Montana Decoy Deer Rump Whitetail Deer Decoy Review

As a dedicated deer hunter, I’m always looking for anything that can provide me with an edge in the woods. I’ve toyed with the idea of deer decoys in the past, not so much to attract deer closer to the decoy, but to grab their attention and get them to pause while crossing a trail or shooting lane. So when I got the chance to try the new Deer Rump decoy from Montana Decoy, I eagerly accepted.

Montana Decoy makes two-dimensional game decoys that are light and easy to transport and set up quickly, featuring detailed photographs of the animal they’re imitating. In this case, it’s the Deer Rump decoy they introduced last month, and it’s the lightest and most compact deer decoy they make. I got one in the midst of the 2018 fall deer season, and immediately put it to work.

Getting Started With the Deer Rump

As I was leaving the house to hunt a nearby WMA, I found the decoy had just been delivered. Naturally, it went hunting with me. I took a couple of photos before I removed the stuff from the plastic bag to deploy the decoy near my tree stand.

It’s a simple decoy, and setup is pretty straightforward. You open the decoy itself — which is super-easy, because it “wants” to be open — and then unfold the shock-corded legs.

As you insert the rods or ‘legs’ into the decoy, pay attention to where you’re sliding them. There’s a little pocket or sleeve where the rod belongs. You see, the rod goes all the way up the decoy, and things get awkward if you don’t keep the rod in its sleeve.

After you slide the rod into the decoy, attach the elastic loop to the plastic hook on the rod to keep the fabric on the rod.

After both legs are inserted and attached, just stand the decoy up and step on the rods to stab them into the ground.

It’s two-dimensional, so make sure you turn it so the full width of the decoy faces the most likely direction. But even when viewed at a slight angle, it has a realistic look. Oh, and before you ask, I don’t know why the shadow on the deer’s belly is green.

Viewed from the side, it’s obviously not a deer!

Hunting With the Deer Rump Decoy

I used the decoy while hunting deer on two different WMAs and on some private land. I only saw one deer while hunting the WMAs — a young buck which I spotted as it approached the decoy at a walking pace. He got within about 30 feet of the Deer Rump, and jumped as if spooked. I expected him to leave the area, but instead he boldly strolled over close to the tree in which I was hunting, checked me out, then worked a rut scrape before slowly walking away.

In other words, he was attracted by the decoy, realized the decoy was not a deer before he got to it, but was not upset enough to leave the area immediately after discovering the decoy was a sham.

The decoy has a realistic look, and more than once I caught my breath when I glanced up and saw a deer standing there.

At the private hunting property, I got good use out of the decoy and found that it did attract deer and get them to pause to check it out. In one instance, a total of 4 deer crossed a narrow opening about 200 yards from my stand. Every one of them lingered, looking in my direction for at least a few seconds before moving on. This gave me ample opportunity to identify them, and to take a shot had I wanted to. I believe the decoy is the reason they stopped to look.

In the hunt during which I took the photo above, I put the decoy out and got into the stand. No sooner had I done so than these three deer stepped out and began to feed. None of them showed much interest in approaching the decoy, although it may have been the reason they fed closer to me. From time to time, they’d stare hard at the decoy and eventually they apparently got fed up with its lack of animation, so they departed. But they’d hung around for 40 minutes before doing so.

A little while later, a mature doe followed a fawn out of the woods and when she stopped to look at the decoy, I took the opportunity to ensure she was a legal doe and then lay her down.

On another hunt, a young buck entered a small food plot to feed. It seemed to notice the decoy, but didn’t really care much about it.

The next day, I placed the decoy in the center of a larger food plot. A young doe entered the plot, took a few bites, and began walking to the decoy. She employed all the normal whitetail ruses in an attempt to make the decoy react… stomping a hoof on the ground, bobbing her head, and the like. After a bit, she freaked out and ran over to the edge of the plot with her tail held high. She paused briefly, then stomped off into the woods.

If I’d wanted that deer I could have had her, but chances are good that her reaction to the decoy would have made other nearby deer — especially mature bucks — leery of the food plot.

When I deployed it on a grassy woods road I was hunting, it got a doe and a fawn (on separate occasions) to pause and look. The doe stomped her hoof a few times, but when the decoy wouldn’t move, she blew that shrill alarmed sound and ran off. Kind of a bummer, as it alerted all other deer that something weird was going on there.

About the Decoy

Each time I set up the decoy, I sprayed it thoroughly with scent-killing spray. I believe this is a must-do step if you want to have any chance at keeping a deer even mildly comfortable in its presence.

The decoy comes with a pair of tails, which are quite realistic-looking. As you can see, each one has a pair of magnets glued on. The decoy contains no steel or magnets in the tail area, so the only way to attach the tails is to “sandwich” the decoy between them as they magnetically cling to one another. This works well because the decoy is printed on both sides… and they do sway in the breeze.

The Deer Rump comes with one elastic cord to secure it in the closed position… but it’s not attached to the decoy, so you could easily lose it. I attached mine to one of the elastic loops used to secure the decoy to the rods/legs. This keeps it handy all the time.

It only takes a few seconds to set up or take down the Deer Rump decoy, and once it’s folded up it takes up very little space.

Each of the two folding 3-section rods is about 15 inches long when folded. The largest dimension of the folded decoy is 16 inches, and that includes the ear. The ear is flexible, so you should be able to cram this in most hunting packs without much trouble.

My folded decoy weighs in 11.6 ounces, and the two legs add 17.1 ounces. This adds up to 28.7 ounces, or a measly 1.8 pounds. Not bad for something that has the potential to stop a buck in his tracks as he’s crossing a narrow shooting lane.

Conclusion

The Montana Decoys Deer Rump decoy is a good and useful hunting tool, and I think it’s my favorite new hunting item. It’s been a long time since I added a new tool to my hunting kit, but something tells me the Deer Rump decoy is going to be part of my pack from now on… and that this won’t be my last Montana decoy.

I don’t think I’ll be using a deer decoy on every hunt — and in some cases, it’s a bit of a gamble because you never know how a deer will react to it. I believe its best use may be to catch a deer’s eye from a distance… just be sure you’re paying attention so you can take advantage of that while you can, because it doesn’t seem to take deer very long to realize that something’s not quite right with a deer that never moves.

You can buy a Deer Rump decoy here if you wish, for the MSRP of $69.99.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.