it could possibly work, but you still have two major obstacles. they being the sense of sight and smell that deer have. i don't know if the faded color would bother them as much, being they don't exactly see colors, they see colors in the ultraviolet spectrum were greens, browns, blacks, reds, tans and even blaze orange look natural and normally won't alarm deer. colors like blue, purple, bright white, pink, chartruese, etc. will produce a glow under ultra violet light, and these are the colors that stand out the most to deer. now as for the one side being tore up, there is no telling without trying if that will alarm them or not. there is a good possibily that if a deer see's that then it may register as something unnatural or dangerous.
even more important than that though would be fooling it's sense of smell. it has been said from numerous sources that a deer's sense of smell is like 10,000 times greater than a humans. things we can't smell from feet away they can smell from hundreds of feet if not yards away. if you used your target a lot in practicing, then you have left a lot of human scent on the decoy. no matter where you apply the deer scent the approaching deer may most likely still smell your scent on the target and become alarmed or spook. now i'm not a huge believer in all of the scent eliminator products, but i do believe some of them work most of the time. what i would recommend is that you start by getting yourself some cheap rubber gloves. you can get em at ace hardware or anywhere that sells tools and chemicals. wash them thoroughly with some type or brand of scent eliminating soap and let them dry outside. then use the same scent eliminating soap and thoroghly scrub your target down, wash it off and let it dry outside. whenever you wash it or handle it, do so while wearing those gloves. after it has dried and while wearing the gloves, spray the entire thing down with scent elimination spray. you may even want to wash it twice and spray it down again just incase. no whenever you transport it try to put in heavy duty trash bag or at least try to cover it and preven as many foreign odors from coming in contact with it as humanly possible, which means regardlessly you will get some on there. when you get to the woods spray it down before and after you set it up while wearing your gloves. let the spray evaporate and then apply a healthy amount of your doe scent.
i would recommend a gel based scent, because it doesn't evaporate as quickly as urine, but fresh liquid urine will smell the freshest. i like code blue or golden estrous. with code blue it comes from one deer as fresh as possible and as far as i know there is nothing added. a lot of people swear by the golden estrous though and i think it works too. now when you apply it to the decoy you can do the feet, but you might be limiting the effect. the first place a buck is gonna want to pay attention to is the hindquarters, not the "doe's" hooves. so by placing and very healthy amount on the tail area of the decoy, it will look and smell realistic, but will also allow the scent to be detected easier. bucks don't walk around with their noses to the ground 24/7, they only do that when they are on the trail of a hot doe or chasing one right infront of them. with the scent placed higher any wind that will hit it will carry it farther and have a greater chance at hitting hime while he is walking normally or maybe even bedded if he is close. one thing you might try is also using a scent drag with the exact same scent you used on the decoy so that buck follows it and finds the "doe" he has been tracking. i think even hanging one or two scent bombs with the same scent couldn't hurt, because it will be up off the ground and the scent won't hardly evaporate. now i would also recommend that you set them several yards away from your decoy, maybe on whichever side will bring you the better advantage. i would say at 20 yards away, also you can use scent bombs as yardage markeres if you were to place them in your shooting lanes.
when you do this either day or night you will have to allow plenty of time to set up and get positioned so that you don't have deer walking up on you while your tryin to get in your stand. lastly make sure to position the decoy so direts attention in a natural way from you. don't set it up looking directly at the tree your sitting next to or in. maybe try sitting slightly cross wind, this way if a deer comes from directly down wind you will be able to see it before it smells you or the wind will most of the time carry your scent just out of the way of the approaching deer, but still allowing the buck to smell and focus in on the decoy. now this sounds like a lot of effort and it is when compared to not even messing with it, but for some people it works and works amazingly well. it all depends on the attitude of the deer and it may or may not work, but you won't know unless you try.
hunting to me is kinda like learning in a lot of ways. if you sit in the wrong spot and your quarry is out of range or behind obstacles preventing a shot, you learn from it and when the next time you hunt that area you move to a better vantage point. of course murphy's law usually interveins and as soon as you move your quarry passes in the exact opposite spot.
i never called a deer in before until this year. it took some fooling with it and practicing, but i finally figured out how to do an estrous doe bleat on my grunt call and called in and shot my first and biggest buck of my life. this buck ignored my calling attemts earlier that same day, but when i figured it out it only took 20 minutes and he was on the ground. so you never know until you try and if it blows up in your face take a mental note of what you did and try not to make the same mistake again, and if it works out then don't change a thing and make a mental note of that.
anyone who successfully harvest deer and especially big bucks, every year have had a lot of experiences and have learned from them all and then use their acquired knowledge to be successful. this is a lot of reading i know, but i got a lot spare time and nothing better to do.
good luck to you and if any of this works let me know. i won't gurantee anything with what i have said above and this is all just my two cents worth from the reading, studying, trials and errors i have experienced. i forgot to mention that some people or just flat out lucky and they just always seem to be afield at the right time, on the right day, at the right time. so hopefully you are one of these chosen few.
The Great Outdoors: Hunting