Bird gobbled a little late (overcast), we moved to get a better feel for where he was and he gave us a courtesy gobble. Moved in to where we thought we would be safe and eased in until we were in the bottom near his last known position. He gobbled - close and already on the ground! I am looking around for where to set the boy up and he says "I see a bird. I see two birds!" They are way closer and to our left and surprise the heck out of me (50 yards from the gobble). "Okay. Don't move". He is waving his hands to point at the birds which I now see. About 50 yards away. They are nervous, but not moving away 4 jakes-well 3 for sure, the other never gave us a good look). They step behind some thick stuff and me and him and his pappy (my brother) just drop where we are. He gets his gun up and I yelp. One of the nervous jakes gobble and when he does, so does the bird to our right (the one we heard easing in). I call and they come in on a string (3 birds). He is fooling around with his shooting sticks and keeps telling us he has no shot. Birds are at less than 30. The gobbler goes in full strut and hammers right in our face, setting off the jake next to him. He never shoots and they ease off, I get on the call and they come back to our left. I have to lay down so he can shoot and my brother has moved up to be looking right down his barrel, telling him to shoot when he has a clear shot. They are at 25 yards now. He shoots. Clean miss. I yelp hard and keep them around for a minute or two but the jig is up. We check and it was a clean miss. The birds gobble as they are leaving and we move around to cut them off and get them back to about 75 yards, but they won't finish. The wind kicks up hard and we make another move but lose them and no joy. He took it pretty well. Walked our legs off and had a crazy up close show. We will get him another chance.
