I headed back up the mountain on Thursday to see if it would be less busy. I got there a little later than I was aiming for, just after sunrise. Had to trick the gf saying we were going on a hike to get out and spend some time together.She did catch on a little when I pulled the binoculars from the car when we got there haha. I decided to hike up back in a ways (about 2 miles) and sit on the highest point (ridge) and glass for a while. I was getting a little frustrated (thinking I have no idea what im doing and my research had not been enough to start) because I saw no sign the last time and nothing the whole hike in.

At any rate I decided that since I made the long hike I will just sit on top and take a look around and enjoy being outside. I started glassing the area and saw a few nice open meadow areas surrounded by trees. One looked very nice and was down between two ridges. I continued to sit and just enjoy being away from the house. I was surprised by a gobble off in the distance and got excited that it seems I was finally onto something (this was at about 9am). I stayed up there for a while longer looking and listening where I started to hear many gobbles (some closer some at a distance in many directions).

I decided we should get down a little farther (we were at about 7000 feet) and start to head towards three of the gobblers we were hearing. They kept talking as we moved to other high points in the direction of the sound. It seems we got pretty close towards the end of the trip (we were there for about 6 hours). I found some good areas I could sit under a pine and call next time I go up. Maybe set up some decoys. I will have to remember to bring my locator call next time as well, it caused frustration when I started hearing them and realized I forgot the locator call!

That is the brief story of this outing. I was starting to think a little on the way home. What are peoples opinions on using a decoy? Would it be better (no for sure answer to this I know) to have a single hen, a jake and a hen, no decoys at all? I would probably bring the girl along as she has a tag too. Figured I could set up deeper in and call while she sits closer and has gun ready. A silly question but is it generally more successful to call a bird up a hill or down the hill or really not difference? Last one for this post would be how far should I realistically be able to call a bird in from? It is hard to tell how far the birds are from my location but the gobble gets louder for sure as I moved in the direction. If I can hear it with a fair amount of volume would it be reasonable to call it?