Opening Day of Pennsylvania Spring Gobbler

If I have learned anything about hunting big woods turkeys it is that once you think you have them patterned THINK AGAIN!  I really thought that I was going to be set up right in the birds bedroom this morning.  I even got there an extra half an hour early to prevent from spooking one out of the roost.  After sitting in the dark with forty minutes of anticipation behind me, no birds were gobbling.  Then I hear a faint gobble in the distance.  Upon inspection I realized that it was coming from the original spot that I wanted to hunt on opening day this year, but after scouting and not seeing any sign or hearing any birds I decided that I would hunt the far side of the valley that been home to birds all this spring and last.  Now I had a decision to make.  Did I really want to hike all the way back down one hillside, cross a stream with high cold water, and hike straight up the cliff on the far side?  The answer to that question is shown in the pictures above.  After making the long hike and my heart practically beating out of my chest, I caught up to the bird still gobbling.  I set up my decoy, got hidden, and made a few soft yelps.  Shortly after I saw the bird come around  the corner of the point in full strut.  A few seconds later he was joined by two jakes and all three began to run towards me after spotting the decoy.  They stopped at about 40 yards as the long beard went into full strut again.  They then advanced another 15 yards before I could finally get a shot at the Tom that would not result in me putting three birds on the ground.  The jakes finally moved off to either side and i split the uprights with 3 inches of #5 Hevi Shot!  It turned out to be the most intense easy hunt ever!!!  My only regret is that everything is so wet from the 40 days and 40 nights of rain that we have had made the bird not very photogenic.