Okay, I'm back and can post pics and the story:
I haven't had a chance to go out since the season opened on the 12th this year. I was out of town but it was cool and rainy anyway. A warm front finally moved in with yesterday being around 70 and today 76. My alarm went off at 4 am and I hit the snooze button twice. The third time I thought to myself that my wife didn't get a lot of sleep the night before because of kids and if I hit this snooze one more time she'd kill me.
So I got up. I didn't have a lot of hope for this location. I hadn't heard a single gobbler there last year.But since it's directly behind my work and I have seen turkey there I figured it's better than sleeping in. I got there about 5:45 am and got set up on a field behind the owners house. I set up two feeding hen decoys andbacked up against a tree. As light comes on I do a few soft yelps. Later I simulate a couple fly downs by slapping my leg with my gloved hand. (it's in the 40's at this time of day so I have on felt gloves and didn't have on a ball cap). By 6:40 I still haven't heard the first bird even though two trains have whistled (shock gobble) and I've called as sexy as my limited skill can muster. I look to my right and see a doe watching me. I yelp to her and she can't figure out what I am. I can only see part of her as she's below a rise but I can tell she's not alone. She finally decides I'm not anything good and I see three tails bounding for the woods. A few minutes later I decide to reposition as I'm running out of time before I need to be to work. I decide some more elevation is needed to get my call out into the mountains. I climb a small hill and make a few calls from it's peak. Nothing. I cross the saddle and start up the next hill that marks the back of the property. I'm noticing several scratchings and what looks like hen droppings. I'm also noticing I need to kick my treadmill routine up a notch cause I'm sucking oxygen on this short incline. At the top of this foothill is a fallen tree, about 10 yards short of the crest. I thought I'd sit behind it and do some calling but when I got into position I wasn't satisfied. There was a leaning tree just ahead right on the crest itself allowing me a larger field of view. I moved up to the tree and looked ahead to see a tom in full strut, his head white and blue. He was behind a screen of bushes about 30 yards away. He started moving to my left, maintaining distance. A second bird, also in strut appeared, coming from below the rise. They moved left towards an opening. The first bird entered the opening and then the second. I couldn't tell which was bigger but I could tell they both had decent beards. I didn't have a mouth call in my mouth because I'm not very good at using them so I just used my mouth and tried to make a putt sound to bring them out of strut. They wouldn't do it. The first bird turned it's back to me and the second bird was sideways. I tried two more putts and said "Forget it". My Winchester barked and the second tom dropped in his tracks. Gobblers exploded everywhere. Apparently 5-6 more gobblers were below my line of sight following the two I could see. One landed in a pine about 60 yards tomy right and putted while I walked to my tom, his head still white with dots of red where my pellets had connected.
Here's the picture I took with my phone on the site where I shot him. That blurry barkless tree leaning above his fan tailis where I was when I shot him.
Here I am back in the owner's field.
One more.
Yes, that is a bluetooth headset in my ear. I was using it to call my buddies and tell them I scored. It's not my biggest bird but it's my first mountain bird. I can get two more this year and now it's time to try at them with a bow!