Those of you who have heard that sound of a Tom getting closer, double and triple gobblin’ know exactly how it feels. The chills run down your spine, your hands start to shake, and your adrenaline is pumping so hard you feel as if your heart will jump right out of your chest. The morning started as any other, 45 minutes before daybreak, hit the owl call…nothing, thats fine we will set-up where we know they are at. Decoys out and ready for those few minutes at dawn when every longbeard in the county is letting you know where he is at. Yes! there’s a gobble way out in the distance, here we go now the action should start. Ten minutes later, nothing? This can’t be happening, it’s to perfect of a morning. An hour later still nothing except for that one faint gobble. That’s OK it’s still early. Time to walk, two hours and three spots later, nothing still but that one lonely gobble. Let’s stir up the crows, it’s the perfect spot to do it, the edge of a pine thicket and we all know that if anything will make them gobble the alarms with wings will. Before I knew we had 15, 20, 25 crows all cackling and carrying all sorts of racket. WAIT, was it? It was, there it is again. He’s far off but we know where about and thats where we are headed. We slowly make the walk trying to keep the crows going but he hasn’t made a sound in 200 yards and the crows are still going. I know I’ll try the glass, nothing, one more time 25 yards closer and what was GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE! He’s right on top of us maybe 120 yards out, hurry get down, we don’t have time to put up the decoy he is too close and closing. Silence? how can that be? He’s headed our way, so we think. I didn’t over do it, did I? I wait a few minutes and hit the slate and I get the same thing back. Another hunter? Maybe, I call again, same thing. She’s getting closer and mocking every call I make. Where did her boyfriend go? Maybe he’s with her. I keep calling her in and in a few minutes I can just barely see her, she’s headed our way pretty steadily. I continue calling and she continues to answer every call identically. We called her within four yards, I could have spit on her. We watched her bed down within 10 yards and continue to do circles. We never did see big boy and don’t know if he was with her at any point. It just goes to show you, never give up because even though we did not bag our longbeard we had the privilege of watching this hen up close and personal. You can learn more from her then you can from anyone and thats a guarantee!