The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-22

The Wild turkey is an American to
the very tip Of his broad. powerful
gray wings Among birds, he is tae
true aborigfnee, and no imaginative
novelist is needed TO endow him with
picturesque qualities as the Red In
dams needed F'eninore Cooper 10 sup
ply The air of romance That surrounds
them. The man who has ever won
with tireless climbing and eternal vigi-
lance the sight of a, great bronze tur-
key gobbler in his native mountain
haunts. needs no argument to show him
that the eagle is a pitiable and rowdy
character in comparison TO figure as
the national bird of these United states.
The sturdy men who with their axes
and rifles won America fer cIViEiZa-
ton relied on the turkey for Their
Thanksgiving dinners; in many times
of leanness in the wiids OF virginia
and Kentucky and New York and In
diana the noble bird furnished the sin
ews of war.
In those times he was TO be found
IN an the regions east of the Mississippi
where heavily wooded districts gave
his splendid tribe their food OF cheSt-
nuts, Wild berries and nouriShlng
seeds. But the shyesit OF all b-rds IS
absolutely Incompatible with clVlllZd-
ton and he has retired year by year
until nov only the most secret places
in the Aileghenie5 and the vast DIS
mai sWaYna5s of the southern states
give any hope for the persevering tur-
key hunter.
The wonder is that the bird still ex-
lists at all for ever since the white men
came all manner OF nefarlous scnelnes
have been connected for his destruction
Let a. gang of turkeys, say 10 or II,
the adults Of a couple of families, snow
themselves a few times on the edge
of their almost iInpenetralble swamp
dwelling and there viii not be want
ing pot hunters to spy on them for
months till the roOSt of the big birds
is located" on some high veteran
pine. SCARED with lightning, raising
lis arms, laocoon-like from some little
island hidden in the marsh and thick
ct Then on a night when the moon
is fat and red and round the murderers
wade through miles of the moraSS and
peer above into the pine until Ohey
di4rly. perceive the dusky forms crouch
eG on the more horizontal bougbs. Not
until the position of every turkey is
determined does the massacre begin,
and then the bird nearest the ground
is selected 70 be rUi.lllessly shot; after
that the one next above receives the
old muzzle-loader's charge of buckshot,
IL
order be followed. the whole flock NAV
be shot down; but let a wounded bird
come futteTing down from above by
one OF his poor perking, quinting neigh
bors-the lower one takes flight and
the whole flock is off in a. moment.
The Hountalneers may catch glimpses
now and then IN their WOOdChOpping,
of gray. disappearing wings and learn
that a flock is constantly lettering about
a certain ridge. a big pen OF rails
IS built with no opening large enough
10 admit a turkey except a single hole
dug under the bottom stick of the pen,
then enticing trails of corn are laid
from various parts of the ridge and
the Tavines on either side, some Of the
corn trails about a half a mile long,
but all convergdng to this opening I'M
der the pen; and q tempting pile OF
grain is left just inside the trap. On
some unfortunate day, the turkeys find
the trails and feed up in the right d.
rection, running one by one quickly
in front of each other, picking up the
grains which are dropped a foot CT
so apart-un1n they come to the pen.
Presently one can stand the tempta-
ton no longer and squeezes under the
rail through the hole. The sight of the
daring one gObbling Up all that corn
is too much for the nerves of the out
siders, and in a few moments the
whole gang is inside. And now comes
the absurd part of tho business. When
the birds have stuffed themselves and
have turned to leave, uD go the long
neck5 through the Sits in the pen on
every side, frantic clawings and fiut-
terings shake the stout rails, but not a
single idiot Of the lot ever by any
chance squeezes back out of that hole