Connecticut western news., 1898-11-24
A ROYAL SPORT.
WILD TURKEY SHOOTING AS IT USED
 TO BE.

| Knowing Bird-Trfc<s of the Trade How Turkeys Are Trapped-Benja- min FrnnkIin's Idea of the Turkey.
 The turkey, like Thanksgiving day, with which he is insparably associated | in the American mind, is, in the lan- guage of a 2roud 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 | i'd regions of the extreme north the earliest settlers found the turkey in its 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 prowesa 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 civi- lization. He is now seldom found in his native state except in the lare CT 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 great sport in southern Indiana aud nli- nois, and the writer, who is "one of the trade, " has brought down more than one of the proud birds by the skillful use of his father s 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. It 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 roosts, which were easily found by means of the f@ces. Then he concealed himself with in easy range of the place and awaited sunset, when 8 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 rife in the little nick of the one nearer the breeoh. If he remains out of sight. he may be able to 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. If he is careful, he may get two more of the flock as result of his early morning visit
 Then comes another ruse of the hunt CT, by the skillful exercise of which he may be able to inveigle two or three more of the turkeys to their death. In the wing of each turkey is a hollow bone that can readily be transformed into whistle, the note of which, when properly blown, very closely resembles the call of turkey. Not far away and we'll concealed lies the daylight mur- deyer's accomplice." AS soon after their flight 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 flock preparatory to permanent departure from the scene of the massacre. The second hunter softly answers with his whistle, and the chances are great that 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 eohoing hillsides, 1utter of wings in death struggle on the ground, and the forest ID hSalu WIdppeu III blleuCe.
 After an hour of waiting the hunter sounds his call, then listens for faint response. If none is heard, he ventures again. A third effort is likely to elicit an answer unless the turkeys have be- come so terrified by the last shot that by common impulse they have fled pre- oipitately alone or in very small groups. If they have hidden themselves in clumps of bushes or the tops of fallen trees to which the withered foliage is still olinging. the hunter may get an- other shot.
 The third method is to entrap the birds. A strong pen of logs or rails is erected in the wood, and trench with an easy descent beneath the foundation piece is dug deep enough to admit the largest turkey without crowding. In the trench little corn is strewn, and the turkeys walk along eating or look ing for something to eat as they go un- til all of them are within the pen. Then they become alarmed and go tear ing around the inclosure with their heads erect and ohirping as loudly as they can.
 They never lower their heads enough to discover that it is as easy for sensi- ble bird to get out as for foolish one to get in. and as the pen is securely GOV cred the turkeys remain there until the clever trapper comes and puts peremp- tory end to their dire alright Benja- min Franklin once deplored the fact that the turkey had not been selected as the bird of freedom, but it is probably best that the Yankees did not make this high headed, foolish creature the em- blem of their liberty -Je~eler.
 Shore Cargoes Shifted.
 "Once in awhile we read, said Mir. Bozzle, "that the ship So-and-so or the steamer So-and-so has returned to port, ar has arrivad rarbapa with "a decidnd