So, I go out Friday night and put some birds to bed. I head out at dark o'clock in the morning. I get to the tree line and give a owl hoot, and get 2 diffent gobbles back. I sneak my way to the little clearing I've chosen to set up in. That's when things go very wrong. I start off by trying to set up my blind. It doesn't happen, the fiberglass poles in the frame explode sounding like shots in the still morning, but the gobblers both shout out from their roosts and no one comes out of the trees. All is not lost. So, with no blind to hide in, I turn it into a barrier to sit behind. I put out some decoys in the middle of the set. I get my calls ready, load up, and have a seat. I wait a good while before letting out some small yelps, and I get both gobblers again. I wait a little while, then do a flydown cackle. More gobbles. Now, all of this I've done with a box call and a diaphragm, two sound like 2 hens, thus more enticing right? Okay, so I hear both toms flydown and both gobble. Sounds like they're irritated with each other and both working my way! Then, it starts to rain. Now, remember, I am not inside a nice dry blind, I am exposed to the elements. The boxcall shortly becomes useless. I still have the diaphragm though. I go to give it a small yelp, and get a sound more like pbbbbbllllllllllltttttttttt than a yelp. The latex reed just disintegrated in my mouth. Now, both toms have gone dead silent. Guess they don't like flatulant hens. Anyway, I give them a little time just in case they are coming in quiet. Then, one of my decoys takes a header and is laying on the ground on its side. Great. So, I figure, leave it, and give a few yelps on the glass call I've got that is SUPPOSED to work even when wet, which it did by the way at the house. Well, the only sound the slate makes sounds something like a mouse fart. The rain of course suddenly stops once all of my calls are properly soaked. Then, the bugs come out. So, here I sit, wet, call-less, aggrivated, one decoy down, bugs in my eyes (the only exposed part of my body), no gobbles to be heard. Then to make matters worse, there's a shotgun blast from the other side of the ridge I'm hunting. Well, then the rain starts up again, and I say a few choice words, pack up everything and head home. Obviously, I didn't venture out today, only because of previous committments that I have to be home for. Oh well, perhaps things will go better next weekend.

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