Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-11-07
The Wild Turkey.

The wild turkey was once found scat
tered over the whole of the North
American Continent. but. as the axe of
the pioneer was heard advancing further
and further westwards the noble bird
which raised in Audubon raptures of en-
thusiastlc admiration has been pushed
towards the frontiers of the settlements.
until each succeeding year sees its num-
bers diminished, so that ultimate exter-
minatlon Is matter of certainty. In
Louisiana, Alabama. Mississippi. and
Arkansas there are still many businesses
inaccessible to man where the wild turkey
will find binding place for many years
to come. The same obscurity and iso-
latlon, however, which protect the wild
gobbler afford shelter and immunity to
his formidable enemy the wild cat, who
necessarily preys upon him, and make
hIs life conditional upon cunning and
vigilance. Nor is Its finely favored
meat unappreciated by the swamp fox
and weasel, which. selects the young
birds for Its evening repast whenever it
Il possible to catch them. Occasional
" the Mississippi and other big rivers
arse during the nesting time, and over
flow the lowlands and the islands upon
which the turkeys breed. The young
bird, unable to fly and too delicate to
resist the influence of the wet, sickens
and dies. In order to appreciate the
finest sport that any game bird in crea-
ton affords an English sportsman should
become acquainted with an American
turkey-hunter. Having made the wild
habits of the bird and its exceeding sly
ness his especial study he has learnt to
use call. which modulstes the note of
alarm and the dulcet whisper of bird
love, or gives forth the mimic sounds of
Joy at the discovery of food hidden
under the falling leaf and upon the
swarming ant-hill. The hunter knows
that tie cracking of a twIg under his
foot, the clatter of an alarmed squirrel,
the scamperIng of deer through the
forest, will rouse the wild turkeys
easily excited suspicious, and prompt
him to immediate and headlong flight.
The implements of this peculiar
sportsman are few and simple, consist
OF the call, generally made of the large
bone of the turkeys wing, and a sure
rifle. The bird changes its habits with
its haunts, growing wilder where it is
most pursued. Gaming in wisdom and
cunning according to the danger Of its
surroundings, the old gobbler is SO
wary that no ordinary sportsman can
circnmyeut him. Il once hunted regu-
lar after the same bird" said famous
Mississippi marksman, for three years,
and never saw him but twice, knew
the critters yelp as well as that of
Mus C, my old deerhOand, and the birds
track, was as clear to me as that of alCg
hauled along a dusty road. / hunted
him always about the same scratchins,
and when L called he would run from
me-" Let Us take an imaginary scene.
The day wears towards neon, and the
patient hunter has met with no ''sign."
Suddenly a slight sound Is heard, not
unlike Thousand other woodland noises
out enough to satisfy the listeners prac-
ticed ear. StealthIly he Intreuches him.
self behind fallen tree; few green
twigs are arranged before him through
which peeps the muzzle of his trusty
rife. Thus prepared he emlts his cali,
and gives one solitary female cluck, so
exquIsitely mOdulated that 1t chime. in
with the running brook aud the rustllng
leaf. Half mile off a splendid gobbler
is feeding. As he scratches up the
herbage that conceals his food he gives
utterance to the sound that first attrac-
ted the hunters notice. His wings are
awry, the plumage on his breast seems
soiled with rain, his wattlcs are Con-
tracted and pale, when suddenly he
starts, and, instantly every feather is in
its place. He raises his dainty head
full four feet from the ground, and lis
tens. What an eye flashes, what a
stride Is suggested by that lifted foot.
Again the cluck greets his ear. Uprises
the head with lightning swlituess; the
bird starts forward pace or two, and
answers to the call. He is uneasy, and
picks up his food pettlshly, smoothing
down his feathers, and at last springing
up TO the limb of tree to peer into the
wood. An hour passes away before the
trained hunter ventures upon another
call The wary gobbler is satisfied that
1t comes from no human lips, and there
rises to his mind tine picture of some
dlsconsolate mistress. But he Is au old
bird, and has escaped with his life by a
miracle upon previous occasions. He
has grown extraordinarily cunning. He
never roostS for two successive nights
upon the same tree, and rarely gobbles
without RAINING away from the sound
himself has made. But the last cluck
has fairly reused him. He begins to
strut; his slender 1.-the body swells; the
beautiful plumage OF his breast is ruffled
his neck curves, his wattles grow scar
let. The long feathers OF his wings
brush the ground, and the tail rises and
opens like fan. On he comes, with
hitehiDg gait, glowing IN the sunshine
like purple and gold. The siren cluck
is twice repeated, and scarce fifty yards
intervenes between him and the murder
Gus rifle. The hunter, anxious to draw
him still nearer, in order to shoot him
through the head, fools him to the top
of his bent AT length he hops upon a
fallen stump, some twenty yards distant
from the doom that awaits him. The
sharp crack..of rlie rings through the
forest-the g,ltterlng plumage, the
proud step, the piercing eye avail him
not, and without a movement OF the
muscles he has fallen a headless body
to the earth. To those Engii ish sports
men-and they are many--who find
pheasant shooting tame, We would re-
commend visit In the superb autumn
of North America to the Southern
States, IN the hope that many such
gobblers as We have described may fall
before their unerring bullets.