Decoys - Questions on Strutting Jake vs Strutting Tom

[Mountain Man]

I hear a lot of turkey hunters that use strutting decoys say they use a jake tail instead of a mature tom tail on their decoy b/c the tom tail scares away other toms like subordinate 2 year olds but the jake tail doesn't appear intimidating and toms come into range more often. I've only used a tom tail on strutters and overall I've had good luck with that. I've never used a jake tail on a strutter decoy. I'm not really sold on this theory and I haven't seen any scientific studies to prove it. If anyone knows of any studies about this please let me know. I'm just not sure turkeys can reason that much to look at a tail and know if it's a jake or mature tom. I could be wrong on this but that's just my impression. It seems that body size would have more influence on whether a tom comes in or not vs tail shape.

My question is do you think mature toms of any age can really tell the difference by the tail configuration of a jake vs a tom or do they rely more on body size? I know some decoys like Killer B were made smaller to appear more like the "runt" and not be intimidating based on body size.

What if a mature tom had a bunch of broken feathers in his tail and it looked more like a jake tail but he weighed 25 lbs.? Would a large bodied decoy with a jake tail scare away mature toms?

What do you think?

[muddy]

I personally don't think a turkey can tell by looking at a tail if its a jake or gobbler. Its more of the birds body position and how it reacts when other birds come into it. I've had many 2 year old gobblers come running right up to a full strutter decoy over the years.

[ Post made via Android ]

[cornfedkiller]

I've always assumed that they could tell a difference, but maybe not? Do you guys also feel that beard length has no effect either? Say a 9" beard on your decoy vs a short little stubby thing? If they cant tell the difference by things like that, how do they tell a non-strutting jake from a tom? Or don't they?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Ack]

I personally don't think jake fans or beard size matters much on strutters. If the bird feels like a confrontation he's going to do it no matter what the deke looks like. To hold him there, however, is where the realism of your deke comes into play.

[dan]

Interesting... You make a good point Mountain man...