Iron County register., 1898-12-15
NY First Wild Turkey.

Ed Register-I have read SO many
of IT. P. r. 5" hunts | want him tc
read one of mine. After the war closed
the woods were full of turkey and deer.
| was boy about twelve years old
| bought me an old-fashioned squirrel
rifle, and she was good one. called
her ''Quick Shot," for | could shoot
her as quick as l could shoot a shot
gun.
loaded up OLD Quick Shot one day
and thought would go out on little
hunt l made my way down to the St.
Francis river, which was about a
| quarter of a mile from home. I took
down the river under high bluff. The
squirrels were jumping in every direc-
tion. but | was hunting after bigger
game than squirrels, so I paid no at
tention to them. You See it was late
| in the fall, and | came to hazel thick
| ct under the bluff. The hazels were
covered with grape vines and ripe
grapes. Istopped and went to eating
grapes with old Quick Shot on my
shoulder. All at once l heard an old
turkey gobbler going up the hill cry
ing, ''Qulti Quitm When he got about
fifty yards up the bill. saw him run
ming for dear life. He jumped up on a
log and | leveled old Quick Shot at
him and pulled :he trigger. just as
the gun fired he jumped down off the
log and | saw him jump right straight
up again, about ten feet high! IN tell
you | made pair of old No. Is rattle
till got to him, and when | got there
he was lying on the ground trembling
all over. | set old Duck Shot up
against tree to see where | had hit
my turkey. just as | stopped over,
the old fellow throwed his head up
and cried, "quit!'' l clinched him
around the neck. Then he got up in
the air and went for me Such beat
ing | never got in all my life as that
old turkey gave me with the butts of
his wings. He stuck his claws in the
bosom of my shirt and just poured it
to me on the head with his wings; but
| had made up my mind to stay with
him The next thing | knew we were
both on the ground rolling down the
hill. The rolling fight kept up till we
got back down under the grapvines.
You see, be didn't have such a good
show to beat me in the thick vines,
and | got my knife out of my pocket
and cut his throat.
Then | looked to see where I had
shot him. The bullet had just grazed
the hide on the back of his head. You
see, | aimed at his body, but he jump
ed down off the log just as the gun
fired. After [ took a rest | got up and
went to hunt up old Quick Shot.
found that had on no shot pouch, no
top shirt but the back part. My trail
back was covered with feathers and
strips of my shirt | picked up my
shot pouch in one place and my hat in
another. just before l got to old
Quick Shot | saw shoe and [ looked
at my feet and saw l had lost one of
my number sevens. If I hadn't seen
that shoe | am satisfied [ would have
gone clear home without it, / was so
excited.
After got everything gathered up
and loaded old Quick Shot, shoulder |
ed my turkey and started for home. |
When my turkey was dressed it weigh |
ed twenty-six pounds. If any boy |
doesn't think turkey will knock him |
around, let him get hold of one by the |
neck. You see, the ball had only |
stunned my turkey, and if hadn't got
him by the neck when did. he would |
have flown off. If IT. P. r." or T.
Blantou had been round there they |
would have heard boy following. |
''You old devil!" I. L. w.