I was set up at 5am, waited till light and listened, heard nothing.. I ended up taking a walk and heard him, gobbling away. I sat down and scratched the slate, then, like an idiot I lifted my head to see if he was responding.. His head was extended and looking right at me, he turned and walked away down into the rivine, not to be heard again.
How long do I have to wait before I try setting up on him again? Is tonight too soon? Or should I just be waiting there in the morning again? He's not gone for good is he?
I'm shaking, I want that bird.

They'll get over their close encounter in a couple of hours or less. They for other reasons may not respond later on in the day if you do not hear him when you call. I tried a move on a hung up bird last Saturday. Saw me and flew away out to the swamp. Got in the blind I had already set up there. About an hour or so later he flew back to that spot, gobbled 1 time and then walked away.

Note...... try not to get hung up on 1 particular bird. Can be hard not to but you can waste your whole season and still lose the battle. And no, I'm not really after that one with the 11" beard I've seen just about every day but can't get the shot on.

You've got the fever David! LOL! Good luck shaking it!

Yep, sounds like it's on. Might want to try a Barred Owl call once or twice before the sun rises and you get set up. This will make him gobble on the roost. That way you know about where he is. Doesn't always work. And just because ya don't here a gobble dosen't mean he's not there. Crow call and coyote call after the sun comes up also make for good locator calls. All this is of course is JMO Bill

I couldn't wait, I went right back out..
There was another bird in that spot as I came up but it was already on it's way out. I think I found a good place to set up for a day or two, my blind is covered in sticks and my bow and I will be in there soon again..

What was interesting is when this thing gobbled this morning I heard about 10 gunshots coming from about 10 different areas in about a two minute window, then in all stopped again..

I'll chalk that up to my first mistake of the year, he should have come home with me..
I thought this was supposed to be easy?

No Bill, you have it right! Your opinion is almost like mine. Hoot Owl at 1/2hr before sunrise for roost locatoror at Dusk to find their roost for the next morning. I also use the locator calls, but I use the Hawk Calls.

Ya can go right back to that spot setup and start whining and cackling. They be Boss Gobbler shaking the tree tops before the sun goes down !

Pydpiper you have allready got good advice the best locator that I've used is the pea-cock call. All your doing is shocking them into gobbling, put two hen decoys out past where you are hunting so he will get closer to you than the decoys when he comes toward the decoys lot of times they will hang up about 40 or 50 yards thats why you put the decoys past you. when they hang up there allmost right in front of you. the most inportant thing to remember is not to over call. If you hunt the same bird to much he will get call shy. Hope some of this helps...........