Day one (Sat. 3/19):
My two oldest boys work a hot gobbler off the roost, and have him coming in on a string. Unbeknownst to them, as they are calling in the gobbling bird, some yahoo crawls in between them and the bird and kills it as it comes by him.

I had given them instructions not to get into any confrontations with anyone else, so they just grin and bear it. I'd have given the guy a piece of my mind... The bird was a good one though, with 1.25" spurs.

Day two (Mon. 3/21):
My brother and his boy get on a gobbling bird that won't come past the thick stuff.

Day three:
Brother and his boy again work the same bird, with the same result. We get together in the evening and devise a plan to get him out in the open. He's obviously a subordinate.

Day four:
Foiled by heavy rains, lightening and high winds. The subordinate bird my brother has been working has left the area.

We left the woods early to check on our camp since we feared tarps and tents might be blown down.

Can't find a place anywhere that hasn't had hunters in there already.

Day five:
No gobbles, but so far we've probably seen 50 hens, most of them in fairly large groups. All the other hunters we run into also complain about the lack of gobbling and non-responsiveness of the birds.

We finally roost a bird this evening -- the first one of the low-gobbling trip.

Day six (Fri. 3/25):
Roosted bird doesn't gobble in the morning. No gobbles heard by anyone.

We find a setting hen with 10 eggs.

So, we pack up and leave -- skunked. The first family trip ever without a bird.

But the boys are already talking about where we will go next year. And we've still got the NC season and a UT trip ahead of us.

Hal