238 FIELD SHOOTING. 



been made of iron instead of leather. We hunted 

 every day with more or less success. 



In a few days there came a fresh fall of snow, 

 some seven or eight inches, and Lindsay and I 

 went out prepared to take advantage of it. We 

 breakfasted at break of day, and set out for Shoal 

 Creek, which was three miles distant. It quit 

 snowing as soon as it got to be daylight, so that 

 when we reached the banks of the creek the 

 tracks, if any were found, would be fresh. About 

 eight o'clock in the morning we came upon the 

 trail of a large flock of turkeys. They had begun 

 to move about as soon as it left off snowing, and 

 there must have been from thirty-five to forty, 

 perhaps more than forty, in the flock. After fol- 

 lowing the track for a while I got sight of the 

 flock, crept up within distance, and killed two, 

 one with each barrel. The turkeys thereupon 

 scattered and flew, and some passing near Lind- 

 say, he killed one on the wing. Neither of us 

 shot with a rifle. Those turkeys had not been 

 shot at much, and they were nothing like as wild 

 as those of Illinois. It was the best turkey-shoot- 

 ing I ever saw. We followed up the main body, 

 and every now and then I would go after a strag- 

 gler who had left it, and shoot him as he left 



