Of course, if your goal is to attract hens, you have to alter your calling. This means calling loudly and aggressively. Oftentimes, a real hen will answer your yelps and clucks. When she does, mimic what she says.

There are several reasons why the hen might choose to come your way. She might walk in your direction simply for female companionship, or she may be looking to put an uppity hen -- actually, you -- in her place.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if many a late-season hen moves toward other hens' yelps because they hope that any trailing gobblers will turn their attention toward the new girls, freeing her to escape to her nest unnoticed.

Obviously, these decoying tactics I've described go a bit against the grain of conventional wisdom. That's because many hunters choose to use a full-strut, long-bearded gobbler decoy in their setup. Although such decoys are among the hottest items in turkey hunting right now, if I did own one, I'd leave it at home during the late season. That's when most hens are doing everything they can to avoid mature toms.

Moments after I shot that dominant gobbler, three other toms flew down from their roost trees and raced toward my crouching hen decoy, only a few yards away from the dead bird!

Before you use a mature gobbler decoy, imagine the scenario you're creating for the turkeys you hunt. For a late-season hen that's done breeding, you're staged the very situation that she wants to avoid. If she sees your strutting gobbler decoy, that gives her a reason to stay away from it -- and you. And if she has real gobblers tailing her, she'll draw those toms away from you also.

And what about the gobblers? I'm not convinced that a full-strut tom decoy attracts as many live gobblers to your setup as does a jake. Although the decoy could possibly infuriate --and bring in -- the one dominant male in the flock, it may also keep away any less-dominant birds.

So how do you get the most out of this special decoy strategy? First of all, this setup works best where it can be seen from a long distance.