The second key is another commonly observed situation. It's a fact that during the mating season, the big mature gobblers are going to put the little guys -- the jakes -- in their place. If a dominant tom sees a jake too close to his girls, the jake better put some distance between himself and the "boss." Otherwise the jake is going to be in for a beating!

Pretty obviously, the older toms don't want the younger guys getting comfortable around hens. That can lead to a jake getting the chance to mate with a hen that's ready to breed.

A few years ago, with these two things in mind, I began positioning my decoys to take advantage of these natural turkey tendencies. I set up a hen decoy with its belly lying on the ground, as if ready to be bred. Then I position a jake decoy a few yards away, as if he's approaching the hen from behind.

I know, some people prefer to place the jake decoy right on the hen's tail feathers, as if the jake was mounting the female. I don't set my decoys up in this way -- for several reasons.

First, I don't want the gobbler to come in to the decoys on a dead sprint. If the gobbler sees some distance between the jake and the hen, he won't feel as rushed to get there. That gives me a little bit more time to prepare for the shot.

Second, I don't like my decoys to be completely motionless. If the air currents can give them just a little bit of movement, they'll appear more lifelike. Since the hen decoy is down on its belly, its movement is restricted. However, by positioning the jake to "stand," the breeze can subtly move him, adding some realism.

Finally, it's not very realistic to see a jake sitting on top of a hen for minutes on end. By separating the jake from the hen, the decoys look as natural as possible to the real turkeys.

This decoy setup has worked for me on several occasions. Three years ago, when only a few days were left in the season, I used this strategy to bag a gobbler that had roosted with several hens.

The big tom had been gobbling for several minutes before I sent some soft yelps in his direction. That was all the encouragement he needed. He instantly flew down and began strutting toward my two decoys.