I'll echo fishmonger's report. lot's of gobbling before the fly-down, then they just shut up. spent most of the morning trying to get them to gobble. we had 1 flock come in close, but they bailed and never got them to come in close enough for a shot. i went back out in the evening, never heard a thing. i sat there (we'd seen a flock of 10 birds on friday night in this field) for 3 hours in front of my decoys, calling every once in a while. all of a sudden, here they come. not one of them even looked at the decoys. then the tom comes out last (of course), and they're all making a bee line for the other side of the field- the tom's gonna get away!! NOT! i jumped up, took aim and shot, he was about 40 yds away. turkey goes down, i walk over and he gets up (sort of) and starts flopping and running away. not wanting to blow a hole the size of a softball in him, i attempt to dispatch him with a stick-- he wasn't having any of that! now he's gaining some of his composure back and starts running full-bore into the bushes (can't seem to fly-duh). i'm running downhill, shotgun in one hand, stick in the other shouting "don't make me shoot you again!!" and laughing my ass off. he holes up under a bush, and i figure to let him die, when i can still see him breathing, and i'm thinking i'll be out here all night. in to the bush i go, wielding the stick. the bastard gets up, down comes the stick, and he keeps running!! he lays up again (now i'm feeling like an idiot) i decide enough is enough and i decide to blast him in the nose from about 5 feet (again, i don't want to destroy the meat) so i miss!! got about 1/2" of beak. sucker jumps up again and runs to another bush. i shoot again...another miss!! holy shiat-i suck!!! now i'm out of shells (only really need one, right?!) and my buddies show up laughing at me. 'ol tom is caught again in a bush, and if he gets free, it's going to be a pain in the ass to find him in the bush. buddy #1 carries a .357 mag on his hip, so i send him in to finish off the bird. try shooting a turkey in the head with that cannon, and you can guess what happens next- right, he misses 4 times, bird's still flopping. finally, the last shot got him. i chased that bird about 100 yds from where i first shot. ended up with a 8 1/2" beard and 7/8" spurs. those are some tough birds!!




willy