On another piece of property where I hunt occasionally and where turkeys are scarcer, I put a hen decoy out at the edge of a plowed field as an experiment. It was during deer season and I was spending a few days at the place. I raked the loose dirt in a circle about six yards across with the decoy right in the center, smoothing it to see what kind of tracks would be made. Then I went deer hunting.

I was hearing the occasional turkey yelp in the mornings, but not seeing any turkeys from my deer stand. After a couple of days, I went back to check on my decoy. Sure enough, there were turkey tracks -- several of them -- in the soil I had raked.

I have never shot a turkey on that particular place in hopes that the local population would grow larger before trying to harvest any birds there. But this spring or next, I will hunt there and I will definitely put my tom-and-hen set to work.

Decoys come in a variety of styles. Some are inflatable. Some are hard-plastic shells and some are made of soft-plastic foam. Some lie on the ground. Some are mounted on stakes. Some are very lifelike and some are less so. But even the less realistic-looking decoys seem to attract attention. The hen decoy described at the beginning of this story was, to me, not very authentic, but obviously, the live hen recognized it as a rival.

I've found that placing the decoy in a fairly open setting is helpful. It needs to be in a place where birds can see it easily. That is natural, because strutting toms tend to display in open areas anyway. Deploying the decoys within thick brush could be a wasted effort.

I would add a word of caution about the use of decoys, especially if you hunt public lands or lands where unknown hunters might be near. That is that you should probably carry the decoy in a sack of some kind while transporting it to and from the woods. And always stay alert for other hunters when your decoy is on display.

I carry mine in a blaze-orange mesh bag that Carry-Lite thoughtfully provided with the decoy set. It has shoulder straps so that the decoys can be carried as a backpack.

When placing the decoys, think about where other hunters might approach and set up your ambush so that you would not be in the line of fire should someone mistakenly shoot at your decoy.

Do you have to have a decoy for a successful turkey hunt? No, I don't think so. But it can be a definite advantage. And it definitely can make your hunts a lot more interesting.