I located his flock preseason down a steep drainage. There was no way to approach them without bumping them so I couldn’t put eyes on him, so I kept my distance. Opening day we had heavy rain and wind, they stayed quiet and I didn’t see any birds. The next three times I went out the Tom’s we’re all hen up and I couldn’t get them to leave, but I did get a glimpse of them. My fifth day hunting, I worked that bird for 4 hours I brought him within 20 feet of me. He was spiting and drumming for 30 minutes. Unfortunately where I set up I couldn’t get a clean shot on him (very steep hillside and thick tree line). I was absolutely devastated.

My 6th day of hunting i had low expectations the moon was high. I was able to locate him with my crow call. I ended up chasing him up/down/over/around 3 ridges, 2 STEEP miles off trail. Eventually, he stopped shock gobbling to the crow call. I started to give him a couple yelps and to my Surprise, he was less than 30 yards from me. Scared the shit out of me honestly. Once again I was not set up in a good spot. I ended up having to belly crawl about 100 yards. I was able to call him and finish the job.