Gonna set up mine this year as a half rack buck. Easy pickings....

I have a Montana but I am scared to death it will do more harm than good.

Dont use them anymore.Have had some small bucks come to them over the years but never anything huge, the biggest being maybe 130.Have had them spook more deer than brought in.Have had a few big ones look at them from a distance and just walk off.It is nothing like they show on the hunting shows.But then again those guys are hunting some very low pressured areas on most of those hunts.Really hated how much they seemed to make the does nervous and spook them as you never know what might be trailing them.Might get the itch to try them again sometime but will probably end up putting them back in the barn again after they spook the next one.

Hilarious, Frank!

Mike said:

I have a Montana but I am scared to death it will do more harm than good.

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Dont be scared to use it, its effective when done right. There is plenty of video evidence to prove it. Check out our you tube, dale and larry use it constantly. If you wanna sell it let me know, I might be interested.

Are they using a 2D?

I prefer a full bodied decoy, as I have the Flambeau Redi Doe decoy. They're a bit more cumbersome to haul in and out, but worth it. I used to have a pair of feeding Renzo doe decoys that worked very well. I put a piece of Tyvek on them for a tail...something to spray scent on and give it motion.

I've always used it as a doe, but if I were to use it as a buck, I'd only have one antler on it. The decoy has to show less dominance or other bucks will shy away from it.

I agree with CritterGitterToo, about keeping the decoy out in the open. You don't want to surprise the deer...whether it's inside or outside the woods. Keep it in an obvious and open area.

Bowhunter57

Mike said:

I have a Montana but I am scared to death it will do more harm than good.

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Don't do it man! Dad still talks about that Damn decoy...lol