WILD TURKEY AND DEER SIIOOTISO. 233 



unless he left the route of the flock himself. . 1 

 followed the track, winding through brush, and 

 sometimes went across very rough ground — over 

 which the turkeys flew — for as much as ten miles ; 

 but in the timber of the bottom I was unable 

 to come up to the gobbler. The other turkeys 

 in the flock appeared to have straggled off, and 

 the old, wily gobbler, often hunted and very fast, 

 and strong as well as large, was alone. At last 

 he left the bottoms, and the trail led up into 

 bluffs and ravines where the brush was very 

 thick and the snow in places quite deep. I think 

 many men would have given it up then, for the 

 ground was extremely difficult to enter ' into after 

 the ten-mile tramp from where I had struck the 

 trail first, but I determined to persevere. In fact, 

 I had now strong hopes of getting the turkey, 

 being convinced that he would not have entered 

 this ground if he had not been tired. After go- 

 ing some distance among the bluffs and thickets 

 of the ravines, the gobbler squatted under an old 

 tree-top. He would be dead beat and want rest 

 sorely before he would do that, I knew ; still, I 

 looked for him to appear at any moment from 

 some such place, and kept' my gun ready, both 

 locks cocked. He would get wind again while I 



