The Wild Turkey 279 



some exercise. The turkey is merely an accessory 

 — the cap-sheaf of the stook if you will, but not 

 much of a stook if considered alone. Twenty-five 

 pounds of gobbler is a fat reward — a noble prize ; 

 but to be properly appreciated it should be won 

 at the close, not near the beginning, of a day. 

 Hence the bright, still day is preferable. 



Put a good man on the trail of a flock in deep, 

 damp snow, and it's odds on that he will kill his 

 first bird within a few hours, and he may get 

 three or four before dark. He will follow steadily, 

 patiently, remorselessly, wherever the tracks may 

 lead. Should the flock flush from any cause, he 

 will take the direction from the few long strides 

 the game made before rising, and will push on. 

 He knows that turkeys fly straight and not very 

 far, and that the tracks will be found somewhere 

 ahead. If he be cautious, the game is not likely 

 to again take wing. Within a reasonable time, 

 in such going, even turkey legs become weary, 

 and a single track will be found diverging from 

 the main trail. 



To the experienced the sign is plain. The 

 maker of the single track is tired and has slipped 

 to one side to hide. If the man has a shotgun, he 

 will follow this single track ; if a rifle, he will keep 

 on after the flock. The single bird will surely be 

 crouched in some cover near where it left the 

 flock, and it will almost certainly flush within 



