Review: Avian-X Turkey Decoys

Avian-X is a company that specializes in realistic goose, duck, and turkey decoys. From their website:

Our goal is for every decoy to look just as real as the birds flying overhead.

The Positives

When it comes to their turkey decoys, I have owned three of them: the LCD Lookout Hen, the LCD Strutter, and the LCD Quarter-Strut Jake.

LCD stands for Lifelike Collapsible Decoy. Not only are they some of the most realistic looking decoys on the market, they’re portable and very durable. As a first hand testament to their durability, and lifelike quality, I have had hens attempt to beat up my LCD Lookout Hen on multiple occasions without any sign of wear and tear on the decoy. This includes multiple hens jumping on the decoy and trying to spur it, even knocking it off its collapsible carbon stake, and beating it up while laying on the ground.

Avian-X also makes an HDR Series of turkey decoys. HDR stands for Heavy-Duty Realism. I don’t have any field experience with the HDR series. They are slightly more realistic than the LCD Series — like with the turkey’s legs. They also include interchangeable heads to change the decoys posture from aggressive to passive (or breeder, if it’s the hen decoy).

In both the LCD Series and the HDR Series, the paint job on the decoys are so lifelike, the feathers reflect light and shimmer like a real turkey feather. Due to them being made of a heavier “PVC dura-rubber” product, they tend to move a little more realistic, moving slowly left and right, when placed on their stake in the field. I’ve seen decoys spin in circles unrealistically fast when the smallest gust of wind comes through, but not with these decoys.

Both Series of decoys are approximately 15% smaller than an actual turkey. This may seem like a knock against their realism but I think you’ll find this works in their advantage. This will bring turkeys in closer while they try to assert their dominance over the smaller competition.

The Negatives

While I can’t recommend the Avian-X line of turkey decoys highly enough (they truly are my favorite decoys) there are a few negatives that you should consider. First off, it’s a premium product. That means you’ll pay a premium price. There are a number of other turkey decoys on the market that range anywhere from $20 to $40. You can sometimes catch one of the LCD Series of decoys on sale in the $65 range each. Otherwise they can be priced in the upper $80 range. You can also find a set that includes a hen and jake for around $135. If you can only get one, I strongly recommend the lookout hen. The HDR Series of decoys are even more expensive.

The Tom and the Jake decoys each have a synthetic beard. This is definitely a nice touch as it adds to the realism and the beards are short to once again appear as a non-dominant turkey. The only problem with the beard is it can sometimes get mashed while traveling and ends up sticking in an unrealistic direction. You can get it to return to a natural pose but not without some time and manipulation. I also don’t like the tail fan on the Tom. However, the tail fan is not without some redeeming qualities. For example, it clips into the decoy so you can always replace it with a more realistic fan. The other nice benefit is the tail fan is collapsible and can easily be tucked away for travel.

Lastly, one of the main selling points of the LCD Series is its ability to collapse. However, I don’t recommend taking it out to the field in its collapsed state. I recommend taking it out fully formed so you don’t run into a situation where you need to get your decoy set up quickly and risk it not completely inflating or creating unnecessary noise while you try to get it situated. This of course does make portability a challenge. The decoys do come with their own carrying bag but it can be near impossible to carry more than one of them, along with your shotgun.

Closing Thoughts

There’s plenty of evidence showing that an ultra-realistic decoy, like one from Avian-X, isn’t required in order to have a successful hunt. There are decoys available that are a flat 2D image printed on cardboard that will work and in some cases just a call is all you need. However, for me, I will opt to spend a little more money and get a more realistic decoy to eliminate as many variables as possible out in the field. The last thing I want is for a fired up Tom to come in, hesitate, and second guess coming in closer because something looks “off” on the decoy he spotted. As Avian-X says “at the end of the day, it isn’t our competition we’re trying to beat. It’s the birds themselves.” One last validation is they are an official decoy of the NWTF.

This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are based off of having spent my own money to use these products.