HI James,
thanks for changing my login etc.
I can now login OK.

I've been away from the forum due to other situations that have
kept me from my photography, but glad to be back.

Last week (April 13 2008) I decided to go back into the woods to
shoot again. After 4 days of hiking in Cades Cove, TN I was able to
get this shot on the last morning.

I was hoping to see some bears that week, but I was too early.

Around 7:30 AM on the last day, I heard some Wild Turkeys in the woods. I had just entered the open field and had all my gear ready to go. Instead of using my normal set up ( tripod,longest lens, etc.) I decided to just lay down in the middle of the field and see what happened.

Within minutes, there were several Tom's emerging from the tree line.
I had just rented the Sigma 80-400 mm OS lens to give it a test run and that was the lens that I had mounted. As they entered the field I was capturing
what I could at 400 mm. Staying perfectly still and not using any type of sound to attract them, they moved into my direction to investigate . I truly feel that not having the tripod set up and the fact that I was laying on the ground got their curiosity.

In less than a minute, they all came right up to me, and as if on cue they
lined up in a single row, evenly spaced and all at once displayed their tail feathers.

Since I had the Sigma zoom, without moving my position I was able to
get this shot at around 200 mm.



Within seconds, they all scurried away.
That was the only shot, and I don't think that I will every see that happen
again.

If I had been carrying my 400mm prime telephoto, I wouldn't have been
able to get this shot.


Dale