To hen or not to hen?

[The Baron]

I'm headed to NY this weekend, to carry my flintlock and a couple turkey tags around the woods. Reports are the hens have started setting and the toms may be somewhat cooperative.

Now, I've been to NY 4x and have passed on jakes but never had a chance on a mature tom. Due to my 4 previous failures, I know I'm overthinking things and picked up a hen decoy (Avian X - I know, taking my chances but they look better than anything else I can impulse buy locally. lol). I've had great luck at home with my Dakota half-strut jake but was wondering how the pressured NY toms might react to an aggressive jake in late season. What do y'all think - jake, hen.. both... neither? Keep in mind, my max range is 20 yards and I prefer 10-15 yards so having a tom drift close to me is not good enough, I need to be well inside their bubble. There's never a right or wrong answer, but I felt like discussing it to see what comes out.

[HunterGKS]

I have 2 jakes & 2 hens AvianX dekes & use 1 of each with great success both in NY & here in Ohio. I set them about 25 yards in front & slightly to my left. I have used many different dekes over the years & the AvianX's are the only 1s that both hens & gobblers have made physical contact with.

[Grumpy]

They are turkeys for God's sake, not Harvard scholars, you actually believe they think like a human and can rationalize different situations. Same thing I tell trappers that think coyotes think like people and are hard to catch,
these are just stupid animals like a turkey, no harder to catch than a domestic dog and no harder to shoot than a domestic turkey, unless of course you make it that way. Good Luck either way

[tubecaller10]

They are turkeys for God's sake, not Harvard scholars, you actually believe they think like a human and can rationalize different situations. Same thing I tell trappers that think coyotes think like people and are hard to catch,
these are just stupid animals like a turkey, no harder to catch than a domestic dog and no harder to shoot than a domestic turkey, unless of course you make it that way. Good Luck either way

Come on down to Mississippi Grumpy, those Montana Merriams that you only kill 1 of a year probably don't have a education at all. These birds down here in Dixie Land have a Doctorate in being scared of everything!

[Grumpy]

I don't know about our Merriams not having much of an education, just damn dumb turkeys but they do have enough brains not to live in Mississippi