The Lamar register., 1893-07-01
X VERSUS SKILL.
s.RAN HUNTERS STORY
OF ILL-FORTUNE.
kr, wild Cat. Three Bears. aud p
Monster Turkey-Hunted Them
for Years. and Another
Ragged Them

-ouH, az 10 soiuetltueS UStter 10 nave
luck in the woods than skill. and he
demonstrates his theory by some
notable experiences OF his own.
'.Once.n says he. II tried all the
tricks had learned in forty years as
a hunter and trapper trying to bag u
big buck that was spending the sea-
son IL my neighborhood. but he got
the Lest of me every time. That
same fall a wild cat had defied all
my skill in the same way, and a she
bear and her two cubs had actually
laughed at me for weeks. Finally |
did succeed in getting the wild cat
70 step into trap fixed for it, but
che blamed beast walked away with
the crap. l followed the trail of the
cat and the trap for miles and lost it.
Tbs same day | got after the buck,
and he circumvented me. and then l
struck the tracks of the bear and
her two cubs. While l was follow
ing them heard some one shoot in
the woods of to my left. and went
down to see who it was and what it
was he had shot J found a fellow
named Jim Coles. who drove the tan
merry mules. He sat in the snow APP
parently scared half to death. six
feet away by the side OF log. lay the
wild cat | had tried SO long to cap
sure- hIy trap was Oh one of its
feet and the cat was dead. Jim had
shot il.
-.-Did We hear me shoot9 said jim.
-'.Yes,' l said, and l was mad.
-.-Jist now9 said Jim
".Yes, said l.
"'Then it wasn't this wild cat We
heerd me shoot said Jim. l shot
the wild cat good while ago. 1t
WAS the deer We heerd me shoot at
just now. He's over there in the
brush
II stepped over to the brush. and
q shsre lay the big buck that had
foelrd me for over two months. dead
Is d utone.
'-.An' If ye'd been up yonder bout
a rnde. an hour or so ago. said jim.
'ye mowt heerd me shoot tue two
bnrs-a big un and little IN. There
was TWO little uns, bat one on EN-
got away
sim Ccle had never been in the
woods with gun before in his life.
and saere. just by blind. bull headed
lack, he had killed inside OF an hour.
the buck. the wild cat. and two of
the bears that had defied all of nv
tssrzn for weeks. | was so mad that
1 made Jim present OF the steel trap
that the wild cat had on.
..But | didn't feel half as bad over
fshis as l did the mammoth wild
turkey that was so smart that for
three years it had foiled all nv eff
forts. and all the efforts of every
other good huntcr who tried to bag
it, and then let 12-year-old boy.
who had never fired gun or seen a
Wild turkey in his life, get the best
Of it This was up in Juniata County.
There are COOL many wild
turkeys yet in the mountains up
there. but there never was one in the
wh ole state as smart or as big as this
ore [ had seen this turkey often.
and had heard him a great deal
oftcner. He was gobbler. and had
fhe longest and the reddest wattles
q any turkey / ever saw. They
actually cleaned like streak of Ire
rs he few or ran through the woods.
His plumage was almost black. and
haa T. llster that almost blinded you
when the sun shone on him. He had
been shot at and missed by all the
crack turkey hunters In that part of
the state, and came to be known as
the spook gobbler
The third year rad hunted this
big gobbler | went to Juniata county
early in May. The spook gobbler
bad already been seen by a dozen
hunters and shot at 100 times with
-'rEt feather having been knocked
cut of him got three shots at the
Wg and aggravating bird the first
day l was there, and any one of them
osght to have brought him down. A
= wood chopper named Shaner had
come into these woods on a chopping
jot and had his 12-year-old son Jack
with him. The boy had twenty
shilling shotgun, and the second day
was there he got up before day
light. loaded his gun with
b,ckshot and said he was going out
TO get the spook turkey. In less
than an hour after he went away
saw him coming back. bending almost
to the ground beneath the weight of
something he was carrying on his
hack When he reached the cabin he
sank down on the door-sill. and /
don't want to live another minute if
the burden that sank him down
wasn't the monster gobbler that had
dOd oed the bullats Of that yrhole