El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-11-23
A ROYAL SPORT.
WILD TURKEY SHOOTING AS 1T USED
TO BE.

Always Called Good Game-A Sly anu
Knowing Bird-Tricl>s of the Trade.
How Turkeys Are Trapped-Benja-
min Frnnk1in's Idea of the Turkey.
The turkey, like Thanksgiving day,
with which he is inseparably associated
in the American mind, is, in the lam
guage of proud Yankee, lone of the
INSTRUCTIONS. 1t 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 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
ization. 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
great sport in southern Indiana and Illi-
nois, and the writer, who is Zone of the
trade" has brought down more than
one of the proud birds by the, skillful
use of his fathers ancient, long barreled
rifle. 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 a 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
d
Mississippi valleys, the hunters i'll the
daytime sought for their roosts, 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
aud the twilight has so deepened that
h1 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 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 a result of his early morning
visit.
Then comes another ruse of the hunt
er, by the skillful 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 a whistle, the note of which, when
properly blown, very closely resembles
the call of a turkey. Not far away and
we'll concealed lies the daylight muir
derer'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