Earlier this season I was able to chase after the fourth, and final, leg of the wild turkey Grand Slam — the Osceloa. For those who don’t know, there are four subspecies of the wild turkey in the United States — the Eastern, Rio, Merriam and the Osceloa.

The reason the Osceloa is often the last of the four subspecies, is its limited range. You see, the Osceloa is only found in Florida, and pure Osceloa is found south of Orlando to north of Miami. As far as turkeys go, this is a very limited range with, for the most part, limited hunting opportunities.

My hunt took place in the swampland of south central Florida. From what I have learned over the years, these gobblers average smaller in size than their eastern cousins, mostly located in the lowlands of central Florida.

I learn many lessons in the turkey woods, but the one I learned on an 85-degree March morning in Florida will stick with me forever. Let the birds tell you what they want, and these Osceolas loved large decoy spreads. Our decoy spread on this balmy spring morning consisted of seven hens, a full-body jake and a full-body gobbler.

This particular morning it was all that was needed to get the flock of three gobblers and 11 hens in front of us shortly after daybreak. Heck, at one point I thought we were putting goose decoys out for a fall hunt.

Turkey decoys have changed the way turkey hunters chase springtime gobblers. No other decoy has helped to put more beards in spurs on the ground than the hen decoy. The use of a hen decoy can be a critical piece of success in your setup and can provide the turkey hunter the versatility to be prepared when the time comes to lure that long beard a few more yards. While it may seem simple, there are many factors that a turkey hunter should consider when it comes to deploying a hen decoy.

The art of decoy making has progressed leaps and bounds over the years. What started as wood carvings painted to the best of the carver’s ability has now shifted to lightweight plastic-molded bodies with unbelievably lifelike paint schemes that seem to hold up to the grind of a long turkey season. Suffice it to say that the decoy selections available to turkey hunters today are very broad and riddled with options and features that may or may not be of use to a turkey hunter.

Here are a few things to look for the next time you find yourself shopping for a new hen turkey decoy that can help you toss a bird in the back of the truck this spring. Decoy construction has come a long way over the years, and today there are many different options available to hunters.

From solid-bodied decoys to foam decoys that are easily carried, one thing is for certain when it comes to spring turkey hunting: turkey hunters demand a lot from the products they purchase, and decoys are certainly no exception to that.

While the above-mentioned decoys represent the extremes of decoy construction and durability, they each have their place. What is important to consider the next time you are shopping for a new hen decoy is how durable do you need your decoys to be? Put another way, be sure to select the decoy based upon your turkey-hunting style. If you are a turkey hunter that likes to post up and wait out that old long beard, then perhaps a solid construction decoy is more your style.

If you are a “run-and-gun” type hunter, then perhaps foam-constructed decoys are the ticket. It is important to consider the trade-offs when selecting your turkey decoys as they can help or hinder you depending on the decision you make. Most turkey hunters probably fall somewhere in the middle of the road in terms of the style of hunting they prefer. Any durable construction will hold up to anything that a turkey hunter can dish out while, at the same time, not slow you down the next time you find yourself in a “run-and-gun” scenario.

Here is how this setup works. Subordinate birds may have been roughed up by a tom already, but they will see your jake decoy as a chance to redeem themselves. We have found success throughout the season using what we call “round two” setup. Give a mature gobbler the idea that he can take jake.

In the “round two” setup, position a jake decoy over a belly-down hen decoy to imitate breeding. Depending on time of the season try using a few feeding hen decoys to trigger a response from a long beard wanting to join the party. What we have discovered is never use more than one jake decoy. In a fight, multiple jakes are not match for even the toughest of toms.

With this next setup, we actually have another name for it, but for this writing we’ll call it, “hen party.” It’s basically, when feeding, use the most realistic decoy you have. We like this setup in a field near a strutting zone.

Why this works is because during midseason, toms are strutting alone and looking for hens. Meanwhile, hens will feed in the morning before heading to the nest in the afternoon, leaving the gobblers lonely until they see your decoy. When a tom hears your calls and sees nothing, that’s a recipe to make him hang up.

Set up the “hen party” in an area that offers maximum visibility. Call loudly to attract distant gobblers, but make sure to adjust volume as they get closer. Set up your decoy within 20 yards, so if he does hang up, he will still be in range.

For a post-breeding setup, we use a small group of hen decoys and call it, “hen party 3X.” For toms looking for love, the sight of several hens means better odds one is receptive to breeding. And if you are trying to attract a boss hen with a gobbler on her tail, more hens will challenge her dominance.

We have fine-tuned this setup over the years to include a dominant hen. We’ll generally use the best-looking hen decoy we have and put her on a long stake to make her look bigger than the other hens. In areas where hunting pressure is high, use as many hens as possible to increase a tom’s confidence.

When a tom is approaching your spread, make a few soft clucks and purrs while the decoys do their job. Always keep watching. Oftentimes, we have found that once a gobbler sounds, he will slip in quietly this time of the year.

Non-gobbling turkeys are the No. 1 reason turkey hunters pack them early every spring. For some reason, many turkey hunters tend to believe that if there are no turkeys gobbling, there must not be any around. That assumption could not be further from the truth. Turkeys are wild animals, and will sometimes, not always, “read the script,” so to speak. They may not always behave or react the same way in every situation. So, in short, just because a bird doesn’t gobble, doesn’t mean they are not there.

I see this happen every spring. Also, I hear hunters say that there are no more birds. Over the years, I just smile and continue to hunt and fill tags.

Doing your homework and scouting prior to the season is a critical piece of being successful on midday gobblers. It is important to understand a turkey’s behavior and how they react throughout the day. That information is far more important in terms of being successful than showing up to a farm cold, and heading to the first gobble.