RANGE, VARIATION, AND NAME 21 



and January the former weighs twelve pounds 

 and the latter nine pounds. There you are. 

 But suppose you did not hunt in the spring at all. 

 How many old, long-bearded gobblers (the joy 

 and delight above every sort of game on earth 

 to the turkey hunter) would you bag in a year, 

 or a lifetime? Possibly in ten years you would 

 get one, unless by the merest accident, as they 

 are rarely, if ever, found in company with the 

 hens or young gobblers, but go in small bands 

 by themselves, and from their exclusive and 

 retiring nature it is a rare occasion when one is 

 killed except in the gobbling season. 



Take away the delight of the gobbling season 

 from the turkey hunter, and the quest of the wild 

 turkey would lose its fascination. In so express- 

 ing myself, I do not advise that the gobblers 

 be persecuted and worried all through the gob- 

 bling season, from March to June, but believe 

 they could be hunted for a limited time, namely, 

 until the hens begin to lay and the gobblers 

 to lose their fat — say until the first of April. 

 Every old turkey hunter knows where to stop, 

 and does it without limitation of law. Old 



