It took only a few minutes to convince Jeff Brummett that turkey decoys were more than a passing fad. He and a friend were hunting Kentucky's Land Between The Lakes on opening day in 1988. Out of nothing more than curiosity they decided to carry a plastic hen into the woods with them.

"Very few hunters were using decoys then so there was no real excitement about them. We didn't know if they really worked or not but we figured we'd give it a try," he recalls. "I stuck this hen decoy in the ground out in front of me and started calling. The next thing I know, a gobbler is waddling toward me as fast as he could with about ten other turkeys back behind him. This bird was practically running to get to the hen he saw standing out in front of me."

The turkey never made it, of course, and from that morning on, Brummett, a member of the Knight & Hale Ultimate Hunting Team, knew he had something special.

Although decoys aren't an essential part of a spring gobbler hunt, they have become a vital piece of equipment for Brummett and millions of other hunters. He rarely enters the woods without one. In fact, he often carries two, a hen and a young gobbler, or jake. A pair of decoys elicits a sort of love/hate emotion from an approaching gobbler, whose first instinct is to remove the competition from the scene and then run off with the hen. Therefore, Brummett sets the jake up closest to his position, usually about 20 yards away.

"I make sure the jake is facing me because a dominant gobbler always comes up to the other gobbler first and he'll usually face the subordinate bird, my jake decoy, head-on. If he's looking at the decoy, he's not looking at me, which gives me a little more freedom to move if I have to," he explains. "I also use the decoy as a distance marker. I typically set it up 20 paces from me. That way, I can better gauge the distance of an approaching gobbler."

Don't wait too long before you decide to squeeze the trigger. It could be harmful to your decoy. Brummett has, on numerous occasions, sat back and watched as a big gobbler actually fought with his jake decoy, tearing holes in the tough plastic with its sharp spurs. He's also had to shoo away coyotes that were stalking his decoys.

Decoys aren't, however, a sure ticket to a roast turkey. Gobblers are fickle creatures that may ignore your decoy and your calls, no matter how convincing they are. But that's what puts the challenge into spring gobbler hunting.

Safety First
Remember your decoys may draw other hunters

"I actually know a guy who snuck up on a pair of decoys and shot them. I don't know how anyone could shoot at something they didn't positively identify, but it happens," says Jeff Brummett. "I avoid using decoys on land that has other hunters, public land, for instance, and I always consider safety when I set up my decoys." He suggests placing decoys in such a way that approaching hunters won't be shooting at you if they take a wild shot at your fakes. If you do see another hunter, either whistle or yell, but never wave or use your turkey call to get his attention.