the Sierra Madres of northern Mexico that I carried 

 about three miles into camp over a very rough country. 

 By the time I got him there I was willing to bet my 

 last "silver 'dobe" that he weighed a ton. I have also 

 killed some very large ones in the San Francisco moun- 

 tains of Arizona. 



The wild turkey, like the mountain quail, has an up 

 and down mountain migration. In the early spring the 

 hens begin to work up the mountains and seek the 

 densest jungles, and of course the gobblers follow them. 

 The gobblers are polygamous, and have but little re- 

 spect for their families. They will not only destroy 

 the nests, but even the young birds. For this reason 

 the hens are very secretive in nesting, taking as much 

 care in hiding them away from the gobblers as from 

 their' other enemies. As soon as the hens begin setting 

 the gobblers gather in flocks and remain by themselves 

 until joined in the early fall by the hens and their half- 

 grown broods. After this the flocks soon begin their 

 migration to the lower hills and mountain openings, 

 and congregate into immense roosts. Places were once 

 to be seen where they had filled the trees for acres in 

 such numbers as to break the limbs in many instances. 

 In those times and localities they were too tame and 

 too plentiful to afford much amusement to the man who 

 hunted them for sport, but with the exception of some 

 places in Mexico that day has passed, and the sports- 

 man who hunts these grand game birds now will find 

 a quarry worthy of his skill and affording him sufficient 

 exertion to whet his appetite for the delicious feast they 

 furnish him. 



Both the habits and the habitat of the wild turkey 

 make the sport of hunting them especially enjoyable. 

 As soon as the gobblers are deserted by the hens they 

 become more wary, and the crack of a twig or the sight 

 of a man, be he ever so far away, and they at once 

 seek cover. Then the keen eye and the noiseless tread 

 of the still hunter is called upon for his best and most 

 careful efforts, for the eyes of these gobblers are quick 

 to catch the slightest move and their ears acute to the 

 faintest sound. The curiosity of a deer often makes 

 him hesitate long enough for the opportunity of a shot, 

 but the gobbler, after the hens have left him, is no 

 longer lured by curiosity. His business is to keep out 

 of sight, and he can do it, after he has once learned the 

 destructiveness of man, just a little more successfully 

 than any other bird or animal that I have ever hunted. 



There are no wild turkeys west of the Colorado river, 

 34 



