The very next day after killing a nice tom with my son Nick, my Father, Tom Gorman and I headed out to try his luck.  We got a very late start.  We entered the woods at about 10 o’clock.  I had hunted this area before and knew exactly where I wanted to be set up before we started calling.  I was doing all the calling and my Dad was the shooter.  I set the decoys out and directed my dad to a large tree.  I set up 20 yards behind him and made 3 soft yelps on my slate.  I was immediately answered by an excited gobble 80 yards or so behind me.     

         Oh no! I quickly jumped up, ran to my dad, told him to turn around, and I ran 20 yards past him.  Now facing the direction of the turkey I started calling again.  We had literally been hunting 30 seconds.  At first the bird was not responding that great.  Then I tried my box call and he started cutting me off and coming fast.  I knew the bird was close, but could not see him.  Then I heard my Dad shoot.  To my disappointment I saw a nice long beard take to the air and fly away.  I ran up to my Dad and asked what happened.  He had no idea.  It was a 35 yard shot, and he rarely misses. 

         Well we shook it off and headed 100 yards further, towards to other gobbling we were hearing.  Five minutes later we were set up and with decoys 18 yards from my dad.  I was set up 5 yards behind him.  I chose to stand up behind a couple trees so I could watch the action.  I made a couple calls and was angrily answer by multiple hens.  They were scolding me and I gave it right back to them. 

         Soon I looked up to see a long line of turkeys running off the far hill right to us.  The next thing I saw was at least a dozen jakes all over my jake decoy.  Normally my Dad might shoot a jake, but not today.  I knew he could not shoot right then anyway due to the birds were too close together.  Then I noticed 2 large fans floating our way.  I also realized my Dad could not see them.  I started calling excitedly again.  My dad was concerned why I was calling; he thought I would spook the birds because they were so close.  I was trying to get the long beards to hurry up so he would see them and wait. 

         Well they gobbled loud and he was now aware of their presence.  He waited 5 minutes while the long beards made their way through the jakes strutting the whole way.  Oh yeah, did I mention we had 2 inches of snow on the ground.  Well finally one of the big boys turned in full strut facing my Dad, and he crushed it at 18 yards!  We hunted a total of 20 minutes and called birds in 2 separate times! Can this season get any better?