The Monmouth inquirer., 1898-11-24
a ROYAL SPORT.
WILD TURKEY SHOOTING AS 1T USED
TO BE.

Always Called Good Game--A sly and
Knowing Bird-TrfclSs of the Trade.
How Turlxeys Are Trapped--Benja-
The turkey, like Thanksgiving day,
with which he is inseparably associated
in the American mind, is, in the LAM
guage Of a proud Yankee, lone Of the
institootions = 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 tho 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
cd 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
iization 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 lone of the
trade, = has brought down more than
one of the proud birds by the slzillful
use of his father ancient long barreled
rifle The methods of taking the turkey
all require the exercise of ingenuity
The bird is tinid and regards man as
his natural enemy. 1t is and has been
since the turkeys of the country first
observed that a man with gun pro-
/ duced great noise and much slaughter
among them impossible TO get near
4 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
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 tho almost horizontal branches on
which the birds prefer to roogt. 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 to
secure two or even three birds ere the
darkness puts an end to his sport. Then
he gathers up his game k6nd 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
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
s-&l <,fx
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
/ fight from the perch as the turkeys dis
cover that all has become quiet and the
j gobblers have mustered up little cour
age, they begin. calling for the purpose
of collecting tie remnant of the flock
1 preparatory to a 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 echoing
hillsides a fiutter Of wings in death
struggle on the ground, and the forest
is again wrapped in silence.
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
4 by common impulse they have fed pre-
cipitately 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 clinging. 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