200 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



sight of you. If still no response, cluck louder, 

 and repeat at intervals, adding a few short, 

 spirited yelps; if you fail, move quickly a 

 half or quarter mile away and call loudly with 

 a cluck and yelp or two. Proceed in this man- 

 ner until you have traversed the range of your 

 proposed hunt. In this way I have encountered 

 several old gobblers in a morning 's tramp, while 

 there was not one within hearing of the point 

 first selected. 



If turkeys have begun gobbling at dawn, 

 you must choose a place to call from. My 

 choice is in front of a tree a little larger than 

 one's body, facing the turkey. If possible have 

 your back to a thicket with open ground in 

 front, or you may prefer to get behind a log or 

 stump, or in a fallen treetop. Do not make a 

 blind, for the obstruction will hide the game 

 which is as apt to approach from one direction 

 as another; generally the unexpected way. If 

 you sit out in an open place by a tree, and stick 

 up two or three short bushes in front, he will 

 never see you until near enough for you to shoot. 



If the old gobbler is in the tree before you take 



