I shook my gobbler call and the birds raised their heads and looked our way. They seemed to see the decoys, even though they were still hundreds of yards away. I shook the call again. First one bird broke into a run, then the other. They made a beeline across the pasture and came to within 15 yards of the decoy before putting on the brakes. At that point, they were about five yards past satisfactory range for our scatterguns.

One tom was braver than the other. They kept their distance for a little while. They even took turns strutting and dragging their wings. They strutted back and forth past the decoy, acting as if they didn't even see it, but sneaked glances at it now and then.

Finally, they came directly to the decoy and began circling it. My friend raised his gun several times, but I cautioned him, "No, they're too close to the decoys."

For what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only 10 minutes, those two gobblers circled the fake bird, trying to figure out what his problem was. At last, my friend could stand the suspense no longer. The better of the two birds stepped to the left of the decoys and my pal rolled it with one shot.

But what was baffling was what the second bird did. Instead of running away in terror, it continued to circle the decoy repeatedly. The big tom ignored his dead companion, which had flopped to within inches of the decoy before dying, and even stepped over the carcass a few times as the live bird continued to study the decoy.

We waited perhaps 30 minutes before I finally told my friend that I was going to stand up and wave my arms and spook the second gobbler away. I wanted to get some photos of the man's trophy, and this wild bird showed no signs of wanting to leave on its own.

The following day, we had more gobblers come to the decoy. I was waiting for the biggest gobbler we had seen on the place, so I didn't kill any of the birds -- although there were several good-sized toms -- that came to our decoy and calls.

Then, on the last weekend of that spring turkey season, a tornado came along and blew away the hunting camp, destroying two travel trailers and a wooden building. The tornadoes also took my decoys and we never found them again.

I bought another set before the next season rolled around, though, and I'll probably never be without turkey decoys again. Decoys add a whole new dimension to the hunt, especially in the spring.

Are they an absolute necessity? No, probably not, at least in most situations. But will they help draw turkeys into range? Yes, I believe they will.

I will add one qualifier. That is, I have also seen toms shy away from decoys and even act more nervous than usual when they see the decoy. But more often, I have seen them come directly to the decoy and attempt to interact with it. That is true of both hens and toms.

I think that, next to a tight-choked, straight-shooting shotgun and the ability to use a call effectively, a turkey decoy is probably the most valuable tool in a turkey hunter's bag of tricks.