of from thirty minutes to an hour. Old gobblers are more 
successfully brought within range by a duck than any other 
note, except in the spring, when they will come to the yelp 
of the hen. The cluck is never made by the hen, but only by 
the gobblers, two or more of whom generally go together. 
It is a note that cannot be made by the hunter, except after 
careful observation and practice. 
It has been said that calls may be made as tame turkeys 
make their calls ; but this does not accord with my experi- 
ence or observation, and you must only imitate the wild 
turkey’s call With certain restrictions. I am not speaking as 
to young turkeys, which are easily deceived, but of old and 
wary birds, the baggiDg of which does credit to the sports- 
man. With the latter the hunter must never undertake to 
give as many calls or notes even as the wild turkey frequent- 
ly makes. If he does he will get no turkey for his pains, 
unless he has stumbled upon an inexperienced flock. One 
evening in the month of December a friend and I scattered a 
flock of eight or ten turkeys. It being late, we did not suc- 
ceed in getting one to answer. So by light the next morn- 
ing we were again in our blinds, which were some distance 
apart. By agreement I was to do all the yelping, the blinds 
being so situated that some of the flock would pass my 
friend in coming to my call. My first call was answered by 
the old hen, who came within seventy-five yards of my 
blind, in plain view, and commenced yelping loudly and 
frequently. She would sometimes make a dozen or more 
notes at a time that might have been heard a mile. Others 
answered, and I heard my friend shoot once or twice. The 
report of the gun would startle her at first, but it was too 
distant to frighten her away. I then understood the situa- 
tion, that my friend’s blind was directly between her and 
the rest of the flock, and she was between him and me, thus 
none of her flock could reach her. She started off several 
times, but I succeeded finally in bringing her within a few 
feet of my blind and killed her. Her beard, the longest I 
ever saw on a hen, was at least eight inches in length. 
Had any one attempted to make half the number of calls 
or notes in a call that this old hen did, they would have 
frightened off all the turkeys. Something artificial in the 
notes would certain'y have caused alarm. In my early days 
as a turkey hunter I frequently lost fair opportunities of 
bagging old turkeys by yelping too frequently and making 
too many notes at a call, and have always succeeded best 
when observing the cautions I have indicated. M. 
Northside, Va. 
