The Turnbo Manuscripts
by Silas Claiborne Turnbo
1844-1925
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IT THOUGHT HE WAS A TURKEY
By S. C. Turnbo
In relating experience of hunting in Taney County, Mo., Mr. W. R. Ellison, son of Jimmie Ellison, said that one day in 1865 while he and his two brothers, Marion and Lafayette Ellison, and John May were hunting in the hills of Elbow Creek, he met a serious adventure with a catamount. "We were on a camp hunt. One morning after sunrise I left camp to call up a turkey and selecting a convenient spot I seated myself on the ground and leaned my back against a sapling and rested my rifle across my knees. I called a long time without any turkeys showing themselves. I kept calling but the expected turkeys did not make their appearance. When I had almost ceased calling and was nearly ready to get up and go back to camp, I was surprised at some animal jumping against my left shoulder which made me scream out loud in terror and rise to my feet at lightning speed. In doing this I jerked loose from the animal; as I sprang to my feet I leaped away from the sapling a few yards and wheeled on my feet and looked back to see what kind of an intruder it was and recognized a monster catamount which apparently was as much confused as I was. The catamount was getting away on fast time and I watched it go out of my sight without thinking to shoot at it."
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