I thought I had posted this before so this may be redundant. Many thanks to you all for the great coaching you provide on this forum. I want you all to know that I have made good progress in scouting, reading current sign, setting up and calling. I came within one or two cautious turkey steps of taking a shot this year on a bird I called off the roost. Had several close encounters that stayed out of range and lots of long distance responses. I had days when I could do no wrong and days when I could do no right but learned something every day. A couple fun things to run by you: 1) I had called in some hens with a tom close behind. I saw him. Nice bird. He would not come close enough for a shot but the hens were almost in my lap. After several minutes of the hens milling around me the tom let out a gobble like I have not heard before. Not because it was loud but because it was not. It was under his breath so to speak. As soon as he got that out the hens turned and headed his way and out of my life. Pretty cool. Another time I took my four year old grand daughter out "turkey hunting" after lunch. We set up a couple decoys that she liked and covered ourselves with a camo fabric she said was itchy. She was wearing a short sleeve shirt and her sparkly shoes. We talked about turkeys and stuffed animals for a bit and then I called on my trumpet. She thought that was cool. I asked her if she wanted to work the box call but she wanted me to do it. To my shock and surprise three turkeys responded! After about ten minutes of "turkey talk" she was ready for a snack and to go home. By the time I got her home we had been out less than an hour total. Hard to pick which turkey encounter I enjoyed more. Thanks again, Mike
