Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-11-24
A ROYAL SPORT.
WILD TURKEY SHOOTING AS 1T USED
TO Be.

Will tORNEt 0flOOtltN1 40 ~ JOEL
TO BE-
Always Called Good Game-A sly and
Knowing Bird-TrfctSs OF the Trade.
How Turkeys Are Trapped-BenJa-
min FranI1Itn's Idea of the Turkey.
The turkey, like Thanksgiving day,
with which he is inseparably associated
in the American mind. is. in the Ian
guage of proud Yankee, lone Of the
institootions . It had been domesticat-
ed and bred in the old world before the
pilgrim fathers landed ON Plymouth
Rock, presumably by the Spaniards, who
captured specimens in Mexico and trans
ported them to Europe. In every part of
the American continent except the frig
id regions of the extreme north the
earliest settlers found the turkey in it's
wild state. The species of fowl which
was regarded as so toothsome at the first
American Thanksgiving was the bird of
today in his unenlightened condition
The pioneers of all parts of the Unit
ed States where there were extensive
tracts of forest found wild turkeys in
great abundance, and even in the days
when deer were plentiful no hunter
scorned this bird as unworthy of his
prowess. Wild turkey hunting was and
! yet is a royal sport wherever the bird
exists. He is considered noble game
and. like the deer and the buffalo, has
rapidly disappeared from many of his
former haunts before the march of civil
| lization He is now seldom found in his
native state except in the larger forests
of the great north and northwest, the
brush lands Of Arkansas and the Indian
territory and the jungles of semitropical
| Florida.
Within the memory of many sports
/ men turkey hunting was considered
4 great sport i'll southern Indiana and Illi-
nOis, and the writer, who is lone of the
trade, has brought down more than
one of the proud birds by the sl1illfuI
useo of his father ancient, long barreled
rife. The methods of taking the turkey
all require the exercise of ingenuity
The bird is timid and regards man as
his natural enemy 1t is and has been
since the turkeys of the country first
observed that man with gun pro-
| duced great noise and much slaughter
among them impossible to get near
enough to render shot certain of re-
suits without approaching the game un-
der cover.
! When turkeys were plentiful in the
great wooded tracts of the Ohio and the
Mississippi valleys the hunters in the
| daytime sought for their roests, which
were easily found by means of the
faces Then he concealed himself with
in easy range of the place and awaited
sunset. when a large flock would ap-
/ proach the place and one by one fly up
to the almost horizontal branches on
which the birds prefer to roost A shot
at that time would put an end to the
sport. The hunter must wait until the
last of the flock has mounted the perch
and the twilight has so deepened that
he can but just fix by his vision the
muzzle sight of his rifle in the little
nick of the one nearer the breech If he
remains out of sight, he may be able tc
secure two or even three birds ere the
darkness puts an end to his sport Then
he. gathers up his game and goes home
to return long before the cock crows,
for at break of day his turkeys will
leave that roost never to return Ii be
is careful, be may get two more of the
flock as a result of his early morning
visit
er. by the skiliful exercise of which he
may be able to inveigle two or three
moro of the turkeys to their death In
the wing OF each turkey is hollow
bone that can readily be transformed
/ into whistle, the note of which, when
properly Blown. very closely resembles
4 the call of a turkey Not far away anC
we'll concealed lies the daylight muir
| derer's aecomplice AS soon after theil
fight from the perch as the turkeys dis
cover that all has become quiet and the
gobblers have mustered up little cour-
age, they begin calling for the purpose
of collecting the remnant of the floch
preparatory to a permanent departure
from the scene of the massacre The
second hunter softly answers with hi,
whistle, and the chances are great thai
he will by often responding to the in
quiring cry lure the turkey within
range of his gun A sharp report, re
peated over and again by the echoins
hillsides, futter of wings in a deatI
struggle on the ground, and the tores
is again wrapped in silence.
/ After an hour of waiting the hunter
sounds his call, then listens for fain
response If none is heard, he ventures
again A third effort is likely to elici
an answer unless the turkeys have be
come SO terrified by the last shot tina
by common impulse they have fled pre-
cipitately alone or in very small groups
If they have hidden themselves il
elumps of bushes or the tops of falleI
trees to which the withered foliage il
still clinging. the hunter may get an
other shot
The third method is to entrap tn,
birds. A strong pen of logs or rails il
erected in the wood, and trench witt
an easy descent beneath the founda tiof
piece is dug deep enough to admit thu
largest turkey without crowding II
the trench little corn is strewn, ant
the turkeys walk along eating or look
ing for something to eat us they go un
til all of them are within the pen
Then they become alarmed and go tear
ing around the Enclosure with thei
heads erect and chirping as loudly a
they can
They never lower their heads enough
to discover that it is as easy for a sensi
BILE bird to set out as for foolish ont
to get in. and as the pen is securely GOV
cred the turkeys remain there until th,
clever trapper comes and puts peremp
tory end to their dire alright Benja
min Franklin once deplored the fac
that the turkey had not been selected a
the bird of freedom, but it is probabl.
best that the Yankees did not make thi
high headed, foolish creature the EN-
blem of their liberty -.Ieweler.