Yeah I was using a mouth reed, have used them in the past to locate by making a cluck or purr. When he sounded like he was moving in the opposite direction I let my guard down thinking he was responding to me but probably moving towards my father also if he was calling. So when he went quiet just after sounding further away is probably when I let my guard down.
Yeah if I would have taken a shot, even though he was within 20 yards and clicking pretty hard most of my shot would have been stopped by the saplings. I am sure at least a few pellets would have hit him but there was enough of a margin for error that I wasn't comfortable.
Guess where I need advice was after he moved off, I did move to a better spot and attempted to some more clucks and he never responded, waited at least a half an hour knowing he was within 100-200 yards and moving away. It wasn't until about an hour or so later we got more responses from him but he was still moving in the same direction away from us and getting further. Can you do anything to get them moving back to ya or is that usually a hard option.