Update - this bird had been shot at and hit. I found rather new pellets - was all healed in the leg joints and wing joints. Now I hink this was not the bird I had been working but it came in silent and gobbled just once - more so from a shock gobble. During the 2nd season basically the same area I had the same thing occur - a close gobble - just once but never saw the bird. I was in a lower field and he gobbled up high directy behind me.

I did move up to that higher field that day but did not stay long. As my 78 yr old partner got sorta stiff we went for a small walk. On the way back to the blind that day I do think this bird shock gobbled just one more time - to which when I tried to figure out where he was - I jumped a hen and a Tom from the ridge edge.

That information - along with basically the same gobble pattern that day lead me to move up there once again. Like I said it was a large alfalfa field. I set-up right on the road entrance due to the fact the cover was low - allowed better use of decoys and the road was all tracked up with old hen and tom tracks.
I am to go back for 6th season and will start there with my parnter. Hopefully there will be 2 toms! As from my jounral I had 1 gobble in one direction at least two in another and then this one time gobble bird I do think I shot.

We will see if my theory is correct.

Thanks all for the kind words.

JW