I always carry at least one hen decoy, sometimes two. Don't use the jakes too much. As for how effective they are i think it depends, i have had turkeys coming hard and upon seeing the decoys get kinda spooked by them, other times i have had turkeys that didn't seem that interested in my calling and upon seeing the dekes came charging in, but that's just turkey hunting. You never know what they are going to like or dislike from day to day so i like to have as many tools as possible when i go hunting and a decoy can be a very effective tool to have.