I've held duels with a number of hens over the years. One was less than 5 yards away and madder than a hornet at the "other hen" (me) that sounded more or less like an echo of her since I mocked everything she did. She got very mad, but was able to intercept the two longbeards that were working their way towards me.[:@] I saw them breed at just over 60 yards away and she then led them over the mountain and ruined what I had going!

Most of my experiences have ended with the hen going to the gobbler and leading him away.

Another quick story--two years ago, I called in one of the biggest longbearded gobblers I've ever laid eyes on. He was huge with a paintbrush beard dragging the ground. He strutted for nearly 30 minutes just out of range, but refused to cross a 1 inch deep stream that was less tha a foot across. Seven hens appeared on my side of the stream coming my way. The took one look at him . . . and 4 of them little hussies crossed the tiny stream and went to him. [:@] He was laughing at me as he walked away with them for a little presumed "fun."

Only one time do I recall that I called a gobbler away from his hens. He was truly the boss of the area and none of his subordinates ever gobbled in his presence. He strutted in a field for2-3 hours with about 5 hens and I finally was able to coax him away from them with some very excited cutting. He came in - having to go out of strut at times to fit between the trees - he stopped at 62 yards at a big fallen branch and refused to come any closer and left unharmed.