WILD TURKEY SHOOTIXG. 355 



fall to the ground, cut by my bullet. Some 150 yards 

 farther on, I see a small hen standing straight up, very 

 high, in a tall cotton- wood, and she doesn't look bigger 

 than a crow, though she is not more than seventy-five yards 

 from me. Just in front, a little to my right, is an old 

 dead tree, and to this I quickly step, to find that there is 

 a clean, open way for my bullet. Squatting down, and 

 laying my rifle on a knot of the old tree, a fine bead is 

 drawn on that turkey's breast, which is a hard thing to 

 do, as she stands clean against the open sky beyond. 

 Hunters know how trying it is to make a rifle-shot under 

 these conditions; but I make it successfully. Taking my 

 game on my shoulder, I go to find Bob, who has not fired 

 since I left him, but has succeeded in scaring away a 

 number of turkeys. He answers my whistle, and I soon 

 reach him. " Bob, you are not doing as you were told, 

 or you would have had several shots before this." He 

 confessed he had not obeyed orders. "Now I'll show 

 you." Jeff is barking not far from us, and, on going in 

 that direction, we find he has a young gobbler. "Walk 

 right after me, and when I say shoot, lose no time." 

 The turkey is seventy-five or eighty yards away, sitting 

 with its left side toward us. We walk swiftly, almost 

 trotting sometimes, as though we were going to pass well 

 to the front, and gradually circle nearer and nearer, 

 until we are about to pass to the turkey' s right side, at 

 which time we are not more than thirty yards from him. 

 I have kept an eye on him all the while, and now say 

 " shoot." In an instant, Bob throws up his gun, but I 

 walk on. It is a good kill, and Bob is happy. ' ' Oh, I 

 can do it now right along. I was afraid I might scare 

 them before; but I see now how it is done," said my com- 

 panion, enthusiastically. Pretty soon, Jeff has found 

 another, and so I send Bob to try his skill by himself. 

 Sure enough, he gets his turkey. When turkeys have 



