I went out dark and early this morning and tried out a spot that has been good in years past. I have this area sort of figured out. It's about a mile walk back, then there are basically 2 strut zones with roosting nearby separated by about 500 yards of ridge. Basically, I have to go in and choose where to start because once the sun comes up it is hard to adjust without being seen. This area is very heavily pressured too. When I hunt this land, I get out there and park 2 to 2 1/2 hours before daylight. Anything later and you run the risk of ending up at choice 13B for the day.
I was sitting comfortably near the East strut zone at 4:30 am this morning. The sun came up about 6:10 and about 6:20 I heard what I thought was a faint gobble off to the West about 400 yards. Sure enough I picked the wrong end to start out on. I heard another faint gobble, so I got up and headed toward them. I worked my way around to where I though the bird should be and sure enough, he was right about where I thought. The problem was I was down in a valley, and he was strutting up on a ridge above me. He gobbled 5 times while I was down there about 60 yards from him. I should have just sat tight and listened, but I made a little short call and that shut him up. About 30 seconds after the call, I saw him walk over to the edge and look over. I had him in clear view at about 60 yards for about 3 seconds. He then turned and walked off. He did not make another sound. These gobblers are extremely call shy.
I sat a little while longer then backed out and made a big loop to try to get to the spot I thought he was headed for. On my way I bumped into two turkeys going toward where he had been. One was definitely a hen, the other a very black bird that could have been a gobbler or a jake. I wasn't sure.
I ended up seeing 3 birds, one I am sure was the gobbler, and heard 7 gobbles. Not a bad day at all for around here.
Pictured below is the view I had when the gobbler peeked over the ridge.