Easterns are definately the hardest species of turkey to outsmart. Much of what you say I have found to be true. They are also very hard to call downhill, call across fences, little creeks etc. They do seem to gobble the first hour hard and then shut up or hen up whatever the case. Many times a turkey will gobble his head off and go the other way from you. Easterns like to strut in "their strut zones", when they hear a hen yelping they will gobble and head striaght for the strut zone, they assume the hen knows exactly where the zone is at, or he thinks his gobbling to a receptive hen will guide her into strut zone. Anyway, I have found that a Eastern tom will many times gobble going away, and the hunter is left confused saying " he was gobbling his head off , but went the other way, wouldn't come in". In essence, what happened is he went to his strut zone assuming you ( the hen) would follow. Just something I've oberserved over the years. They don't play by the rules all the time.lol.. Last year my son took his first bird by employing a tactic we desgned for this type of bird. We had to set up on wheat field away from where birds were roosted. They'd fly down to bottom wheat field where we were set up at. My son called and as soon as the gobbler would start answering my son had to get to the strut zone before the tom and set up. We could not set up on strut zone in morning before light because the birds were roosted directly above in trees. My son called, the Big Gobbler answered in bottom field, and made his way up powerline clearing to strut zone. My son skirted ridge through woods to strut zone we located before ,and soon enough here came ole tom like clockwork.This bird would fly down to bottoms, then when a hen he wasn't with would yelp, he'd make his way back up ridge to strut zone from where he flew down earlier that morning. So by us setting up in the bottom waiting on him to get there, then call to him, and beat him to the strut zone to set up before he got there. We put him on the wall with his buddies....Sometime you have to get creative to outsmart an old bird...Ridge