THE LOVELORN GOBBLER 201 



your position, do not approach nearer than one 

 hundred to one hundred and fifty yards of him; he 

 may possibly see you or he may fly behind you, 

 or alight at your side when you call, and run 

 away before you can shoot. This may look 

 like a small matter to consider, but you will find 

 it amounts to much in dealing with old gobblers, 

 as I have learned from experience. I have had 

 them fly right over my head, so close that I could 

 have touched them with my gun barrel, or alight 

 at my side and run away in a twinkling. One 

 flew so near my brother once as to flip his hat 

 brim with its wing. The most remarkable in- 

 stance I ever knew occurred to a Mr. Daughty 

 in Alabama. He was calling a turkey that was 

 gobbling in a tall pine, and finding the call would 

 not bring him down, Mr. Daughty took off his 

 old brown felt hat and gave it a flop or two over 

 his knees. Before he had time to think the gob- 

 bler was upon him, and he had to drop his gun and 

 ward it off with his hands. He told me the gob- 

 bler had stretched out his feet to alight on his 

 head and frightened him so he never thought of 

 his gun, and was so dazed that the gobbler was 



