Decoys were illegal when I was coming up. Only more recently has Alabama allowed them. With that said, I've tried a hen decoy for the past couple years, without an opinion one way or the other as to its effectiveness. I have noticed the more crap that I'm now carrying, compared to when I was a kid.
On the reaping, I have to admit that I've found it a bit interesting (although, I've never tried it). The safety to humans issue doesn't bother me, personally, because I only hunt on private land. I could definitely understand that aspect on public land, and I can't understand why anyone would try that tactic where there might be another unknown hunter around. Where I hunt, any other hunters close to me are likely poachers that will shoot regardless of the presence of a decoy.
The jump shot/uncertainty of what you're shooting at is what bothers me. I always aim for the head to minimize the chance that I'm going to wound a bird and lose him. I can't stand losing any animal, and although it hasn't happened often, every one that I've lost still haunts me. It seems like the reaping would increase the odds of this. Maybe not, since you would be much closer than usual, but it sure seems that way.
Before reaping went viral, I always told my cousin that I wanted to try and call a gobbler in close enough for me to slice off his head with a ninja sword. I was mostly joking, at least until I saw some of those reaping videos . . .
