A couple years ago, my hunting buddy bought a decoy and deployed it the first time during the rut. On it' s maiden voyage, he saw the buck of a lifetime headed his way on a trail that would offer numerous shots at ranges from 3 yards on out. It was coming in fine . . . until it saw his decoy. It changed course immediately to avoid the decoy. He said it was because his decoy was too ugly and this buck was used to getting all the pretty does! []

My only experience with " decoys" was watching the reaction of 2 does and a buck that were checking out my 3D target in my backyard. They were completely mesmerized by it and paid no attention to us watching them from our kitchen table less than 10 yards away. They stayed about 25 yards away from it and when they couldn' t get it to move, they got nervous and finally trotted off.