Last years bird was a real troublesome Tom who ended up coming downhill to my calling setup. He was the second bird in 4 years that refused to come up. Three days of coaxing him on the roost... a good gobbler who fired up well, but simply refused to come up the hill. I worked a second day try at his level around the same ridge, but his hens kept him well away from my calling.

The third day, after a weekend wait was his ticket puncher. I set up below where he had been roosting, using a single hen decoy staked at 25. He went off on the roost right at daylight and I tree called back... receiving a solid response. I let him worry a bit, stopped calling and then worked the call very little. Soft calling mainly, a few purrs... nothing loud or too agreessive. He showed up about 15 minutes later, coming straight down the hill looking for his gal pal. He ended up going home with me. Nice mature bird, and well worth the sit in the rain.