The Washington times., 1903-02-08
CALLING" THE WILD TURKEY.
Most Thrilling Method Of Hunting the
Gamest Of Fowls.

Il still hunting and training is the
finest form OF turkey hunting. calling or
yeiping is perhaps the most thrilling.
The turkey caller goes abroad while IT is
night He selects his position in the
thicket OF bushes with only starlight 10
help him. That position must be chosen
with reference 10 two pOinrs-oue, that
the turkey roOst shall be within hear
ing distance OF the hunters hiding
place, and The other that the ground ia
front shall be open so that the turkey,
when he is lured from his cover. must
step into full view and present fair
mark.
Scarcely does the dawn begin to show,
before the calling begins The 'yeIper''
usually is made OF a turkeys wing bone
and the sounds than an expert TaT-HesI
OF Cracker turEcy-calleT can produce
with the rude thing are as wonderful as
the ringing mating cry OF the Maine and
Canadian hoose hunter.
In the pine forest roost the sounds
set great birds to fiuttering-frst sleep
lily, then with a sudden. roaring beating
and tapping Of eagIe-like pinions as the
big man turkeys drop heavily 10 the
ground
Slowly one Of them stretches himself.
shakes his feathers preeHs himself q
bit and advances a few steps. Then he
stops. More and more insistent. more
and more tempting, bubbles the cry from
The open. The hidden gobbIer lifts his
brave head high. Listening intently he
strides forward a few feet more
Suddenly he stops aud stands. with
one big foot held high. in sudden sus-
picioH. Before him lies the open field
Now, let che turkey-yelper miss q single
note. lose a single delicate infection in
his imitation Of the love cali. and there
viii be no wild turkey to shoot that
morning. Silently as ghosts the flock
viii fit through the dim, dewy woods
and presently viii settle a mile away
far out of reach Of the Turing cry. And
an hour or more afterward the hunter
creeping TO the roast VIII discover that
ne has been calling into an empty forest.
But let the call be perfect. Then. sud
denly. from the silent, apparently life
less woods, there will ring a gobble
g0bbIe, gUrgling from deep down the
great turkey cocks throat And the
next instant as a stag might step out
Of the forest 90 seek the doe, so stalks
the wild DiId-
He is reckless with love now. but the
wild gobbIer'a Teckiessness is not like
mans Tecklessness. Man in his most
wary moments is a laundering object
compared with the bronze bird in his
most reckless ones His clear eyes peer
straight al the hiding place whence the
call issues. He strides proudly. yet the
hunter has Iced for all his eyes, for his
big. shimmering body seems TO fuse with
every patcu OF dark color. every tiny
bush, every clump of grass in his path
II the gun barrel so much as CLEAN
for a fleeing moment now, if the hunter
stir ever 50 slightly, with a whiTT Of
wings the turkey viii be back IN his lair
and beating through pines and bushes to
4 safe covert
To shoot that turkey then. supposing
that he has been lured into range al last.
IS no light task in itself. The ideal arm
with which TO do it Is the rife But tall
and bulky as the turkey is, he does not
present any too good a mark. and moss
hunters, therefore. prefer a good choke
bore. shooting a tightly packed load Of
nitro powder with BIB shot IN front Of
it,
That shot must be driven with mighty
force TO penetrate the I0TdIy esCUtcheOn
of FURNISHED feathers that shines on the
wild turkeys breast