as constructed of split timber, but the most .successful trappers since, build them of old limbs and 
broken pieces of saplings, avoiding, if possible, the least appearance of workmanship or design. This pen 
forms an inclosure ten or twelve feet square, and three or four feet high, and is covered with like ma- 
terial well weighted with heavy pieces of old timber. Into this pen a trench is cut about eighteen inches 
in depth, and wide enough to admit the body of a large Turkey. The trench begins some distance from 
the pen and gradually deepens until it passes inside of the inclosure, and then it rises to the surface 
quite abruptly near the center of the trap. A number of poles are placed at right-angles over the trench 
where it enters on the inside of the pen, so as to form a bridge. Corn is placed in the pen and in the 
trench, and sparsely about the vicinity. When the Turkeys find the corn in the trench they follow it, and 
one by one enter the trap, with heads down, eating as they enter, pressed forward by the hungry ones 
behind. As soon as those inside are aware of the situation, they try to force themselves through the 
openings, all the time running around the inside walls of the pen, with heads erect, and passing over 
and over the trench on the bridge, never looking down or attempting to return by the door which they 
entered. Mr. Audubon kept an account of the produce of one of these pens which he visited daily, and 
found that seventy-six had been caught in about two months. 
In settled countries, where food is furnished in abundance, and is so easily accessible in the large 
cornfields, the “pen” is a useless resort, and the dog and gun are the most general means used in their cap- 
ture. With these, the sport is quite exciting, but requires great coolness, skill, and care to be successful. 
Early in the morning, just as daylight breaks in upon the tops of the forest trees, is the auspicious 
time to find them, and with a well-trained dog they may be detected at long distances, and frequently 
overtaken and scattered in different directions, greatly to the advantage of the hunter. If hard pressed 
and badly frightened, they will take to trees, to cover, or will drop down anywhere if unobserved, and 
when in cover will sometimes lay well, and may be shot at over point, similar to Quail and Grouse. 
Ordinarily, however, they will not admit the presence of man or dog within twenty-five or thirty yards, 
neither on the ground nor on trees without taking wing, and, at the long distances generally fired at, and 
on account of the great solidity of their bodies, it requires a good shot and a heavy charge to bring one 
down dead, and consequently birds frequently go off wounded, and sometimes fly out of sight, and then 
fall dead, or, they may come down and make their escape, and afterward die from the wounds received. 
I have repeatedly obtained the object of a shot by following in the line of flight, and have occasionally 
found them accidentally under these circumstances. I once had a fair shot at a fine gobbler as he was 
flying across the Scioto river, and the charge turned him over and around, and brought him back and 
down upon the same side from which he started. Although the nature of the ground did not permit me 
to see exactly where he fell, yet I felt quite certain he did not come down upon his feet, as I distinctly 
heard his body strike the ground. I was at the supposed place in a few moments, with a good dog, and 
searched diligently the drift-wood and brush which were in great abundance in the immediate vicinity, 
but all to no purpose ; he was not to be found. On my way home, and about two miles 'distant from the 
place where he came down, the dog made a stand in the woods near the roadside. Expecting to flush 
any thing but a Turkey, I was greatly surprised to find him pointing the lost bird, dead, warm, and wet 
with the dew of the morning. Another time, while out with a friend, I heard the report of a gun far 
down in the timber, and while standing, listening and looking for some manifestation, a fine large gob- 
bler fell dead at my feet. No doubt the hunter looses in this way very many of those he fails to bag, 
as the remains of birds frequently attest. 
Time is also a matter of importance after the bird has fallen, as frequently a very little delay may 
loose the game. I once fired an “Ely’s Green Cartridge, No. 5 shot,” at a male bird, and he came 
down about forty yards distant. I ran up immediately and found him lying motionless, with wings and 
tail spread, and neck stretched out as if tetanized in the act of flying. I placed my foot on his head and 
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