132 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



one gobbler killed by another, or even crippled, 

 although I have seen two or three birds fight 

 together for hours at a time. Nor have I ever 

 found a gobbler dead in the woods as a result of 

 such an encounter, or even in a worried condi- 

 tion. I have killed many old gobblers and found 

 their heads and necks covered with blood, with 

 spur punctures all over their breasts; but this 

 never stopped them from gobbling, nor are these 

 wounds deep, as the spur, which is an inch and a 

 quarter long in the oldest of them, can only pene- 

 trate the skin of the body after passing through 

 the heavy mail of thick, tough feathers. 



Another proof that the gobblers in my hunting 

 grounds were not killed this way is that I should 

 have missed them. How would you know? you 

 might ask. In the same way that a stock owner 

 knows when he misses a yearling from his herd. 

 Being constantly in the woods, I knew every 

 gobbler and his age (at least the length of his 

 beard) within a radius of several miles, although 

 there be three in one locality and five in another. 

 During the time they were in flocks or bands, if 

 one were missing, surely I would find it out ere 



