THE LOVELORN GOBBLER 199 



years, taking on fat as he gets older, while the 

 beard will attain to a length of twelve to thirteen 

 inches, when it wears off at the tip on account of 

 dragging on the ground while the bird feeds. 

 But the beard does not indicate the size of the 

 turkey, as some very small gobblers have ex- 

 tremely long ones. The largest turkey I ever saw 

 had an eight-inch beard and weighed twenty- 

 four pounds even though quite lean; he would 

 have weighed thirty-one or thirty-three pounds 

 if he had been fat, and he may have been twenty 

 years old, for he was known to have inhabited 

 one locality for more than fifteen years. 



You must first ascertain where the gobblers 

 are to be found, and then be on the ground be- 

 fore there is the least sign of daybreak to select 

 a place where you can sit hidden and in comfort. 

 If satisfied that gobblers are in the vicinity, wait 

 until dawn approaches, and if then you do not 

 hear them, hoot like the barred owl. If there is 

 an old gobbler within hearing, nine times out of 

 ten he will gobble when the owl hoots ; but if you 

 get no response, "owl" again, or give a low 

 cluck; the old gobbler may be on his roost within 



