I left last Thursday evening for a weekend of turkey hunting w/ my best hunting buddy, Brian. We arrived at the farm around 1130 that evening, and after sitting around catching up and BS'ing we hit the rack about 330. An hour and half later, I was sitting in my blind waiting for the first gobble of the morning. They were talking pretty good, but I really kept things pretty quiet. Just some soft clucks and purrs, and I just didn't really call much at all. Well, as they normally do, they gobbled good in the tree but when they hit the ground, all was quiet. But alas, not for long. They fired right back up about 20 minutes later, and I let out one series of yelps on the box. One not very far away hammered it, so I put the box down and didn't pick it back up. Over the next hour that bird gobbled over 200 times, as well as another that I knew was very close to the cabin. Then all was quiet. 15 minutes later I did some soft clucks and he once again hammered it, this time VERY close. I knew he was in my field so I got ready. A couple minutes later 2 jakes and a longbeard rounded the turn headed my way. It took them nearly half an hour to close the last 40 yards, and I ranged the longbeard at 22 yards. Drew, aimed and released. THUMP! Bird jumps up and runs into the woods, direct hit! But not wanting to push him, and not wanting to spook the 2 jakes, I remained in the blind 5 more minutes. Then I got out to find my arrow and saw Brian walking toward me. He was on the porch and saw the whole thing. In fact, he said that bird I knew was close to the house was.......strutting only 5 feet from my truck! LOL But it started to rain a little and I still wanted to give my bird more time. So he and I got back in the blind and a while later the rain stopped. I decided to get out and look for my bird. I walked into the woods, and about 5 minutes later all absolute freaking hell broke loose. The wind picked up, and by picked up I mean blowing about 80 mph, no joke. There was debris flying all over in the woods, and then the trees started popping and dropping. I heard one pop close by and turned just in time to watch a huge oak tree hit the ground, only 20 yards away. Then another, and another. It was blowing so hard it was pushing me down the hill and I had to grab a tree to keep from falling nearly 100 feet. But with all the trees and limbs falling, I had to get the hell out of the woods. When I got back to the field, the 2 chairs and our bows were there, but no blind and no Brian. 10 yards away I see the blind slammed against a tree, but still no Brian. I make it to the blind and had the scare of my life.....Brian's arm hanging out the window. I ran over to him (and yes, the wind is still blowing) and he looked up at me, very blank. I said "Dude, you ok?" No answer. DUDE! YOU OK??!!" He says, very monotone, "No, I don't think so. How do I get out of here?" I extricated him from the blind, literally, and we begin walking to the cabin and saw a HUGE tree fall right in front of the house. That's the one I saw fall, only feet from the house. We make it inside and Brian is just wandering around the house. To make a very long story short, he literally parasailed in the blind and slammed into a tree. He was briefly knocked out and had quite the bump on his head, and remembers nothing for about 20 minutes. In all, the wind blew for about half an hour, and we later learned a very rare weather scenario had funneled the winds right where we were, and the wind speed was in excess of 120 mph. There are over 250 trees down on this property, but no damage to the house or our trucks. Amazing. God was really watching over us. Brian is fine now, or as fine as he ever was, and with all the trees on the ground finding my bird just wasn't a possiblity. There are 80 acres blocks in Mark Twain National Forest that has EVERY tree
