156 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



probably a flock of hens and gobblers together. 

 There would be a great commotion among them 

 and a general mixing up, yelping, and gobbling. 

 On visiting this place the next morning one would 

 not be seen or heard. Crossing to another lake 

 or backwater, one might find the whole flock, or 

 possibly the gobblers, with not a hen around. If 

 in the gobbling season, and the males are gob- 

 bling, in less than half an hour the hens would be 

 among them, but if not in the gobbling season 

 the former may not meet the latter again for a 

 month, as in the spring the sexes have no more 

 attraction for each other than were they birds of 

 entirely different groups. Except in the spring 

 you may flush and scatter a flock of hens and 

 gobblers, and after a reasonable wait begin to 

 call with the notes of the hen. Not a gobbler 

 will answer or notice you at all, but the hens will 

 reply by yelping, squealing, and clucking. The 

 gobblers meantime are as stolid as an Indian and 

 as silent as a dead stump. Wait until the hens 

 have gone, then begin the lingo of the gobbler 

 and you find another result. 



Usually there are plenty of wild turkeys in the 



