Quote from: bbcoach on April 10, 2019, 06:58:27 AM
Here's a good read http://bestturkeydecoy.com/body-language/ It talks about posture and head color. It conflicts with what MKMGOBL says. He uses white heads on his dekes and has great results. I'm thinking of giving the white a go to see what happens as well. Maybe MKMGOBL will see this and chime in.
Just caught the post, and Yes I use a White Headed Strutter and this is my 20th year with one! So from my experience the "White Head" is a gobbler at his most dominant state, this is more than just a white cap, the head and neck go to white with blues around eyes and pinks on neck. I'll post pics of my paint job.
How this all came to be was by me studying turkey behavior/biology and watching a tom at the point of when he is ready to breed, and of that social stature. I have some great photos and video of this. I designed/developed my first White Head in 1999 and called him BIG PUFFY, I have made changes with him over the years with different decoys as a base to start with, fans, wings, beards and more but all based around the White Headed Strutter design. I made my first DSD White Head in 2012.
So here is what I can say I've learned with this and how I hunt it.
The White Head is a dominant bird but not in fight mode, he is there to breed his hen (a passive stage with other toms)
A red head, (why they make decoys that way) is more common and is aggressive at this point and is fight mode.
All birds will come to the White Headed Strutter, We have killed everthing from a jake to the boss of the timber! Now this doesn't mean he is 100% guaranteed but he works amazingly well.
At times I will set a Jake as a "Sub" to him as if a sub tom won't approach him directly they will go to jake and establish dominance over him.
For whatever the reason the other male birds are attracted to the "Breeding" ascpect and come on in to it. That is where the White Head game is played.
things with a jake, I want him red and the 3/4 strut position, he is trying to show dominance but not there yet. I have not hunted a White Jake decoy, just doesn't fit my game in the social structure/dominance game I hunt.
I have a whole thread dedicated to decoys and yes DSD's, if you have questions on this just let me know.
http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/index.php/topic,70971.0.htmlMK M GOBL